Written by best-selling author Janet Burroway, Imaginative Writing–an introduction to creative writing–covers all four genres: creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and drama.

Imaginative Writing discusses elements of craft common to all creative writing before delving into the individual genres. After an introduction, the next five chapters each investigate a specific element of craft—Image, Voice, Character, Setting, and Story—from a perspective that crosses all genres. Integrated readings from talented and renowned writers illustrate the chapter topics. Chapter 7 explores development and revision and serves as a bridge between the craft chapters and the genre chapters—Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama.

This unique organization allows students to experiment with creative techniques shared by all genres before deciding which form best suits their imagination. Unique "Try-This" exercises help students develop writing skills, while “Working Toward a Draft” exercises encourage students to think ahead about the direction and possibilities of their work.

In keeping with Longman's "Penguin Academics" series, Imaginative Writing offers an attractive, trade-format book at an affordable price.

JANET BURROWAY is the author of plays, poetry, essays, children’s books, and eight novels including The Buzzards, Raw Silk (runner up for the National Book Award), Opening Nights, Cutting Stone, and Bridge of Sand. Her publications include a collection of personal essays, "Embalming Mom," in addition to a volume of poetry, Material Goods, and two children’s books in verse, The Truck on the Track and The Giant Jam Sandwich. Her most recent plays, Medea with Child (The Reva Shiner Award), Sweepstakes, Division of Property (Arts & Letters Award), and Parts of Speech, have received readings and productions in NewYork, London, San Francisco, Hollywood, Chicago, and various regional theatres. Her textbook Writing Fiction, now in its eighth edition, is the most widely used creative writing text in the United States. She is Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor Emerita at the Florida State University in Tallahassee.

*** indicate selections new to this edition.

CHAPTER 1 Invitation to the writer

You . . .

. . . and writing . . .

. . . and reading. . .

. . . and this book . . .

. . . and your journal . . .

JOURNAL EXCERPTS

Ayelet Waldeman***

Billy Collins ***

Cris Mazza ***

Patricia Henley***  

Philip Graham***  

A word about your workshop . . .

PART I The Elements of Craft

CHAPTER 2 Image

Image and Imagination

Concrete, Significant Details

Figures of Speech

READINGS

Creative Nonfiction

Annie Dillard

from Heaven and Earth in Jest

David Sedaris

What I Learned ***

Fiction

Nadine Gordimer

The Diamond Mine

Poems

Roger Bonair-Agard

American history looks for light—a prayer for the survival of Barak Obama ***

Billy Collins

Snow Day

Yusef Komunyakaa

Facing It

Drama

Don Nigro

Come into the Garden, Maud ***

CHAPTER 3 Voice

Your Voice

Persona

Character Voice

Point of View

READINGS

Creative Nonfiction

 Alice Walker

Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self

Warren J. Bowe

Guns for Teachers ***

Calvin Trillin

Rock Threat Subsides ***

Fiction

Thomas McGuane

Cowboy ***

Jorge Luis Borges

The Book of Sand ***

Poems

William Trowbridge

Kong Looks Back on His Tryout with the Bears

Sian B. Griffiths

Fistful ***

Matt Bondurant

The Pathos of Charles Schultz ***

Barbara Hamby

Ode to American English ***

Drama

Jane Martin

French Fries

CHAPTER 4 Character

As Desire

As Image

As Voice

As Action

As Thought

As Presented by the Author

As Conflict

Stock and Flat Characters

READINGS

Creative Nonfiction

Stuart Dybek

Thread ***

Lois-Ann Yamanaka

JohnJohn’s World ***

Fiction

Alice Monroe

Prue ***

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

 The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World ***

Poems

Theodore Roethke

I Knew a Woman

Carole Simmons Oles

Stonecarver

Allen Ginsberg

To Aunt Rose

Elizabeth Jennings

One Flesh

Ted Kooser

Tattoo ***

Drama

Alan Bennett

Bed Among the Lentils ***

CHAPTER 5 Setting

As the World

As a Camera

As Mood and Symbol

As Action

READINGS

Creative Nonfiction

Joan Didion

At the Dam

Paul Theroux

The Slow Train to Kandy ***

Fiction

Donald Barthelme

The School

Angela Carter

The Werewolf ***

Poems

Sherman Alexie

At Navajo Monument Valley Tribal School

Heather McHugh

Earthmoving Malediction

Philip Appleman

Nobody Dies in the Spring ***

Yusef Komunyakaa

Nude Interrogation

Drama

David Ives

The Philadelphia

CHAPTER 6 Story

As a Journey

As a Power Struggle

As Connection and Disconnection

READINGS

Creative Nonfiction

Patricia Hampl

Red Sky in the Morning

Fiction

David Foster Wallace

Incarnations of Burned Children ***

Naguib Mahfouz

Half a Day ***

Poems

Robert Hass

A Story About the Body

Albert Goldbarth

Columbine High School/Littleton, CO

Ellen Bryant Voigt

Short Story

Maxine Kumin

Woodchucks

Li - Young Lee

The Hammock

Drama

Michael Golamco

Heartbreaker ***

CHAPTER 7 Development And Revision

Developing a Draft

Structuring

Research

Revision

Editing

The Workshop

EXAMPLES

Elizabeth Bishop: First and Final Drafts of One Art

Patty Seyburn: Anatomy of Disorder ***

Janet Burroway: The Opening of Indian Dancer: A Revision Narrative

Mark Vinz: The Penitent ***

Rita Mae Reese: A History of Glass ***

PART II THE GENRES

CHAPTER 8 Creative Nonfiction

The Essay and Creative Nonfiction

Memoir and the Personal Essay

Techniques of Creative Nonfiction

Fact and Truth

READINGS

Gayle Pemberton

Do He Have Your Number, Mr. Jeffrey?

Margaret Atwood

The Female Body

S. L. Wisenberg

Margot’s Diary ***

Studs Terkel

Jack Culberg, 79 ***

Creative Nonfiction Format

CHAPTER 9 Fiction

Story and Plot

Scene and Summary

Backstory and Flashback

Text and Subtext

READINGS

Amy Bloom

The Story

Ernest Hemingway

A Very Short Story ***

Tobias Wolff

Powder ***

Ron Carlson

Bigfoot Stole My Wife

Fiction Format

CHAPTER 10 Poetry

Formal and Free Verse

Working with Sound

The Poetic Line

Imagery, Connotation, and Metaphor

Density and Intensity

READINGS

Gerald Stern

Columbia the Gem

Sound: Verbal and Nonverbal

The Ten-Minute Play

Some Notes on Screenwriting

READINGS

Anton Chekhov

The Proposal ***

José Rivera

Gas

Alice O ’ Neill

What I Came For ***

Lanford Wilson

Eukiah

Drama Format

Appendix A: Basic Prosody

Appendix B: Line Editing

Glossary

Credits

Index