Creative Writing: Practical Advice for the Aspiring Author

Kathleen James-Cavan is an assistant professor of English and the
University of Saskatachewan.

Aimed at the beginning writer, this handbook is mainly a series of
definitions of kinds of writing, which it calls “poetry.” It divides
literature into lyric, dramatic, and narrative poetry. For example, the
author includes the epic poem as well as the novel and short story under
the broader term “narrative poetry,” a usage that beginning writers
might find confusing. Most of the useful material in the book is
available in a more ordered way in any dictionary of literary terms. The
author uses gender-exclusive language, always representing authors,
characters, and narrators as male.