A Companion to Creative Writing is a comprehensive collection covering myriad aspects of the practice and profession of creative writing in the contemporary world. The book features contributions from an international cast of creative writers, publishers and editors, critics, translators, literary prize judges, and many other top professionals. Chapters not only consider the practice of creative writing in terms of how it is “done,” but also in terms of what occurs in and around creative writing practice. Chapters address a wide range of topics including the writing of poetry and fiction; playwriting and screenwriting; writing for digital media; editing; creative writing and its engagement with language, spirituality, politics, education, and heritage. Other chapters explore the role of literary critics and ideas around authorship, as well as translation and creative writing, the teaching of creative writing, and the histories and character of the marketplace, prizes, awards, and literary events. With its unprecedented breadth of coverage, A Companion to Creative Writing is an indispensable resource for those who are undertaking creative writing, studying creative writing at any level, or considering studying creative writing.

Graeme Harper is a Professor of Creative Writing and Director of The Honors College at Oakland University, Michigan. He has also been a Professor and Honorary Professor of Creative Writing in the UK and in Australia. His recent publications include Inside Creative Writing: Interviews with Contemporary Writers (2012) and On Creative Writing (2010). Writing as Brooke Biaz, his works include The Invention of Dying (2012) and Small Maps of the World (2006). Harper is also Editor of New Writing: the International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing.

Notes on Contributors ix

Foreword by Sir Andrew Motion xiii

Introduction 1
Graeme Harper

Part I Creative Writing 7

1 The Architecture of Story 9
Lorraine M. López

2 Writing Creative Nonfiction 24
Bronwyn T. Williams

3 Writing Poetry 40
Nigel McLoughlin

4 Writing for Children and Young Adults 56
Kathleen Ahrens

5 Write on! Practical Strategies for Developing Playwriting 71
Peter Billingham

6 Writing for Sound/Radio 86
Steve May

7 Writing the Screenplay 98
Craig Batty

8 New Media Writing 115
Carolyn Handler Miller

9 How to Make a Pocket Watch: The British Ph.D. in Creative Writing 129
Simon Holloway

10 Creative Writing and the Other Arts 144
Harriet Edwards and Julia Lockheart

Part II The Creative Writer’s Profession 161

11 Agents, Publishers, and Booksellers: A Historical Perspective 163
John Feather

12 The Changing Role of the Editor: Editors Past, Present, and Future 179
Frania Hall

13 Translation as Creative Writing 195
Manuela Perteghella

14 Creative Writing and “the lash of criticism” 213
Steven Earnshaw

15 But What’s Really at Stake for the Barbarian Warrior? Developing a Pedagogy for Paraliterature 229
Jeffrey S. Chapman

16 Creative Writing and Education 245
Jeri Kroll

17 The Rise and Rise of Writers’ Festivals 263
Cori Stewart

18 Creative Writing Research 278
Graeme Harper

19 Literary Prizes and Awards 291
Claire Squires

Part III Creative Writing in the World 305

20 D.H. Lawrence, Forever on the Move: Creative Writers and Place 307
Louise DeSalvo

21 The Psychology of Creative Writing 320
Marie J.C. Forgeard, Scott Barry Kaufman, and James C. Kaufman

22 Creative Writing around the World 334
Matthew McCool

23 Creative Hauntings: Creative Writing and Literary Heritage at the British Library 348
Jamie Andrews

24 Politics 357
Jon Cook

25 Creative Writing and the Cold War University 377
Eric Bennett

26 “To the imagination, the sacred is self-evident”: Thoughts on Spirituality and the Vocation of Creative Writing 393
J. Matthew Boyleston

27 The Writer-Teacher in the United States: The Place of Teachers in the Community of Writers 405
Patrick Bizzaro

28 Creative Writing to the Future 421
Graeme Harper

Index 433