Teachers, students, and writers in the fields of English, literary studies, composition and rhetoric, applied linguistics, and education should find this book, written by a prolific creative writer and enthusiastic writing teacher, not only enlightening and engaging, but also useful. Investigative Creative Writing can be envisioned as a practical tool illustrating ways of overcoming hurdles that impede writers from venturing into unknown territory where discoveries take place. In addition to assisting in developing and honing cutting-edge creative writing programs, this book will be helpful for writers in getting to the meat of the matter, generating narratives and dialogue, identifying arguments, fleshing out character traits, discovering direction for plots, and developing a host of other skills that foster and embolden a literary freedom of the imagination. The text includes examples of teaching techniques and assignments from the author's classes which are intended for instructors to adjust according to their needs, along with extensive discussion of his own practices of investigative creative writing and experience in teaching and developing writing curricula.

Mark Spitzer is Associate Professor of Creative Writing in the Department of Film, Theatre, and Creative Writing at the University of Central Arkansas. He is the author of 18 books, ranging from memoirs to novels to literary translations and collections of poetry. He is the editor of the award-winning Toad Suck Review (toadsuckreview.org).

"I am pleased that Mark Spitzer, in Investigative Creative Writing, has expanded the call of my manifesto on Investigative Poetry, that poets should investigate and write history, to urge that all creative writers should utilize Investigative techniques and practices." Ed Sanders, author of Investigative Poetry "Mark Spitzer's Investigative Creative Writing is one of the funniest, most charming and most useful books on the teaching and process of writing that you are likely to find. Spitzer shows us that any creative writing can be an investigation, and thus be transformed into "something else" - something that alters the world of both writer and reader. He believes in getting students to participate in the workshopas-event and getting them into the field to connect their writing with the natural world. Mark Spitzer will engage, inspire, and empower you." Joseph Harrington, University of Kansas, and author of Poetry and the Public: The Social Form of Modern U.S. Poetics

Mark Spitzer