CreativeWritingThe Writing Center Presents

Creative Writing: Quick and Dirty

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This workshop is adapted from the Gotham Writers’ Workshop Faculty handbook: Gotham Writers’ Workshop: The Practical Guild from New York’s Acclaimed Creative Writing School

ActivityLet’s get started.Write a scene in which Character A

is making an excuse, apologizing to Character B, for a recent offense or insult. .

Character A might be either a famous person from history, yourself, or your mom.

Our FocusFictionShort Stories

Short Story

What is a short story?

Short (duh)

Narrative–Usually Written in Prose

Usually focuses on a single theme with limited characters

Strategies for Writing Short StoriesShow and TellBringing the Story to Life

Show and TellThe tranquil, square-faced, shagheaded little buffalo-eyed blond calledFrankie Machine and the ruffled, jittery punk called Sparrow felt theywere about as sharp as the next pair of hustlers. These walls, that hadheld them both before, had never held either long.

Show and TellGreta is a twenty-three-year-old artist and interior designer who dislikeshaving a roommate.

Show and TellAfter a stressful week at Mr. Feinmen's, experimenting with materials that might transform their front foyer into a low-ceilinged cave, Greta sat at a secluded corner of the cafe, sipping tea. Maybe once her roommate left for the night, she could have a little time to experiment with molding the wire mesh into skeleton marionettes.

Bringing the Story to LifeAction Speec

h

Appearance Thoug

ht

ActionShe laughed again, as if she said something very witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see. That was the way she had.

Action: Stage DirectionsHe was running over the tiled floor of the

operating room with a mop. “Are you still doing that?" I said.

“Jesus, there's a lot of blood here," he complained.

“Where?" The floor looked clean enough to me.“What the hell were they doing in here?" he

asked me.“They were performing surgery, Georgie," I told

him.“There's so much goop inside of us, man," he

said, "and it all wants to get out." He leaned his mop against a cabinet.

“What are you crying for?" I didn't understand.He stood still, raised both arms slowly behind

his head, and tightened his ponytail. Then he grabbed the mop and started making broad random arcs with it, trembling and weeping and moving all around the place really fast. "What am I crying for?" he said. "Jesus. Wow, oh boy, perfect."

SpeechUpon spying the Grand Canyon for the first time, Jeannie andBilly-Joe exclaimed, "What a splendid vista!""See?" Their mother pointed. "The scrub brush creates a harmoniouspalate of green-tinted lushness in the vastness of the canyon.""I'll have to relate this to my fourth-grade class!" said Jeannie.

SpeechWhen they finally reached the edge of the

Grand Canyon, Jeannieand Billy-Joe opened their eyes wide in amazement. "Wow," saidBilly-Joe.

"That's so awesome," Jeannie whispered."See the scrub brush like we saw in Grandma's

backyard?" Theirmother pointed. The children nodded.

"I'm going to talk about this for class," Jeannie said.

"Can we take a picture?"

Speech"Hey. Um, hey.”"Oh, hey.”"Hey, Dana. It's Gina.""Oh, hi. Wait, can you hold on?” “Okay.”"Hey. What's up?""Good. I mean, nothing. How're you doing?""Good. Where are you?""On my cell.""I mean, where.""Oh, on my way after work, like, in the street.""Yeah?""Um, yeah."

Speech"Hey, Dana. It's Gina."

"Hi. What's up?"

"Good. I mean, nothing. How're you doing?"

Speech"Hey, Dana, it's Gina."

"Hi. Was I supposed to call you?"

"Yeah, it's Wednesday. Are you still up for seeing a movie?“

"I have to wait to see what Matt is doing."

AppearanceNow he was a sturdy, straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining, arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressivelyforward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hidethe enormous power of that body. He seemed to fill those glistening bootsuntil he strained the top lacing and you could see a great pack of muscleshifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a bodycapable of enormous leverage—a cruel body.

Appearance: The Five SensesWe lived on Waverly Place, in a warm,

clean, two-bedroom flat that sat above a small Chinese bakery specializing in steamed pastries and Dim Sum. In the early morning, when the alley was still quiet, I could smell fragrant red beans as they were cooked down to a pasty sweetness.

By daybreak, our flat was heavy with the odor of fried sesame balls and curried chicken crescents. From my bed, I would listen as my father got ready for work, then locked the door behind him, one-two-three clicks.

ThoughtI liked to walk up Fifth

Avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine that in a few minutes I was going to enter into their lives, and no one would ever know or disapprove.

Sometimes, in my mind, I followed them to their apartments on the corners of hidden streets, and they turned and smiled back at me before they faded througha door into the warm darkness.

At the enchanted metropolitan twilight, I feel a haunting loneliness sometimes, and feel it in the others—pooryoung clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner—young clerks in the dusk, wasting the poignant moments of night and life.

Using all the Tools

This blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard! A beard on ablind man! Too much, I say. The blind man reached into the back seat and dragged out a suitcase. My wife took his arm, shut the car door, and, talking all the way, moved him down the drive and then up the steps to the front porch. I turned off the TV. I finished my drink, rinsed the glass, dried my hands. Then I went to the door.

My wife said, "I want you to meet Robert. Robert, this is my husband. I've told you all about him.” She was beaming. She had this blind man by his coat sleeve.

The blind man let go of his suitcase and up came his hand. I took it. He squeezed hard, held my hand, and then he let it go.

"I feel like we've already met," he boomed."Likewise," I said. I didn't know what else to say. Then I

said, "Welcome. I've heard a lot about you."

Creative writing

AdviceLearn by reading: study other authors in your genre Write with an audience in mindPractice: Keep a journal or blog

Ways to Improve Your Creative Writing On CampusCreative Writing Groups: Fridays at 4pm in 300 Bessey Hall

Weekly group peer review of your creative writing pieces.

Writing Center: Bring in your creative writing for one-on-one consultations

Hear (or perform) Creative Writing: Open Mic night at the Union on Wednesday, or the Writing Center Open Mic night, or various poetry slams

Ways to Improve Your Creative Writing OnlineWriting.com: A resource that allows your to share your writing with others for feedback and also has prompts and tips to inspire stories.

theteacherscorner.net/daily-writing-prompts/: has daily writing prompts

Dailywritingtips.com: blog with daily writing tips.

Creative writing

PracticeTake a few minutes to revise your activity from the beginning.

Creative writing

RespondShare your writing in small groups

The Query LetterMr. Frank MillerFour Winds Quarterly321 Main StreetYellow Plains, WI 19123

Dear Mr. Miller,

Please consider my short story "Hard Cider Seesaw" (2,300 words) for your magazine.

As Four Winds Quarterly publishes fiction with a strong narrative line, I thought this tale

Of a young man's confrontation with his childhood adversary (a most unlikely bully)might be of interest to you.

My prose has been short-listed for the Mid-States New Writer Award and the LexiconFirst Fiction Prize. My poetry has been published in several literary magazines, and

I'dlove to add Four Winds Quarterly to my list of credits.

An SASE is enclosed for a reply, but I don't need the manuscript back. I wish youcontinued success with your magazine.

Best,Matthew Piper

Novel QueryMs. Pam GoodwinThe Goodwin Agency123 Fourth A venue, Suite 567New York, N.Y. 10000

Dear Ms. Goodwin,

Please find, enclosed, the first three chapters of April Rising (90,000 words). As your agency handles emerging writers, including J.J. Porter, whose work resembles my own, I wondered if this mainstream novel might be of interest to you.

Ellen Kaplan, carefree and twenty-three, returns to her affluent suburban home, only to discover that someone has taken her place. The culprit is April, former farm girl, HerbElixer saleswoman and proud owner of a porcelain Jesus collection. Rescued from destitution by Ellen’s older brother, April has cast a spell of familial love on the entire Kaplan clan. Ellen sets out to topple her rival but in so doing discovers more than she bargained for, including the possibility that April may not be the enemy after all. This blackly comic tale explores friendship and family values at their most dysfunctional.

A bit about me. I have a B.F.A. from New York University, where I co-founded the Rough Draft writers’ workshop, and was published in The Minetta Review. I’ve traveled extensively and currently live on a plane.

I've included a stamped self-addressed envelope for a reply only. I very much look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,Corene Lemaitre