Writing

in

Writing:

An In-Depth Look At Writing

In the Creative Writing

Major

by

Conor Logan

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Chapter 1 4

Chapter 2 8

Chapter 3 15

Chapter 4 18

Chapter 5 22

Works Cited 24

2

Introduction

When researching writing in a major, it can’t get more meta than studying the Creative Writing

major. If a group of people all thought of what writing one would do in the Creative Writing discipline,

chances are they would all think of similar things: poems, short stories, perhaps the occasional

academic essay. However, writing genres actually vary greatly throughout the major. This is where my

book is helpful: understanding the complexities one would not expect when choosing to major in

Creative Writing. Throughout my book, I will help DU freshman to become more informed, less

worried and perhaps closer to making the decision if the discipline is right for them.

Starting with an informative literary review in Chapter 1, I will keep DU freshmen in mind as I

address many things you will need to know to enter and succeed in the Creative Writing field both

academically and, beyond that, professionally. After helping students become more educated on the

types of literature that already exist in the major and their pros and cons, I move on to Chapter 2 where

I provide students with insights onto the genres of writing they will face in the major and the different

facets of these genres. The chapter will allow prospective Creative Writing students to be aware of what

they will face and how they can conquer these different genres they will be asked to complete. Chapter

3 will take a new direction and feature an interview with a graduate student in the Creative Writing

discipline. Joe Lennon, a professor who is also working towards his phD at the University of Denver,

gives excellent first hand information as both a current professor and student of Creative Writing. After

hearing straight from the source excellent information on what to expect and how to succeed, I will

then turn to addressing a problem in the major and a solution to said problem. Chapter 4 will be an

interesting and slightly different look at the Creative Writing major, pointing out a flaw in the current

system instead of presenting research about said system. The chapter should provide students a fresh

look at majoring in Creative Writing, instead of being the same spiel they hear from academic advisors

and parents. The last chapter and conclusion, Chapter 5 will wrap up the book and look towards the

future as prospective and current Creative Writing students. By the time Chapter 5 rolls around, readers

should have gained knowledge and insight into many different facets of the Creative Writing major and

how it functions.

With that being said, I hope you find my book both enjoyable and informative. I know I did

when I was writing it. Enjoy!

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Chapter 1: Review of Interesting Literature

In creative writing, there are two main fields that are studied, taught and practiced. While they

sometimes overlap, poetry and fiction are most often looked at as separate enterprises. Through this

literary review, I will address research on the writing that is created for the purpose of teaching those

two facets of creative writing. Even though they are looked at separately, for the purpose of the literary

review I will discuss both poetry and fiction research together. This is for two reasons; when in the

Creative Writing major, you will encounter both fiction and poetry indiscriminately. Also, I have

organized the works not by text but by form and content.

Fiction writing is arguably one of the most popular writing formats in the world. Novels,

screenplay and theatrical plays are some of the most often purchased and consumed types of writing.

Fiction is also an old style of literature. Since the beginning of universities and colleges, fiction has

been taught in some way. With that in mind, many different styles of teaching writing have come in and

out of vogue. When gathering sources for this literary review, I tried to collect as varying of teaching

styles as I could. From the contemporary and the slightly odd to the old but still relevant, the writings

of 'how to write' vary greatly in content but almost all seem to follow some of the same principles.

Researching poetry in the form of being taught in creative writing was slightly different. Poetry

is a very abstract form of literature, so the teaching of it is usually quite different from college to

college and even classroom to classroom. This is especially true when you get above the high school

level of poetry and on to undergraduate and graduate studies. However, poetry is one of the largest

facets of a creative writing field of study so it would be incorrect not to research it when talking about

creative writing. Continuing that, both fiction and poetry are essential parts of accomplishing a Creative

Writing major, and understanding the literature involved can make the student's life much easier while

in college and beyond.

When I began researching, I first looked at works of literature that taught how to write fiction.

Many of these works came up to be full length books that delved into many different topics of

literature. Fundamentals of Fiction Writing, the first resource I found and a full length book written by

Arthur Sullivant Hoffman in 1922, was perhaps the oddest resource. While it may seem like a book

from almost one hundred years ago is not salient to today's world, this particular piece of literature has

remained not only an Amazon bestseller but is still taught in classrooms around the nation today. The

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second literature I found, also a full length book, was Vivid and Continuous: Essays and Exercises for

Writing Fiction by John McNally. McNally, a Creative Writing professor and published author of both

fiction and non-fiction, has written three books on how to write fiction and brings a sort of expertise to

the table. The third book I found was a bit closer to home. Brian Kiteley, a professor at the University

of Denver, is the author of The 3 AM Epiphany: Uncommon Writing Exercises That Transform Your

Fiction. The long title is indicative of the length; this is also a book length work. The last book length

piece I found was a work entitled Women Writing Modern Fiction: A Passion for Ideas by Janice

Rossen. However, this book is not entirely the same as the other book length pieces. While it includes a

lengthy and introduction and essay by Janice Rossen, it is actually compiled of academic essays by

women authors in society today. This brings us to our next type of literature I found: the academic

essay.

When I began researching writing poetry, I found that many of the resources were of essay

length instead of book length. I deduced that is most likely because poetry is such a varied form, any

book length work would have to focus on so many different aspects that it would make more sense for

it to be a collection of essays as opposed to being written by the same author. My suspicions were

found to be correct, at least in this instance, when I found the work Teaching Modernist Poetry, a

collection of essays edited by Peter Middleton and Nicky Marsh. This book, while similar to Women

Writing Modern Fiction, is a more classic collection of essays as it does not feature a large introduction

or any essays by the title editors. I decided to work from inside the book, and found the essays “The

Elusive Allusion: Poetry and the Exegesis” by Peter Nicholls and “Politics and Modern Poetics” by

Drew Milne. These essays were the most relevant and helpful to my literature review, as well as being

quite similar to what I was already learning in my Creative Writing poetry class at the University of

Denver! The last essay length literature I found was a short piece entitled “Writing Fiction...About

Yourself” by Richard Lovett. This was an interesting find because it was the only fiction writing piece

that was of essay length. While teaching poetry and fiction seem to be entirely separate enterprises,

they share many of the same characteristics, not only occasionally in length, but also in content. I will

now switch gears and focus on exactly that: the content of the pieces.

While most of the fiction writing books are just that, book length, they vary greatly in form and

content. Fundamentals of Fiction Writing, the oldest piece in my review, is one that uses a lot of telling

and informing to get it's points across. The book also goes into specifics that other books and essays did

not. One passage about magazine fiction, found in a chapter devoted entirely to the subject, is

especially pertinent. “...limitations serve to only lower the proportion of literature in magazine fiction.

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Neither they nor anything else creates any fundamental difference between the two. Both are fiction,

both subjected to the laws of fiction. And even that magazine fiction beyond the pale of literature is

aimed, somehow, at the reader and is to be judged on that basis” (Sullivant Hoffman 29). As a

magazine editor, Sullivant Hoffman sheds light on a specific area of expertise and allows the reader,

most likely an aspiring fiction writer, to benefit from it.

Other pieces that use telling instead of exercises and delve into specifics are the poetry essays

“The Elusive Allusion” by Peter Nicholls and “Politics and Modern Poetics” by Drew Milne.

Throughout much of these essays, the authors inform the readers through in depth studies of poetry.

They do not use exercises at all to engage the reader, instead using facts to teach the reader. They also

both talk about very specific topics. Nicholls writes almost exclusively about exegesis in poetry and

how attempting to understand poetry has changed throughout the years. Milne does the same with

contemporary poetry and its role in politics. They both never waver from their original thesis and use

their knowledge on a particular field in the grand scheme of poetry to inform the reader.

The last piece that exclusively informs the reader is Women Writing Modern Fiction, the

collection of essays by Janice Rossen. This book does almost the exact same thing as the poetic essays.

Each essay delves into specifics that the author has a particular expertise on. However, this book varies

because while each separate essay author brings something different to the table, the entire book has a

certain focus that is not found in Teaching Modernist Poetry. All essays focus specifically on being a

woman writing fiction in this modern world. However, they are also very similar in the fact that they

teach the reader directly.

Understanding these pieces of literature is important to the Creative Writing freshman because

one can take the information they learned specifically from the text and apply it to their own works and

studies. While learning directly from text may seem like a slightly outdated and difficult way to learn, it

is crucial to see processes behind writer's pieces instead of just seeing the pieces themselves. Reading

how to write is essential to the process of developing from an incoming freshman with little skill in

writing literature to a departing, learned senior.

Moving away from the pieces that teach the reader, we will now focus on works that attempt to

allow the reader to almost teach themselves: pieces of literature where exercises play a prominent role.

The 3 AM Epiphany: Uncommon Writing Exercises That Transform Your Fiction, written by DU

professor Brian Kiteley, is comprised of almost exclusively exercises that attempt to teach one how to

write fiction through the actual process of writing fiction. In one exercise entitled the Bridge Exercise,

Kiteley writes, “Below I want you to write in the blank space between these two quotations your own

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prose that somehow connects these two pieces of other people's writing.” (Kiteley 32). Exercises like

this allow the reader to learn through using the brain instead of learning through informing the brain.

While it is important to learn, an important way to truly get better at creative writing is to

practice, practice, practice. Vivid and Continuous: Essays & Exercises for Fiction Writing, the book by

John McNally, is another that uses exercises quite a bit. At the end of every chapter of his book,

McNally puts three or four exercises that the reader can practice with. At the end of one chapter, he

challenges readers (who are also aspiring writers) to “1. Try writing in different locations. For instance,

try writing in solitude and then try writing in a busy place, like a coffee shop. Do you notice any

differences? Does one place work better for you?” (McNally 7). Adding exercises to the end of chapters

is a very common thing to do for authors who are writing fiction pieces. The thing that makes this work

different from the books or essays that just teach the reader, besides the exercises, is that his chapters

are full of anecdotes and have little to no facts or information. One such anecdote, found in the chapter

before the aforementioned exercise prompt, allows the reader to understand more about both writing

and the author. In order to prove a point about writing and the spaces necessary to write, McNally

explains, “I have several cats and dogs, and the dogs, in particular, have become more and more

demanding of my time and attention. On days when they're acting out, its difficult to get done what I

need to get done-that is, until I bought a used Airstream trailer” (McNally 5). Anecdotes like this are a

common thing for writers to include in their works.

Another work that uses almost exclusively anecdote is the essay “Writing Fiction...About

Yourself” by by Richard Lovett. Much like McNally, Lovett uses anecdote to engage the reader, but

instead of adding exercises to the end of his essay, he adds writing tips throughout the piece. After

telling a story about one of the first writings he made money from, Lovett writes, “autobiographical

writing seems safe and easy. I don't have to figure out what happens next. All I have to do is decide

which facts are relevant, then arrange them in storytelling order” (Lovett). This type of writing

manages to both inform and entertain the reader, leaving them both wiser and satisfied after reading.

Anecdote is also used by Peter Nicholls in his essay “The Elusive Allusion”. This use of anecdote,

coupled with his specific knowledge on the subject he is writing about, works the same way as Lovett's.

It draws the reader in while also making sure the reader is not left with only a story at the end of the

day. In the beginning of the essay, Lovett uses a short account about a student seminar he was

attending. He writes, “One thing was clear from this rather unsatisfactory seminar: with every

generation we move further from the cultural matrix that Pound clearly felt he shared with his readers,”

(Nicholls 11). With this statement, Nicholls manages to wrap up his anecdote while looking towards

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what he is going to inform his reader of next. The purpose of this, like many anecdotes, is to provide

context to the information in the work.

Throughout researching and writing this literary review, I noticed many similarities found

almost between the lines of the research. Writing designed for the teaching and creation of creative

writing was a seemingly odd subject to study, but I managed to find a wide variety of resources that

dealt with the subject. My research and my own viewpoints, which I will address in the coming pages,

are ones that reflect many of the same ideas found in the sources I outlined and analyzed in this chapter.

I noticed a significant gap in the resources of “bringing it all together.” There were very few, almost

non-existent, pieces of research that dealt with Creative Writing as a whole and the similarities between

poetry and fiction. Throughout this book, including this chapter, I hope you will be able to find the

similarities and use them in your own creative writing, both poetry and fiction. I attempt to fill in not

only the gaps between poetry and fiction as different disciplines, but also the gaps inside the poetry and

fiction sections themselves. Fiction, while having many resources that delve into a variety of teaching

how to write, appears not to have a single research piece that focuses on writing as a whole and offers

ways in which one can learn to write. Poetry, while teaching each section, or era, or poetry

independently, does not have a single guideline or resource that attempts to teach poetry as a whole.

This book, from this chapter on, will attempt to not only address those gaps but also shed light on

contemporary and interesting facets of writings for creative writing.

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Chapter 2: Genre Study

When writing for creative writing, you will encounter an abundance of different types of writing

genres from the classroom to the coffeehouse. Creative writing fluctuates in and out of the classroom

setting, encompassing many styles and types of writings you can find in either your local Barnes and

Noble or being handed to you on the first day of the semester. Before we talk about the specific genres

you will come upon and subsequently answer questions about said genres, let's discuss what a writing

genre truly is.

Genre is a term many people associate with music. When you discuss favorite music with your

friends, you will most of talk about genres: classic rock, folk, indie, alternative, rap, pop, top 40, even

country music. All these words associate with a certain style of music and evoke certain thoughts when

talked about. While discussed less often in casual conversation, writing genres work the same way.

Graduation speeches, five paragraph essays, poems, even thank you notes all bring out specific ideas

when either thought about or presented with. Genres in the writing sense are essentially another way to

say rhetorical situation. First coined by Lloyd Bitzer, rhetorical situation is a term that means what

rhetoric, or writing, you would use to respond to a situation, which includes audience and a set of

constraints. Rhetorical situations occur all around us everyday. From the student begging their

professor to raise their grade to a casual walk by hello in your dorm hallway, rhetorical situations are

never ending in our lives. The most important thing about the rhetorical situation, and also genre, is the

understanding that when one encounters and identifies a certain rhetorical situation, it becomes easier

to use the correct rhetoric to combat the situation.

It is important to keep in mind that genres and rhetorical situations are not one in the same.

While they both serve the same purpose, to allow readers to more easily analyze a type of writing and

writers to more easily write a specific piece. However, while genres are most often a response to a

certain rhetorical situation, they take on a life of their own past the initial rhetorical situation. Genres

are also usually much broader than a rhetorical situation. This is precisely the reason this chapter is a

genre study and not a rhetorical analysis. A rhetorical analysis is better suited for looking at a single

specific piece of writing while genre studies are much better for looking at groups of writing, such as

essays or speeches. With this new information on genre theory and study in mind, I will now delve into

Creative Writing and study separate genres you will encounter when majoring in the field. Starting with

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likely the first rhetoric you will receive in a college classroom, the syllabus, I will then go through the

final paper, the academic essay, and poetry.

Syllabus

Starting in the classroom, this chapter will address different genres typically found in a creative

writing education and career. First up, we have the syllabus. A staple of every classroom in college

whether it be freshman year or your seventh year pursuing a PhD, the syllabus dictates what goes on in

that particular class. As one may know, the syllabus' purpose is to give the student all the pertinent

information they will need. The syllabus usually begins with the class name, class number hours and

location, and the professor's information: office hours, office location, and e-mail. Following this, is

usually a synopsis of the course itself. After the synopsis, a reading list of required texts and books will

appear. Usually other information is included, such as the structure of grading and any classroom or

university policies the professor wants the class to be aware of.

Syllabi perform an important action of, before any books or purchased or lectures are given,

allowing the student to know what to expect (and whether or not to drop the class). When college

students enter a classroom, the only rhetoric they have before the teacher hands out the syllabus is the

course catalog description and any information they could gather from friends or rate my professor.

This leaves a need for a quick, compact way to get all the pertinent information to the student. This is

why syllabi will, almost without fail, be used by the professor.

Another reason for the syllabus is that it allows the power in the classroom to switch away from

the professor to a more balanced equation. The professor holds all the power in a college classroom. He

or she determines everything from the attendance policy to how the grading will work. So when the

professor gives each student a syllabus that contains all the information they need in order to do well in

the class, the power structure changes to one of more fairness than before. Syllabi respond to the

rhetorical situation created in a new class and do so in a way that follows the genre. The genre,

however, can be broken. In my Writ 1122 class at the University of Denver, Professor Angela Sowa

switched the power from the teacher all the way to the students by not only not having a syllabus, but

informing us that we would be creating the syllabus for the class. While not entirely breaking the genre,

as a syllabus was still created in the end, the dynamic was completely altered by allowing students to

decide the information on the syllabus. Syllabi as a genre, broken or unbroken, serve an important role

in the college classroom. The next genre we will study also serves just as important of a role in most

Creative Writing classes.

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Final

Staying in the typical classroom structure, we will discuss the other end of the typical creative

writing class: the final. Usually finals in creative writing classes are not typical finals at all, but rather

an essay or large body of work. We still study, specifically, a final in the form of a written reflection on

one's own writing. We will discuss both the writing prompt that, conveniently found on the syllabus,

dictates the professor's instructions to the student and what the finished product will look like. First,

lets begin with the prompt. A lot of prompts, in writing classes, will be open ended enough for many

different variations in both form and content. However, most prompts will give instructions in the

category of word count or page length.

For a specific example, we can look at the final “Poetics Statement” from ENGL 2003: Poetry

Workshop, taught by Joe Lennon. This is an intermediate level creative writing class with an emphasis

and study in poetry. The final is divided into two parts, the first being a “Chapbook” with revised

poems from the class. We will focus on the second half, the “Poetics Statement.” Lennon specifically

asks for “4-5 pages in length” and also specifically asks the student to “propose your own definition of

poetry” and to “look critically at your own work in light of that definition.” This prompt, while asking

for a specific in defining poetry, is not a rigorous set of rules on which to mold the response. The

prompt gives one more rule, that the writer “engage with at least two of the texts we have discussed

during the class”, which is less of a rule and more of a way to flesh out the essay into the 4 page

minimum. Through this example, we can see that creative writing final reflection essays are typically

open ended prompts with a set of guidelines that allow the writer to truly show creativity in their

response.

The social action of this genre fills a unique role in college classrooms. When one takes an

economics or a biology class, the class is filled with information and facts and figures that are

committed to memory. In this way, final exams fit the curriculum found in that classroom. Creative

writing works differently. Classes are filled with discussions of poetry and fiction, essays that discuss

poetry and fiction, and especially in workshop classes, poetry or fiction created by the students. There

are no facts or figures and all the information is learned is learned in a discussion or in a reading for the

class. Therefore, a final exam would not fit the curriculum. A final reflection paper fits perfectly into

this rhetorical situation and functions as a way for a student to not only speak about what he learned

during the course, thus proving his knowledge, but also relating that to his own work, a large part of a

creative writing course.

This genre is a slight departure from the class final paper, as it is more of a reflection than an

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academic essay. Also, one can break this creative writing reflection genre by delving even further from

academic essays. One such example was an Introduction to Creative Writing course I attended at

University of Denver, taught by Dana Green. Our final paper, while still a reflective piece on our own

writing, gave no stipulation other than that it had to be at least three pages long and be a reflection on

our writing style. The paper could have been formatted anywhere from a poem to an academic essay to

a story, as long as it was three pages long. This broke the genre by allowing the form to be structured in

any way the student saw fit. Creative writing final papers are perfect as a reflection for the types of

rhetoric found in the classroom, which includes our next genre, the academic essay.

Academic Essay

Still remaining in the realm of the classroom, we will move to a reading often associated with

creative writing. An academic essay is typically written by either a professor or expert in the field and

are often between three and perhaps twenty pages long. They usually center on a specific topic, but

may start more broadly or have an introduction that narrows the focus. The language of the essay can

vary as greatly as the subject matter. More often than not, however, the language is that of academic

variety and may be harder to understand and take longer to read than your favorite novel. In this facet,

the academic essay functions to teach the reader not only the subject matter but also how to slow down

and read essays; essentially, academic essays teach in two ways as opposed to one.

Academic essays fit perfectly into the creative writing classroom for many reasons. Their action

is to teach new ideas to a class, and for this they are perfect. They are usually short enough to be able to

assign at least one for each class, allowing many ideas to flow into the classroom. Also, they allow

readers to see the ideas behind the creative works they read in class. Often, reading an academic essay

by a poet you have read educates in a way that the poem itself never could.

This genre can be broken only if one considers a very narrow view of what an academic essay

entails. If one denotes only stuffy language and complex topics to be an academic essay, any essay that

uses colloquial tone and/or addresses a slightly easier topic would be considered breaking the academic

essay genre. However, these traits, somewhat stuffy language and a complex topic are not tenants of the

genre but only expectations. Academic essays, while not always being the most enjoyable or easiest

reading material, are a perfect genre for the Creative Writing classroom. They often go hand in hand

with creative works themselves, such as our next genre, poems.

Poems

Now we will address a genre found both in the classroom and in the real world outside

academia: poetry. Most often, when pursuing a creative writing degree, one will have to take a poetry

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specific workshop style class. These classes feature two separate sides of poetry: creating and reading

poetry. Finding typified features of the genre is difficult because poetry, by nature, can take almost any

form. However, there are typified features of the assigned poetry in a workshop class. For nearly every

class meeting, students are expected to create a poem most often based on readings for the day or

themes being explored in the class. These poems are turned in to the teacher at this time. Also, once

during the quarter, students bring in a piece of a collection of pieces they want to have peer reviewed

by the entire class.

On the reading poetry side, there are definitely typified features. Most poetry brought in is by

famous poets who have a cultural and historical significance in poetry. In a lot of classes, poetry by up

and coming experimental authors is also used. This is largely the same because famous historical poets

also created experimental (for the time) poetry. While poetry may seem like a genre that would have

little to no features in common, poetry in a workshop setting has many typified features.

The social action of the poetry genre is to allow students to do two things: practice writing

poetry and learn directly from poet's work. At the end of the day, the Creative Writing major is about

creating writings. Without actually practicing poetry, the academic essays and poems read in class

would be in vain. On the flip side, reading poetry is one of the best ways to learn how to write. It helps

the freshman poet to find heroes, role models and even writers they don't want to write similarly to at

all. It also helps the poet to understand writing styles and formats that they can use in their own works.

Without reading actual poetry from the real world, teaching poetry would be not only difficult but

almost impossible.

Breaking the poetry genre is also almost impossible. Poetry is an art form that allows poets to

create their poetry however they choose. While throughout history poetry has had a more set in stone

format, today poetry is as wild as the author wishes it to be. This is a genre that can take almost any

form and has about as few of rules as is possible. However, one way to break the classroom poetry

genre would be to not turn in a poem!

Genres, from the almost formless poetry to the very similar syllabus, are important for not only

understanding the writing associated with the creative writing major, but also for utilizing the skills

learned in creative writing and applying them to your own writing. When you understand the genres,

you are able to understand what the professor is looking for in your reply as well as being able to draw

on past instances in the genre to further your own writing. Genre understanding, and in turn

understanding the rhetorical situation, will ensure one never becomes confused when faced with any

multitude of writings.

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Creative writing, while very similar to many other fields of study, is different in that the subject

matter is much more subjective than objective. This lends itself to a subjectivity in the writing that may

cause confusion when trying to write, academically or creatively, for the major. In my next chapter, I

will continue this thought and focus more on how to write in the Creative Writing major and deal with

the subjectivity you encounter. In my interview with DU Professor Joe Lennon, I learned important and

pertinent information on what professors look for when evaluating works in the Creative Writing major.

Adding real world substance from a DU professor to a solid knowledge of genre study based off

rhetorical situations, one can more easily navigate the different types of writing you will encounter

when pursuing a creative writing degree.

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Chapter 3: Interview with Joe Lennon

Many times throughout one's four years of college, questions and even doubts about majors

enter your mind. One way to ease any feelings or stress about your chosen major is to talk to someone

who is either an upperclassman in your major, a graduate student, a professor or even a professional in

the field. While researching the creative writing major at DU, and to qualm my occasionally rising

thoughts about switching majors, I interviewed a graduate student and professor at DU named Joe

Lennon. Professor Lennon currently teaches myself and sixteen other undergraduates in a class titled

“ENGL 2003: Creative Writing Poetry”. Lennon had many insights on different aspects of the major

and how writing functions in a major who's main function is writing.

As a graduate student but also a professor, Lennon could talk from both sides of the coin. He

was able to share his knowledge on creating works for classes as well as evaluating works that were

created in his classroom. Also adding to his versatility, he has taught three classes at the University of

Denver: Introduction to Creative Writing, Art of Poetry and Creative Writing: Poetry. In his Art of

Poetry class, Lennon said that his students created academic works: essays that discussed poetry and

poetry theory. In his other two classes, both Creative Writing based, his students created their own

original works for his grading and assessing. While Introduction to Creative Writing featured both

works of fiction and poetry, Lennon stressed that most of his work was specifically in the poetry side of

creative writing. That being said, this chapter will focus very little on fiction, mainly addressing poetry

and the other varying literatures and genres that are associated with poetry, many of which I touch on in

Chapter 2 of this book.

Throughout the interview, Lennon talked about what it was like to be in the Creative Writing

major. He spoke about how competitive academia had become, even woefully lamenting on the fact

that too many creative writers had to turn to teaching instead of being out in the real world creating

great works. This problem is one that I address in Chapter 4, where I will also suggest a solution to the

issue. Lennon also spoke, when asked about specific journals, about how a hopeful poet should not

read just one literary journal but instead read every journal, book of poetry, and poem they could find.

One point he made was that, “the biggest difference between a published poet and a hopeful Creative

Writing undergraduate is the amount of poetry they have read.” Though all these were important tidbits,

he spoke at length about three points that I garnered to be the most important things to take from the

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interview.

The first large point Lennon made is that, no matter which genre the writing is, every sentence

should be bringing the essay along. Empty language and sentences that don't move the essay forward

are the biggest things he looks for in any writing done for his classes. Lennon stressed multiple times

that specificity of language was important in not only the classroom setting, but in the professional

world as well. This was certainly an interesting point that made me rethink a lot of my own works I had

done for creative writing. While it is common knowledge that word choice is important in poetry,

perhaps the most important thing, specific word choice in genres like an academic essay or final poetic

statement is not something typically thought about.

Lennon also made an interesting point when asked about research in the creative writing major.

After a brief discussion on CD Wright's research for her book of poetry One Big Self, which we read in

class, Lennon commented that research in creative writing is both very personal and voluntary.

Whereas in a science discipline, research is necessary and treated as work, research in creative writing

is entirely up to the writer to decide. It is certainly not necessary to research anything in order to write

fiction or poetry, if a writer decides to do some research, it can greatly affect how the end product turns

out. A result of research being a choice, most often research becomes very personal. This is also

because, unlike research in a science discipline, research for writing creatively most often never sees

the light of day. Only the final product is published, which means that all the research done is only seen

by the writer. The fact that only the final product, the short story, novel, poem, etc, is published also

makes the judgement of the research to not fall on the actual research but whatever comes of the

research. In these ways, research in the Creative Writing major and the Creative Writing world beyond

college is very different than research in most other majors.

This information resonated with me and should resonate with other DU freshmen because when

most people think of research, they do not imagine it never seeing anyone else's eyes but their own. It

could seem like a thankless task to do pages of research only to be judged on the work you create based

on this research. It is imperative that a Creative Writing major understand that, at the end of the day, the

major still requires creative works and, much like painting or drawing, being able to write creatively is

a skill that can be nurtured but not outright taught.

When asked about work in his field that pushed boundaries or did something different, Lennon

responded, “That's an interesting question for poetry as almost every poem is attempting to push

boundaries and do something new.” This was another instance when I realized Creative Writing, and

more specifically poetry, was very different than most other majors and disciplines. Whereas in most

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fields of study it is eventful when ground breaking research or findings break into the mainstream,

everyday in the poetry world a seemingly ground breaking poem is published. Just like when

discussing research, it is not enough to write something new or radical, it must be beautiful and

attention grabbing. It is not judged based on the fact that it is new or ground breaking, but on whether

or not it is a “good” poem. A discussion of good poetry, however, is an entirely new discussion that

would take up many more pages than this book currently holds.

Whatever your definition of good poetry is, you can't argue talking with any upperclassman or

professor in your major will be a good idea to help you make a decision on your own major. Professor

Lennon provided me, and in turn you the reader, with well thought out and pertinent information that

allowed me to not only know what was ahead of me in terms of classes at DU but also in the graduate

school and professional fields.

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Chapter 4: Proposing Change

When telling your parents or other trusted adults that you are planning on majoring in Creative

Writing, many times they will joke, “How are you planning on making money in with that degree?”

This question, while often delivered haughtily or even rudely, is a valid one. The Creative Writing

major is not one that often begets six figure salaries. In fact, many recent graduates are forced to enter

the academic field just to make a living. This is a problem because teaching in the academic world

brings with it many hours of obligations that take the English professional away from their creative

works. Nevertheless, this problem in the creative literary world is one that can be remedied. The

solution, while it may seem slightly simplistic, is to create a larger, more extensive support program as

a sort of both catalyst and safety net for creative writers to experiment and create works without having

to worry about the academic side of their profession.

This proposed solution has multiple parts that all follow one general basis: more money needs

to be allowed for creative writing in the world. Literary magazines, publishing companies and

universities are all some of the most important tools to begin and continue a writing career. These tools

are ones that are necessary to utilize, but they are creating a network that still, almost always, forces the

writer to rely on the academic field to be able to continue writing creatively. What is needed is a

bolstering of these tools and an influx of money to help them help struggling writers who are otherwise

forced into academia.

One tool that a writer can use to continue his life as a writer is grants. Grants are sums of money

one can receive in various ways: winning a contest, applying, even selling so many books that the

publishing house has complete faith that your next book will be a success. However, more often than

not these grants and scholarships (besides ones from publishing houses to established authors) are still

connected to the university. That means that while they may give out a grant, the person receiving the

grant is already a professor and is in the academic field. Grants are used to almost supplement some

sort of income instead of allow for complete creative control. Grants are a crucial part of my proposal.

Understanding both university and publishing company grants and literary journals/magazines, which I

will explain next, are important to understanding both the problem and my proposed solution.

Literary journals or magazines, while once a stalwart of the country and how people got their

literature, are now far from vogue. Most journals are small, independently funded pieces that may be

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printed quarterly or even yearly. These journals are important to writers because they allow a writer to

make a name for themselves and move towards publishing a collection of works or a longer, book

length work. However, most journals are, if not struggling, working very hard to stay afloat. They are

constantly fighting against hundreds of other mediums for American's attention and, quite frankly,

losing. They are in need of money for many reasons: advertising, publishing, updating websites,

sponsoring writers, the list goes on. With their role in this proposal, many should be able to if not

flourish, at least move out of the red and become semi-profitable.

My main proposal is for publishing houses, literary journals and universities to team up and

offer grants that can stand in the place of yearly salaries for writers that wish to begin their creative

writing careers not in the academic field. While on their own most publishers, journals and universities

do not have the funds to allot to a single writer to live and write for a year, when they join forces, there

is certainly enough money and presence to accomplish this task. Keep in mind I am not saying all

universities and publishers should team up. If one publishing company and one to two universities and

one or more literary journals all link up, they will be greatly on their way to changing a young creative

writer's life.

You may be thinking, while changing a creative writer's life sounds nice, why would

universities change a system where they know what they are getting for their money (a professor to

teach classes) to one where they are seemingly throwing money at a creative writer in hopes he turns

out something good? The answer to this question is in two parts. The first is a simple answer that could

be easily overlooked: for the art. As a university, you are not just an institution where for four years

students work incredibly hard, get their diploma and never look or come back again. Universities,

especially alma maters, become a part of a person. Much like a parent, they are proud when the

university does something they believe in and accomplishes something wonderful. For this reason

alone, a university sponsored poet creating beautiful works in the name of the university would ignite

fires in graduates and current students alike.

The second answer is one that the true decision makers at the university could get behind: the

pay-off could be very large. Since they are teaming up with publishers, who will eventually publish and

make money off the sponsored writer, they are in a position to also make money off said writer. Since

the university is truly making an investment, it would be unfair for them to not see money back from it.

The exact details of the investment return could be worked out between the publishing house and the

university, as they both have incredibly competent businessmen skilled in the art of negotiation. In this

way, not only is the university creating beautiful works they can proudly attach to their own moniker,

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but also making money off something that may, at first glance, seem to be a money pit.

While these are both excellent reasons to change the current system, another supposed problem

would be just that: changing the system in place. Often times, we become stuck in our ways and need a

jolt to step forward into a new system. However, there are two academia specific reasons to change the

current method. First, as I touched on briefly in the introductory paragraph, when a creative writer

enters academia, he is required to spend many, many hours both in the classroom and doing work for

the classroom. Grading, structuring classes and writing for academia take up most of his time. When I

interviewed Professor Joe Lennon, which you can read much about in Chapter 3, he said that most of

his day is spent devoted to academic tasks. With so much time spent on non-creative works, it is

difficult for the aspiring creative writer to do precisely that: write creatively.

The second part of the answer is that academia is becoming so competitive, a change is already

needed. Instead of universities taking the best minds of our generation and putting them in classrooms

when they would rather be creating fresh, original works, universities could focus on those who want to

enter academia, those who have a first inclination to teach instead of create. This would greatly shift the

issue of academia being too competitive to one where academia gets exactly the people they need.

While at first glance it may seem like the academic world would suffer if this proposal was put into

place, it would actually be in a better spot than before.

Another counterargument along those lines may be that, although the writers are losing time by

becoming professors, they are still learning a lot and are in a good environment for study and creating

works. However, this is not necessarily true. This may be accurate to say about a biology professor who

has all the tools and specimens he needs in the classroom, but a writing professor is not best suited to

write when in a classroom setting. Inspiration, while it can come from anywhere, most often comes

from outside adventures beyond an academic institution. With the current system, not much time is

permitted for these professors and writers to find that inspiration beyond the classroom.

While you may now realize that creating a system for creative writers to flourish outside the

classroom is a good idea for universities, publishing companies and literary journals, you might be

wondering how this affects you and what you can do to help. This affects you in a very large way.

When you graduate with a Creative Writing degree, would you rather enter a world where the only way

you could create works was to enter academia? Or you would you want to enter a world where you can

choose between two paths, one where you enter academia because you want to teach and one where

you can create works because you want to write creatively? Another reason to get behind this idea is

also because when still in college, you want professors who came to teach at DU because they

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specifically wanted to teach, not because they wanted to make enough money to support their creative

writing. Still, once you see that this proposal is something that you would want to get behind, what can

you do?

While this proposal is still exactly that, a proposal, that is how every great change starts. And in

our connected world, proposals can turn into reality faster than ever. That is why I would ask you to

sign both an internal DU petition and a nationwide petition that outline the proposal. I would also love

to see you going out in the community, especially the creative writing community, and spreading the

word about this proposal.

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Chapter 5: Conclusion

At times, choosing a major can be very difficult. Even those who appear to be the most steadfast

in their decision can struggle at times on deciding the right path. College is the stepping off point to the

real world and your major decision is a large choice. When I chose the Creative Writing major, it was

because my passion is writing, especially poems and short stories. However, I still have doubts as to

whether I truly want to major in Creative Writing. These doubts did not entirely go away while I was

researching and writing this book, but they were in significantly smaller amounts afterwards. Through

the process of creating this book, I learned lots of valuable information that helped me understand the

Creative Writing major in much more depth. I translated that knowledge I had gained to this five

chapter format in order for you, the reader, to gain the same insight that I gathered.

I hope after reading it you gathered enough knowledge that your time was not spent in vain.

From the in depth literary study in Chapter 1, I hope you were able to take both the specific literatures I

reviewed and the overall literary review knowledge I presented through examples into your own life. In

that way, Chapter 1 resembles Chapter 2. With the paragraphs on genre theory, I hoped to give the

reader enough background information to where they will be able to go out and understand the genres

they will face in Creative Writing and beyond. My book was full of both specific and general

information in order to provide examples that can be utilized as well as provide direct knowledge that

can be transferred to the reader's daily life.

In Chapter 3, I do that in a different way by taking important facts for the reader from an

interview with DU Professor Joe Lennon that I conducted. I chose this method so you, the reader,

would benefit as much as possible. I could have selected the most interesting or odd interview data to

present, but instead I choose the most relevant to DU freshmen in the Creative Writing major. This

allowed me to ingrain this knowledge in my head as well as allow you the opportunity to do the same.

Much of the information is just as transferable as the genre theory I discuss in Chapter 2. And talking to

your professor, especially one in the major you have selected or are thinking about selecting, is

something that I cannot recommend enough. Every professor will provide not only new insights into

the major that will allow you to get ahead, but also will answer any rising questions you have about the

major itself and whether it is the right choice for you. I know the conversation helped me with my

burning questions and also provided me an idea for my proposal I outline in Chapter 4.

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In the interview, when asked about a problem in Creative Writing, Lennon mentioned that too

many creative writers were forced into the academic field to make a living. I found a solution to that,

which if you haven't read you can find in Chapter 4, is presented it in a way to both allow readers to

acknowledge the problem and the solution. This chapter is especially necessary because it is an entirely

different form of research. It moves away from the typical facts and figures you will find when

researching a major and discusses the major from one of it's flaws. Instead of the typical academic

advisor information and facts and figures about Creative Writing, this research takes you past the

surface and goes into something wrong with the major. Research from the other end of the spectrum is

important in order to truly understand the entire Creative Writing discipline. Also, while the

information I present is important to understanding Creative Writing, the way I researched the

information, form the reverse angle, is one that the reader can also use in many ways.

Following that logic, the book itself is also a piece of literature that you, the reader, can study

with the new literature and genre review information. Especially Chapter 4, when I lay out an argument

and then debunk many counterarguments to prove my point, is a lesson in itself on persuasive writing

and the rhetoric it entails. I hope you saw my book like that: not only full of information but also

information in itself. So while I did a literary review on many types of works in my first chapter, you

could also analyze this piece of literature along the same lines.

While you have been presented with a lot of knowledge in this book, it is still up to you to apply

it your life. Taking the extensive and varied knowledge gained from these chapters will help both your

decision to be a Creative Writing major and all the necessary steps to getting that degree. I hope this

book can serve as both an informative first read and a resource for you as you move through your four

years of college. I know it will serve that role for me.

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Works Cited

Kiteley, Brian. The 3 AM Epiphany: Uncommon Writing Exercises That Transform Your Fiction. Portland: Ringgold Books, 2005. Print.

Lennon, Joe. Personal Interview. 23 April 2014.

Lovett, Richard A. “Writing Fiction...About Yourself.” Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Ed. Stanley Schmidt. New York: Penny Publications, 2011. 122-125. Print.

McNally, John. Vivid and Continuous: Essays and Exercises for Writing Fiction. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2013. Print.

Milne, Drew. “Politics and Modern Poetics.” Teaching Modernist Poetry. Ed. Peter Middleton and Nicky Marsh. New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2010. 25-45. Print.

Nicholls, Peter. “The Elusive Allusion: Poetry and Exegesis.” Teaching Modernist Poetry. Ed. Peter Middleton and Nicky Marsh. New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2010. 10-25. Print.

Rossen, Janice., ed. Women Writing Modern Fiction. Gordonsville: Palgrave McMillan, 2004. Print.

Sullivant Hoffman, Arthur. Fundamentals of Fiction Writing. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1922. Print.

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Published 2 June 2014

Thanks to all who helped

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