Description
Book SynopsisSimultaneously a handbook and a critique of one,
Beyond Craft combines an orientation to the field of creative writing with an insight into current scholarship surrounding creative writing pedagogy. A much-needed alternative to the traditional craft guide, this text pairs advice and exercises on composition with an illuminating commentary on the issues surrounding these very techniques. Teaching the craft whilst apprising students of the issues of craft pedagogy, this book allows them to gain an awareness of how current pedagogy comes at the expense of larger and increasingly relevant cultural concerns. Westbrook and Ryan bring emerging writers into the larger conversations that define the field, inviting them to: - Contextualize their own writing practices and educational experiences in relation to the history of creative writing as an academic discipline. - Determine how New Critical lore and Romantic mythology may affecteven distorttheir understanding of literary production
Trade ReviewBeyond Craft is a carefully researched book capable of terrifying and inspiring writers all at once. Sometimes it is hard not to feel overwhelmed when presented with so many reasons to give up the practice; however, such brutally honest research not only contributes to dismantle unhelpful myths but also empowers writers to actively look for ways to change what is currently not working. For example, now that we understand how the image of the writer has been manipulated to promote harmful concepts like literary greatness and genius, we can get rid of such an awkward burden, and, as this handbook suggests, make room to new ideas reinventing what it means to be a creative writer in the 21st century. * Elena Traina, Journal of Creative Writing Studies *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments An Introduction: By Way of Boxes and Paradoxes (and Too Many Lines About Felines)
Section 1: Where Creative Writing Comes From Chapter 1: Art for Art’s Sake & Craft for Craft’s Sake: Our Love-Hate Relationship with the Academic History of Creative Writing Chapter 2: Smoked Dispersed in the Ether: Authors’ Creation Myths and the Problem with Genius Chapter 3: Repurposing Spontaneity: From Inspiration to Invention
Section 2: Who Creative Writers Are (in Relation to Others) Chapter 4: Beyond A Room of One’s Own: Toward Collaborative Understandings of Authorship Chapter 5: Making Collaboration Explicit: Co-Creating With Actual Others
Section 3: Where Writers Find Their Audiences, or How Publishing Works Chapter 6: What Your Creative Writing Teacher May Not Have Told You: On The Problem of “Greatness” in the Literary Marketplace Chapter 7: Commercial Publishing: Cumulative Advantage and Marketing Magic Chapter 8: Small Literary Publishing: Understanding the Pitfalls of Prestige at Independent and University Presses 193 Chapter 9: Self-Publishing in the Internet Age, or the eBook that (Nearly) Ate the World
Section 4: What the Future of Creative Writing Might Look Like Chapter 10: Misbehaving On and Off of the Page: Toward the Literature of Tomorrow Works Cited
