Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword Reconstruction: On the Road Toward a More Sustainable Future
- Introduction: The Possibilities for Creative Writing in America
- 1 Histories and Historiography in Creative Writing Studies
- 2 Writing as Spiritual Practice
- 3 We Serve Writing Here
- 4 Theory and Pedagogy in Introductory Writing Textbooks: Creative Writing Leads the Way
- 5 The Print Doctrine
- 6 The Convergence of Creative Processes and Their Neurological Mapping
- 7 Rewriting Creative Writing
- 8 Toward an Interdisciplinary Creative Writing
- 9 Creative Writing in First-Year Writing: Let’s Remember, or Re-teach, the Value of Fiction
- 10 Against Appropriation: Creative Writing in/and the Making of Knowledge
- Contributors
- Index
3 - We Serve Writing Here
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 October 2026
By
Edited by
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword Reconstruction: On the Road Toward a More Sustainable Future
- Introduction: The Possibilities for Creative Writing in America
- 1 Histories and Historiography in Creative Writing Studies
- 2 Writing as Spiritual Practice
- 3 We Serve Writing Here
- 4 Theory and Pedagogy in Introductory Writing Textbooks: Creative Writing Leads the Way
- 5 The Print Doctrine
- 6 The Convergence of Creative Processes and Their Neurological Mapping
- 7 Rewriting Creative Writing
- 8 Toward an Interdisciplinary Creative Writing
- 9 Creative Writing in First-Year Writing: Let’s Remember, or Re-teach, the Value of Fiction
- 10 Against Appropriation: Creative Writing in/and the Making of Knowledge
- Contributors
- Index
Summary
Our task is to change creative writing in the US.
How do we do this?
We change creative writing in the US by changing some of the ways in which we think about creative writing. We change creative writing by asking why and how it has become what it is (that is, by investigating its history) and by evaluating whether or not past practices are worth continuing. We change creative writing by refusing to allow the static features of writing to blind us to writing's dynamic underlying potential. We change creative writing by thinking of ourselves, in our teacherly roles, not as guardians of propriety but rather as guides to experience. We change creative writing by seeing ourselves as working in service to writing, more so than we are working in service to writers.
What does all this mean?
Let me begin with two scenes, set more than a quarter century apart.
Scene 1
Spring semester, 1990
I sit in a small auditorium, listening to a well known poet read from his work. The university where I am in my final semester of an MA program in creative writing (and hoping to continue on into its PhD program in creative writing) is conducting a job search for a poet who will teach graduate and advanced undergraduate poetry workshops. The search committee has identified four finalists for the position, and each finalist visits campus for an interview that includes (among other things) a workshop with graduate students and a public reading. I watch the third of four candidates read a selection of his poems. He has published three books of poems at this point in his career, two of which have won major prizes. In prestigious literary journals, he has published nearly a hundred individual poems. The other three candidates have credentials similar to his; arguably, two of them are even more accomplished. He reads his poems in a clear, practiced voice. The audience is deeply engaged.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Changing Creative Writing in AmericaStrengths, Weaknesses, Possibilities, pp. 52 - 68Publisher: Multilingual MattersFirst published in: 2026
Accessibility standard: Unknown
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
Accessibility compliance for the eReader version of this chapter is currently unknown
and may be updated in the future.