Writing Game I N YOUR BEGINNING IS YOUR END Write a word afterword to your own imaginary collected poems, complete stories or the final edition of your creative nonfiction. Assume your working life has glowed with success, and your readership is widespread and uncritical. Knowing that this is probably your final opportunity in print to say something true about yourself to your readers, write a brief account of what you think your weaknesses were, and why your audience may have missed them. In the final sentence, state what you think were the lessons you might pass onto younger writers just starting out. A IM : Sometimes telling yourself the truth is the hardest thing to do, like drawing something accurately and seeming to do so without art. Describing your own weaknesses is necessary to the development of writerly honesty, but also necessary to your development and integrity.
Illustrative bibliographyAbbott, H. Porter, The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Abrioux, Yves, Ian Hamilton Finlay: A Visual Primer, London Reaktion Books, 1994. Addonizio, Kim and Laux, Dorianne, The Poet’s Companion, New York Norton, 1997. Allen, Walter, Writers on Writing, London Dent, Alvarez, Ali The Writer’s Voice, London Bloomsbury, 2005. Amis, Martini Experiencei, London Vintage, Anderson, Linda (ed, Creative Writing A Workbook with Readings, London: Routledge, Apollinaire, Guillaume, Caligrammes, Berkeley University of California Press, 1991. Attridge, Derek, Poetic Rhythm An Introduction, Cambridge Cambridge University Press, Atwood, Margaret, interview BBC 4, bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/ profilepages/atwood, November Atwood, Margaret, Negotiating with the Dead A Writer on Writing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Barry, Elaine (ed, Robert Frost on Writing, New Brunswick Rutgers University Press, Beard, Richard, X20, London Flamingo, 1996. Behn, Robin and Twichell, Chase (eds, The Practice of Poetry Writing Exercisesfrom Poets who Teach, New York HarperResource, Bell, Julia and Magrs, Pauli The Creative Writing Coursebook, London Macmillan, 2001. Bell, Madison Smartt, Narrative Design A Writer’s Guide to Structure, New York: Norton, Bernays, Anne and Painter, Pamela, What If Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers, New York Quill, Berry, Cicely, Your Voice and How to Use It, London Virgin Books, Bishop, Elizabeth, The Complete Poems, New York The Noonday Press, Blake, Carole, From Pitch to Publication, Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999. Blegvad, Peter, The Book of Leviathan, London Sort Of Books, 2000. 258
Illustrative bibliography259 Bloom, Harold, The Anxiety of Influence, 2nd edition, Oxford Oxford University Press, Bloom, Harold, How to Read and Why, London Fourth Estate, 2000. Bly, Carol, Beyond the Writers Workshop, New York Anchor, 2001. Boden, Margaret A, The Creative Mind Myths and Mechanisms, London: Routledge, 2004. Boisseau, Michelle and Wallace, Robert, Writing Poems, 6th edition, New York: Longman Pearson, Booker, Christopher, The Seven Basic Plots, London Continuum, Bradbury, Malcolm (ed, The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories,London: Penguin Books, 1988. Brande, Dorothea, Becoming a Writer, New York Harcourt and Brace, reprint New York Tarcher Penguin, Brook, Peter, The Empty Space, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1990. Brower, Reuben, Mirror on Mirror Translation Imitation Parody, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, Brown, Clare and Paterson, Don (eds, Don’t Ask Me What I Mean Poets in TheirShare with your friends: |