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
Shoptalk #6 w/ Laura Hawley
Episode 25: Fred Ramey
Shoptalk #5 w/Laura Hawley
Episode 24: Peyton Marshall
Shoptalk #4 with Laura Hawley
Episode 23: Taylor Mali
From the Vault Ep 17 Laird Hunt
Shoptalk 3 w/Laura Hawley
From the Vault: Ep 6: Emily St John Mandel
Episode 22 Andrea Portes
Shoptalk 2 with Laura Hawley
Episode 21: Stephen McClurg
Shoptalk w/ Laura Hawley
Episode 20: Pauls Toutonghi
Episode 19 Rachel Weaver
Episode 18: Shaindel Beers
Episode 17: Laird Hunt
Episode 16: Dale Bridges
Episode 15 Ed Skoog
Episode 14: Theresa Romain
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