Writers at Play: Making the Space for Adolescents to Balance Imagination and Craft »

Mary Adler spent nine years researching and writing Writers at Play. She discovered that the balance of choice and structure-what one student called "focused freedom"-was the key to adolescents' success. During her career, Mary has consistently tried to bring her passion for fiction and teaching together. A former middle school teacher and a National Writing Project fellow, she holds an M.A. in creative writing as well as a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction. She is currently an associate professor of English at California State University Channel Islands.

In Writers at Play Mary combines her own fresh ideas with current research and important thinking on the role of play and shows you how to strike the balance between prompts and improvisation by:

• developing writing exercises that build fiction technique and encourage imaginative play
• promoting growth in craft with revision strategies and peer feedback
• creating space for unprompted writing so adolescents can find their own material and shape it for an audience
• designing creative writing curricula that supports students writing and social development.

For students, creating fiction can be a highly motivating process that yields high-quality student writing. The key, writes Mary Adler, is finding ways to allow the adventure while guiding the direction. Use Writers at Play and find a way to help even hard-to-reach students discover a passion for writing and improve the quality of their written work.

Foreword Elizabeth Quintero v

Acknowledgments x

Introduction xii

1 Exploring the Forces at Work During the Creative Writing Process 1

2 Exercises That Stimulate Play, Engage Students, and Build Technique: Finding the Balance to Create Productive Fictional Worlds 17

3 Managing Play Through Revision 57

4 Unprompted Writing: Learning How Writers Play 89

5 Buuding a Creative Writing Curriculum 121

Book Study Guide 149

Bibliography 157