Mooring Against the Tide: Writing Fiction and Poetry, 2nd edition

For beginning and intermediate creative writing courses (General/Fiction/Poetry) that use a workshop approach.

Message:  This workshop-based textbook offers a hands-on, interactive approach to writing fiction and poetry.

Presenting the fundamental elements of both genres, the text illustrates the creative writing process and guides the students through several drafts of various student sample writings as if they were participating in an actual workshop. Clearly written and organized, it also includes student samples, class-tested exercises, and an easy-to-use guide to the workshop process.

Do you use a workshop approach in your creative writing course?

• Workshop Approach—Guides students through the process of creating poetry and fiction as if they are participants in a writing workshop by providing examples and practical guidelines.
  • Provides students with a process for writing their own works, preparing them to critique, and revise their work as well as the works of others.

• Workshop Sections—In each genre, a student story or poem is presented, followed by the work with margin notes from a professor, a critique, and student revision.
  • Enables students to witness the "evolutionary" process of writing. (Chapters 11, 12, 13, 24, 25, 26)

• Revision chapters.
  • Assists instructors in stressing the importance of revision by leading students from a discussion of the topic into a workshop section—again making a connection between theory and practice. Introduces students to a practical approach of revising their own work, helping them to review the process as a creative rather than corrective one. Chapters 10 & 23

• The Elements—Starts the text with chapters on the elements of fiction and poetry accompanied by an essay of an accomplished writer or poet which addresses that element.
  • Assembles the topics in a logical manner that gives students a sense of the creative process. Ex. Chapters 2, 3, 15, 16

• NEW — Creative Café online at www.prenhall.com/creativecafe. Packed with resources for the aspiring writer, including various links to literary journals and the nation’s top writing programs.
  • Provides aspiring writers with further resources for honing their own writing techniques and enhancing their experience in the challenging and rewarding art of writing fiction and poetry.

• Examples of student work throughout.
  • Exposes students to examples of writing—that may contain problems similar to theirs—to help them objectively view work, define problems on their own, and become better editors and writers. Ex. p121-127

• NEW – Added exercises—Increased number of class-tested exercises in each chapter.
  • Enables instructors to offer guided applications outside of class with the assurance that students can apply theory to practice. Illustrates to students how theory is applied to real work, and shows them how to create stories and poems. Ex. p80, p107

Would you like an anthology built into your creative writing text?

• Combines the writing instruction of Mooring Against the Tide with an anthology, like the one featured in The Writer’s Country,  to create a creative writing textbook with a built-in anthology.
  • Everything you need in one text.

• NEW -  Added a more robust anthology of selections from professional writers to complement their writing workshop. Of both fiction and poetry along with short essays on how to read a story and how to read a poem.
  • Directs students to these readings as examples of what was discussed in the chapter, providing useful review and reinforcement. Ex. p128-149; p305-383

• NEW – Two new essays—Now replace two guest essays.  Ex. "Laying Bare the Bones:  A Meditation on Imagery" by Lisa Chavez (p13); "Touching the Elephant" by Melissa Pritchard (p169)

• Contributing Authors' Essays—18 essays written by established and well-known writers and poets covering the elements of fiction and poetry.
• Allows students to see multiple views on each element and how it functions in their writing. Ex. p.13, 25, 169, 179

Added a more robust anthology of selections from professional writers to complement their writing workshop. Of both fiction and poetry along with short essays on how to read a story and how to read a poem.

~Directs students to these readings as examples of what was discussed in the chapter, providing useful review and reinforcement. Ex. p128-149; p305-383

Two new essays–Now replace two guest essays. Ex. "Laying Bare the Bones:  A Meditation on Imagery" by Lisa Chavez (p13); "Touching the Elephant" by Melissa Pritchard (p169)

Creative Café online at www.prenhall.com/creativecafe. Packed with resources for the aspiring writer, including various links to literary journals and the nation’s top writing programs.

~Provides aspiring writers with further resources for honing their own writing techniques and enhancing their experience in the challenging and rewarding art of writing fiction and poetry.

Added exercises–Increased number of class-tested exercises in each chapter.

~Enables instructors to offer guided applications outside of class with the assurance that students can apply theory to practice. Illustrates to students how theory is applied to real work, and shows them how to create stories and poems. Ex. p80, p107