Re: new book on creative writing

March 4, 2005

Type: discussion

<FONT face="Default Sans Serif, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><DIV>i have read the book - it's great for providing ideas for experimentation and placing the writing thus produced in a theoretical context without prescribing what is good or bad writing.</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>congratulations hazel, and from my experiences teaching creative writing in schools, as well as at university, i believe it is not beyond  year 10, 11 or 12 high school students. it is certainly a much needed resource for their teachers who often find it difficult to introduce their students to the concepts of contemporary literary and cultural theory with practical examples of the art that their students can relate to.</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>you may get the criticism that you are just taking a very structuralist approach but expressing it in a post-modern language. most of us who teach will have come across similar sorts of writing exercises elsewhere.</DIV><DIV>but i do stress that you are not being prescriptive, merely suggestive of possible experiments.</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>i am doing bellydance classes at the moment and i didn't start to have fun with it until i knew the standard shimmies, body movements, steps and turns. then i could extend, re-combine, re-invent and experiment for myself. the point is we all need some structure some knowledge of the bricks before we start building.</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>with young writers and new writers i found that the more emphasis that was placed on the adherence to the structure, the more likely they were going to fill that structure with their own content, and not worry that it was too trivial as a topic for poetry. in one way it was liberating their writing by employing fascist techniques. if i had asked them, on the other hand, to write something about their lives, few knew how to make a start, or what to write.</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>this book also helps in seeing that writing is work, and each kind of work has its own tools and methods. hazel does not deny an inspirational kind of writing but shows us that a disciplined writing is no less valuable.</DIV><DIV>in 1985 i stopped doing every other job in my life and dedicated my life to making poetry my art and my means of financial survival. i was probably the first australian full-time professional performance poet with a wife, family and mortgage (since henry lawson).</DIV><DIV>i learnt very quickly that if i sat around waiting for the inspirational poem, i wasn't very productive. but if i set myself tasks, if i made myself productive, then i was a whole lot more creative, even if some of the things i wrote never made it past the work-in-progress stage.</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>i have a personal preference for poetry, and most exercises are poetry based, although many of the concepts apply equally to prose. this fits in very well with my belief that if you can write good poetry, you can tackle almost any writing task, whether it be for page, stage or cyber age. and that is another great benefit of this book, it acknowledges that writing has many forms and utilises various inscription technologies; print, performance and the multimedia interconnected internet. there is an internet website to accompany the book, <A href="http://www.allenandunwin.com/writingexp/" target=blank>http://www.allenandunwin.com/writingexp/</A></DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>finally here is a poem that i constructed using some of hazel's exercises</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>breasts broken spoken speech screetch</DIV><DIV>scrawny morning awning</DIV><DIV>spawning</DIV><DIV>horn-blower rower crower omen chromer home ho ho ho</DIV><DIV>whoa why try demysify kisses</DIV><DIV>bliss bleeding sincere chin </DIV><DIV>chunder scum scallops trollops</DIV><DIV>troughs and bollocks</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>cheers</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>komninos</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>komninos zervos<br>lecturer, convenor of CyberStudies major<br>School of Arts <br>Griffith University<br>Room 3.25 Multimedia Building G23<br>Gold Coast Campus <br>Parkwood<br>PMB 50 Gold Coast Mail Centre <br>Queensland 9726<br>Australia<br>Phone 07 5552 8872 Fax 07 5552 8141<br>http://www.gu.edu.au/ppages/k_zervos<br>http://users.bigpond.net.au/mangolegs<br>http://spokenword.blog-city.com<BR><DIV><BR></DIV><FONT color=#990099>—–[email protected] wrote: —–<BR><BR></FONT>To: [email protected]<BR>From: hazel smith <[email protected]><BR>Sent by: [email protected]<BR>Date: 04/03/2005 10:42PM<BR>Subject: new book on creative writing<BR><BR><font face="monospace" size=2>Dear all<BR><BR>Some of you may be interested in my new book,  The Writing <BR>Experiment: strategies for innovative creative writing which has just <BR>been published by Allen and Unwin. It is being launched in Australia <BR>now and is obtainable from bookshops. I<BR><BR>The book is specifically designed for tertiary level students <BR>studying creative writing, though it can be used by the more general <BR>reader. It takes an experimental approach, stresses incremental <BR>strategies and uses literary and cultural theory to illuminate the <BR>process of writing. It includes many different types of writing, <BR>including  fiction, poetry, mixed genre writing,  writing for <BR>performance and writing for new media.  Each chapter is illustrated <BR>with extensive student and published examples.<BR><BR>More information about the book is available at <BR><a href="http://www.allen-unwin.com.au/exports/product.asp?ISBN41140153" target=blank>http://www.allen-unwin.com.au/exports/product.asp?ISBN41140153</a><BR><BR>from where the book can also be ordered.<BR><BR>Best wishes<BR><BR>Hazel<BR>– <BR><BR><BR>Dr. Hazel Smith<BR>Senior Research Fellow<BR>School of Creative Communication<BR>Deputy Director<BR>University of Canberra Centre for Writing<BR><a href="http://www.ce.canberra.edu.au/writing" target=blank>http://www.ce.canberra.edu.au/writing</a><BR>Editor of Inflect <a href="http://www.ce.canberra.edu.au/inflect" target=blank>http://www.ce.canberra.edu.au/inflect</a><BR>University of Canberra<BR>ACT 2601<BR>phone 6201 5940<BR>More about my creative work at<BR>www.australysis.com<BR>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<BR>To unsubscribe from the AUSTLIT mailing list, please address a message to<BR>[email protected].  In the body of the message, include the line<BR>unsubscribe austlit your-email-address.  To post to the list send email<BR>to [email protected].  Problems?  Email [email protected]<BR>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<BR><BR></font></DIV></FONT>