Author Archives: sdgibson

2250 Names

Posted on October 16, 2019

From the outstanding Metro: Journeys in Writing Creatively by Hans Ostrom, Wendy Bishop, and Katherine Haake, consider this exercise about names.

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Poems as dialogue

Posted on October 4, 2019

From David Starkey’s excellent Creative Writing, Read published poems . . . and respond to them with poems of your own. It doesn’t matter whether you respond to the subject of the other person’s poem or just a single line … Continue reading →

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Poems as letters

Posted on September 30, 2019

From David Starkey’s excellent Creative Writing, Write a poem in the form of a letter. Richard Hugo’s book 31 Letters and 13 Dreams is a great source for these types of poems. Hugo addresses poems to close old friends and to … Continue reading →

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2250 Five poems

Posted on September 25, 2019

Consider these five poems. We will talk about them in more detail during class.

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Toward a synopsis

Posted on September 23, 2019

Answer each of the following questions. Use just one sentence in each answer. How did your protagonist get involved in the story? What conflict arises to move the novella forward? What is the broad setting of your novella? What is … Continue reading →

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4420 “Gimme a Map, Please”

Posted on September 16, 2019

From Elizabeth George’s Write Away, a brief consideration of plots.

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Relationships and characterization

Posted on September 16, 2019

Interview at least two other characters about the main character: How well do they know him or her? What do they know about him or her that he or she does not know about themselves? Do they think of the … Continue reading →

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