Metro: Journeys in Writing Creatively

by Hans Ostrom, Wendy Bishop, Katharine Haake

Metro is a unique multi-genre creative writing text that provides exercises and prompts to help students move beyond terms and concepts to active writing. By using "guided writing," the authors help students through the creative processes in fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction. A mini-anthology with relevant exercises makes this sourcebook complete.

Genres: Writing

464 pages, Paperback

First published July 27, 2000

About the author

Bookworm, indiscriminate reader, poet, scholar, blah, blah. Most recent book is Forgotten African American Firsts: An Encyclopedia of Pioneering History, ABC-CLIO/Bloomsbury Publishers, 2023, which won an award from a division of the American Library Association for encyclopedias appropriate for small and medium sized libraries. Written with J. David Macey. Novels: Three to Get Ready (procedural mystery), Honoring Juanita (contemporary/historical fiction, environmental and ethnic themes), and Without One (bizarre medical thriller/satire). Books of of poetry: The Coast Starlight and Clear a Place for Good. Book about writing: With Katharine Haake and Wendy Bishop, Metro: Journeys in Writing Creatively. Two books about the work of Langston Hughes, and with J. David Macey, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature (5 volumes). I write screenplays and am on IMDB. Working on a memoir about growing up in a micro-town in the High Sierra.

Reviews

[Hans Ostrom]

Shameless self-promotion

[Pete]

i am prepared to admit that this book, which i sort of backed into using for my creative writing class, works really well and is probably the best single volume book of creative writing exercises/prompts, etc that i have encounter. it's not self-powered -- you gotta bring some of yourself to the exercises to link them up with what you're teaching, and students will have to do things (like think, and consume thoughtfully) in order to benefit from a lot of the exercises. but anyway it is good, look at it if you're teaching CW.

[Myra Vincent]

This book was a textbook for my university creative writing class. Definity very insightful to some parts of prose, had great examples of different works and texts, and I loved the writing activities and prompts that were given!

[Mary]

Great writing tool! I turn to think book whenever I have a question about poetry.