In this episode, we discuss craft and crafty things, and what it all really means and how we think about it and, maybe, should think about it. We trot out a metaphor that writing is baking—and that some writers rely too much on premade cake and muffin mixes.
Writing as Baking
Elements (ingredients): scratch vs. mix
Craft: Technique vs. Method
Form: The container
Genre: Frosting, non-essential ingredients
Jenn’s References
My poem on the t’Art Spring Showcase
My Substack: Zuko’s Musings
Current Readings:
The Biology of Desire by Marc Lewis
Everything is Amazing
Recovering Academic
Dirtbags Through the Ages
(and many more)
Crafty books (in no order because I am too lazy to alphabetize them):
Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud
The Sense of Style - Steven Pinker
Writing to Learn - William Zinsser
On Writing Well - William Zinsser
On Directing Film - David Mamet
Reading Like a Writer - Francine Prose*
To Show and to Tell - Philip Lopate*
The Poet’s Companion - Addonizio/Laux*
Narrative Design - Madison Smartt Bell*
Understanding Rhetoric - Losh/Alexander/Cannon/Cannon
Writing Fiction - Janet Burroway**
What If? - Bernays/Painter**
Writing as a Way of Healing - Louise deSalvo**
The Craft of Revision - Donald M. Murray
Backwards & Forwards - David Ball***
Steering the Craft - Ursula K. LeGuin
Zen in the Art of Writing - Ray Bradbury
Language of the Night—Ursula LeGuin
Dreyer’s English—Benjamin Dreyer
The Deluxe Transitive Vampire—Karen Elizabeth Gordon
*These are required textbooks for my current class, Writer’s Workshop (DU’s PWRI dept)
**These have been required textbooks for other crafty courses I’ve taught at DU
***Required text for my theatre courses that include lots of play reading
Jason’s References
Currently reading:
Notes from the Coming War by Gavin Pate
This Book Is Not For You by Daniel Hoyt.
You Are Not So Smart Episode 257
John Berger - Into Their labors Trilogy book two: Once in Europa
One Great Way to Write Short Stories by Ben Nyberg #
On Writing Well: The classic guide to writing non-fiction by William Zinsser*
Narrative Discourse and Narrative Discourse Revisited by Gerard Genette
The Last Draft: A Novelists guide to revision - Sandra Scofield*
The Hidden Machinery Essays on Writing by Margot Livesey*
The Art of Subtext by Charles Baxter
The Art of Mystery by Maud Casey*
The Art of History by Christopher Bram*
The Art of Time in fiction by Joan Silber#
The Art of Perspective by Christopher Castellani*
The Art of Revision by Peter Ho Davies
The Scene Book by Sandra Scofield*
Narrative Design by Madison Smartt Bell
Ways of Seeing by John Berger
The Blink of an Eye: A perspective in Film editing by Walter Murch
The Conversations: Walter Murch and the art of editing film by Michale Ondaatje
The Way of the Writer by Charles Johnson*
How Fiction Works by James Wood
The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
The Rhetoric of Fiction by Wayne Booth#
The Art of Intimacy by Stacey D’Erasmo
The Theory of the Novel edited by Michael McKeon#
On Writing by Stephen King.
On Moral Fiction by John Gardner
On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner
Six Memos for The Next Millennium by Italo Calvino
You can read more from Jenn at https://jennzuko.wordpress.com and on her Substack
You can follow Jason at https://www.jquinnmalott.com
Ep 3: Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
Ep 2: Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
Ep 1: Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
TOP Conversation: Evan Hundhausen
Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes #7: Violence is Normal
Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes #6: Mr. Mom
Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes #5: Sassy Gay Friend
ProblematicToxic Masculinity Tropes #4: The Tale of the Nerd and the Neckbeard
Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes #3: Bond, James Bond
Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes #2: Grow a Pair
Problematic Toxic Masculinity Tropes #1: Go Big or Go Home
Outrider Live: Words and Music No. 4: The Cookout Show with Cathy Dryden and John Jenkinson
Outrider Live: Words and Music No. 3
Special: Todd Robins & Vautrin
Problematic Badass Female Tropes EP 7: I'm Only Here For My Vagina
Problematic Badass Female Tropes EP 6: One of The Guys
Problematic Badass Female Tropes EP 5: Mother Knows Best
Problematic Badass Female Tropes EP 4: The Meaning of (His) Life
Problematic Badass Female Tropes EP 3: Down The Rabbit Hole
Problematic Badass Female Tropes EP 2: The Wonder Woman
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