Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part 1. Genres and Forms Galore Chapter 1. I''ll Put a Spell on You by Pia Simone Garber, A. B. Gorham, Megan Paonessa, and Betsy Seymour The art of spell writing, using repetition, and chanting. Chapter 2. Bake a Cake in an Earthquake: How-To Guides and Process Descriptions by Pia Simone Garber, A. B.
Gorham, Megan Paonessa, and Betsy Seymour Let a story emerge from your instructions. Chapter 3. Guidebooks Galore! Chart Uncharted Places by Pia Simone Garber, A. B. Gorham, Megan Paonessa, and Betsy Seymour Create a guide to your room, cell phone, refrigerator, and more. Chapter 4. Postcard Stories by Zachary Doss, Meredith Noseworthy, and Bethany Startin Two characters have an exotic exchange through postcards. Chapter 5.
Creative Nonfiction by Kenny Kruse Twenty little memoir projects, plus a squirrel. Chapter 6. Tropes Unlimited: Genre Fiction by Kristin Aardsma and Brian Oliu Explore the habits of genre fiction (fantasy, horror, sci-fi, mystery, etc.) and put them to use. Chapter 7. Where Frankenstein Meets Frodo, Part One: Creating a Character for Genre Fiction by Creating Their Facebook Page by Kristin Aardsma and Brian Oliu Like Frankenstein''s creator, build a character bit by bit until it''s ready to come to life in your own genre fiction. Chapter 8. Where Frankenstein Meets Frodo, Part Two: Our Hero''s Hundred-Story Hotel and Other Settings for Your Genre Fiction Character by Kristin Aardsma and Brian Oliu Give your main character a room (or rooms) of their own.
Chapter 9. What''s Your Alibi? by Jessie Bailey, Jesse Delong, A. B. Gorham, and Lisa Tallin How will your character explain their way out of this one? Chapter 10. Interviews: For Groups Large and Small by Jenny Gropp and Stephen Hess "I feel that I am as necessary as my face": conduct an absurdist interview. Chapter 11. Once Upon a Time in the Twenty-First Century: Retelling Fairy Tales by Pia Simone Garber Why was Little Red Riding Hood so readily tricked by the Big Bad Wolf and what would you have done in her place? Chapter 12. "Is He for Real?": Character-Based Flash Fiction, Part One: Defining a Character through Action and Dialogue by Katie Berger, Laura Kochman, and Brandi Wells Conjure up a living, breathing character in as few words as possible.
Chapter 13. "Is He for Real?": Character-Based Flash Fiction, Part Two: Defining a Character through an Unexpected Setting by Katie Berger, Laura Kochman, and Brandi Wells "The mermaid sitting in my tree was drenched ." Chapter 14. Collaboration with Fly: Learning from Lydia Davis by Stephen Hess Be inspired by this flash fiction master''s work to write your own flash fiction. Chapter 15. The Relationship between Truth and Fiction by Ashley Chambers, Annie Hartnett, and Christopher McCarter How can "truth" inspire a writer of fiction? Chapter 16. Little Novels by Jessie Bailey and Pia Simone Garber Condense classic novels and movies into tiny pieces. Chapter 17.
It Is By Chance That We Meet: Writing A One-Act Play Through Collaboration by Alex Czaja, Romy Feder, Stephen Thomas Here, you and three others will write a one-act play. Chapter 18. Quick Found-Language Sonnets by Molly Goldman, Kenny Kruse, and Sally Rodgers Recycle language into fourteen-line poems. Chapter 19. Social Network Haiku by Chapin Gray and Kirk Pinho Update the haiku form by writing away messages and Facebook haiku. Chapter 20. Rhymes Real Cool: Studies in Rap Lyrics by Christopher McCarter Tap some rhymes to use in rap. Chapter 21.
Oral Poetry: The Physical Landscape of Your Poetic Voice by Curtis Rutherford Tones, tempos, and timbres--shape your poem with your voice. Chapter 22. Collaborative Ghazal by Chapin Gray and Kirk Pinho Explore this mesmerizing Arabic form and write one with a group or on your own. Chapter 23. Collaborative Abecedarian (For up to Twenty-Six Writers) by Sally Rodgers Fall in love with the alphabet all over again and use it to organize and inspire a poem. Chapter 24. The Triolet by Pia Simone Garber A French poetic form full of rhymes and repetition. Chapter 25.
Oh, Ode! by Leia Wilson Swoon! Celebrate! Write an ode and then try an Exquisite Corpse ode as a group. Chapter 26. Sestinas: Six Words, Obsessed! by Chapin Gray, Jenny Gropp, and Kirk Pinho Learn the basic sestina form, "cheat" your way to an abridged sestina, write a giant sestina, and take the Ode-Sestina Challenge. Chapter 27. Nonce, Not Nonsense: Poetry Meets the Future by Jenny Gropp and Emma Sovich Work with the "Century" and the "Portion," and then create your own unique poetry form. Chapter 28. Poetry from Math: The Fib and Beyond by Jenny Gropp and Emma Sovich Learn a poetic form based on the Fibonacci sequence, and then head further into the realm of poetry and equations. Chapter 29.
Pillow Book Lists: Observing Experience for Creative Nonfiction by Katie Berger and Pia Simone Garber Get started with autobiographical writing by making expressive lists and snatching up the details right by your side. Chapter 30. A Travel Guide of the Self by Katie Berger and Pia Simone Garber Take yourself on a tour of you through travel writing and second-person point of view. Chapter 31. Expert Experience: The Art of the Unlikely, Opinionated Review by Katie Berger and Pia Simone Garber Creative nonfiction meets the review when you write your own brief, detailed--and unexpected--review of something you know a lot about. Part 2. Ye Olde Language Lets Loose Chapter 32. TNT Prose: Explodable, Expandable Text by Jenny Gropp and Kirsten Jorgenson Use your own words as dynamite to blow out the words of an existing text, revealing a new piece of writing when the dust clears.
Chapter 33. Take It Away: Erasure by Jenny Gropp and Kirsten Jorgenson Erase your way to a new piece. Chapter 34. Ye Olde Language Made New: "False" Translation by Jenny Gropp Take a text from another language and "translate" it according to several zany methods. Chapter 35. Sounds into Words, Words into Sounds by Molly Goldman Turn a sound jumble into a poem. Chapter 36. Starting from a Song, Part One: Remixing a Song in Writing by Tasha Coryell and Steve Reaugh Be a one-hit wonder! Chapter 37.
Starting from a Song, Part Two: Under the (Musical) Influence by Tasha Coryell and Steve Reaugh Let music put you in a writing mood. Chapter 38. Balderdash for Writers: New Stories from an Old Box by Jesse Delong and Megan Paonessa Create stories by playing a few rounds of this classic word game. Chapter 39. Disaster City: A Facebook-y Adventure by Rachel Adams, Jessie Bailey, and Kirsten Jorgenson Map out a city and fill it with characters and plot twists in this collaborative fiction activity that uses moves that you might recognize from Facebook. Chapter 40. Consequences: A Parlor Game of Surprise Narratives by Kit Emslie and Sarah Kelly First played by the Victorians, Consequences is a parlor game similar to the famous Surrealist exercise "exquisite corpse." Chapter 41.
Constraints, Odd Characters, and Secret Postcards: A Fresh Approach to Character and Context by Kirsten Jorgenson, Betsy Seymour, and Danilo Thomas Create questions that generate eccentric characters and then write their secrets down on postcards in this group activity. Chapter 42. Broken Picture Telephone: Modernist Poets Meet the Grade-School Game of Telephone by Rachel Adams, Pia Simone Garber, Kirsten Jorgenson, and Betsy Seymour Explore the tie between thought and image by making a miniature deck of phrase and image cards, and then use the cards like a modernist poet. Chapter 43. Magazine Shuffle: From Image to Character, Narrative, and Third-Person-Limited Point of View by Rachel Adams, Pia Simone Garber, Kirsten Jorgenson, and Betsy Seymour Combine simple images from magazines to create characters and then narrate their stories from the third-person-limited point of view. Chapter 44. Improv at the Zombie Diner: Platform and Dialogue by Holly Burdorff, Luke Percy, and Maggie Smith In this exercise, you''re going to be put in a dangerous situation, and you''re going to have to act fast. Chapter 45.
Comicpalooza: The Art of the Panel by Rachel Adams, Pia Simone Garber, Kirsten Jorgenson, and Betsy Seymour See how comic books use narrative, then build your own characters, images, and a story to make a new comic. Chapter 46. Fast Talkers and Faster Writers: Speed Transcription by Chapin Gray, Brian Oliu, and Kirk Pinho Practice writing while someone reads a text as fast as possible, picking up what you can and freeing up your associative writer''s imagination along the way. Chapter 47. Obsessions: Seven Way by Kristin Aardsma and Breanne LeJuene Chocolate truffles, the color purple, America . obsess on your obsession! Chapter 48. Grand Theft Writing: Swiped Beginnings by Chapin Gray, Brian Oliu, and Kirk Pinho Use the beginning of another text to get your momentum going. Chapter 49.
Crazy Headlines and Hyperlink Chasing: Finding and Using a Bizarre Persona by Chapin Gray, Brian Oliu, and Kirk Pinho Use hyperlinks to uncover a subject for your new piece. Chapter 50. Genetically-Modified Franken-Poems by Chapin Gray and Breanne LeJuene Cut up magazines and newspapers to create new poems, both individually and in groups. <.