For Writers & Teachers

Lessons

Ten short craft lessons for a writing class, each on its own page and each meant for writers of any kind: novelists, poets and writers who explain. Every lesson begins with classic readings by writers such as Kate Chopin, Walt Whitman, John Keats, Emily Dickinson, Anton Chekhov and James Joyce, each linked so that it can be read in full, and closes with questions for discussion and activities.

Poems and stories by James Mulhern are also included, as working examples set beside the classics rather than among them. He offers them for a practical reason: he knows what was in the drafts, what changed and what he learned in changing it, so he can show a class how a piece came to be and not only how it ended.

All Lessons

Each lesson has its own page. The nine revision lessons are also gathered, with notes on what they share, in From Draft to Page.

Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction
Lesson on Turns

The Turn · “Keep Calm and Carry On,” “Piano,” “Copacetic” and four more poems

Where a poem or story changes direction: reversal, recognition, the volta and the planted detail, with questions and exercises.
Poetry and Fiction
Lesson on Endings

Ending on an Object · “Copacetic” and “The Crosswalk”

Two poems that once closed on a conclusion now close on an object.
Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction
Lesson on Closing Lines

Letting the Moral Go · “Moving Forward”

A stanza that stated the lesson is cut, and the mother’s own words close the poem.
Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction
Lesson on Compression

Fewer Examples · “Turbulence”

Six signs of age become two, and one detail stands for the rest.
Poetry and Fiction
Lesson on Restraint

Leaving the Silence Alone · “Last Supper”

Unspoken thoughts are cut, so a silence can speak for itself.
Poetry and Fiction
Lesson on Imagery

Looking Again · “Carol”

Revision adds to an image, and the poem looks a second time.
Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction
Lesson on Scene

From Argument to Scene · “Fragility,” revised as “She Knelt”

A poem making an argument becomes a grandmother speaking.
Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction
Lesson on Titles

A Cut Line Kept as a Title · “Catherine,” revised as “We’d Scrape the Rocks”

A line cut from the poem comes back as its title.
Fiction and Nonfiction
Lesson on Sentences

Fewer Words in a Sentence · “Keep Calm and Carry On”

In a story, shorter sentences let the reader see more quickly.
Fiction
Lesson on Story Endings

A Story That Ends on a Picture · “Arise and Go Now”

A story that once explained its ending now stops on a picture.

Lessons

Further Reading by Topic