The Writing Experiment demystifies the process of creative writing, showing that successful work does not arise from talent or inspiration alone. Hazel Smith breaks down writing into incremental stages, revealing processes that are often unconscious or unacknowledged, and shows how they can become part of a systematic writing strategy.
The book encourages writers to take an explorative and experimental approach to their work. It relates practical strategies for writing to major twentieth century literary and cultural movements, including postmodernism.
Suitable for both beginners and experienced writers, The Writing Experiment covers many genres including fiction, poetry, writing for performance and new media. Each chapter is illustrated with extensive examples of both student work and published writing, and challenging exercises offer writers at all levels opportunities to develop their skills.
Preface
Introduction
Part 1: Introductory strategies
Chapter 1: Playing with language, running with referents
Chapter 2: Genre as a moveable feast
Chapter 3: Working out with structures
Chapter 4: Writing as recycling
Chapter 5: Narrative, narratology, power
Chapter 6: Dialoguing
Part 2: Advanced strategies
Chapter 7: Postmodern f(r)ictions
Chapter 8: Postmodern poetry, avant-garde poetics
Chapter 9: The invert, the cross-dresser, the fictocritic
Chapter 10: Tongues, talk and technologies
Chapter 11: New media travels
Chapter 12: Mapping worlds, moving cities
Conclusion: The ongoing editor
Acknowledgments
Index