2018 Summer Updates

Videos by Author

LaunchPad Solo for Literature includes an extensive library of great videos of influential authors discussing their work and their writing process. Students can do more than just watch them. Using the LaunchPad video annotating tools, you can annotate these videos, or ask your students to share their thoughts directly on the content. For more information about the Video Assignments feature, see Assign, edit, and manage: Video Assignments.

Kim Addonizio

Advice to Aspiring Writers
On Anaphora
On Becoming a Writer
On Her Inspirations and Role Models
On Her Writing Habits
On Where Her Ideas Come From
On Why Students Should Read and Write More

Robin Black

Advice to Aspiring Writers
On Becoming a Writer
On Her Inspirations and Role Models
On Her Writing Habits
On Where Her Ideas Come From
On Why Students Should Read and Write More

T. Coraghessan Boyle

On Beginning to Write Fiction
On Comedy in Fiction
On Creativity and Writing
On Research and Historical Fiction
On Style in Fiction
On What Literature Does

Robert Olen Butler

On Becoming a Fiction Writer
On Responding to Literature
On Voice and Narrators in Fiction
On Writing Fiction and Creating Characters

Cecil Castellucci

Advice for Aspiring Writers
On Becoming a Writer
On Character
On Her Inspirations and Role Models
On Her Writing Habits
On Theme
On Where Her Ideas Come From
On Why Students Should Read and Write More

Jennine Capó Crucet

Advice to Aspiring Writers
On Becoming a Writer
On Her Inspirations and Role Models
On Her Writing Habits
On Where Her Ideas Come From

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

On the American Dream as a Theme in Fiction
On Character and Dialogue in Fiction
On Simile in Fiction
On Voice in Academic and Creative Writing
On Voice in Fiction

Mel Donalson

Advice to Aspiring Writers
On Becoming a Writer
On His Inspirations and Role Models
On His Writing Habits
On Where His Ideas Come From
On Why Students Should Read and Write More

William Gibson

On Becoming a Science Fiction Writer
On Creating Characters and Plot
On Creating Tension in Science Fiction
On How He Writes a Novel
On Inventing the Word “Cyberspace”
On Inventing Words and His Early Science Fiction
On Research and Science Fiction
On Writing Narrative and Science Fiction

Sue Grafton

On Conducting Research for Her Novels

Carl Hiaasen

On Analyzing His Novels
On Character and Writing from Observation
On Creating Fictional Characters
On Crime, Novels, and Satire
On Drafting and Revising His Novels
On Pacing the Action in Crime Novels

Mark Jarman

Advice to Aspiring Writers
On Becoming a Writer
On His Writing Habits
On Where His Ideas Come From
On Why Students Should Read and Write More

Ha Jin

On Character in Fiction
On Comedy and Meaning in Fiction
On Description and Detail in Fiction
On Persistence and Writing Fiction
On Tension and Conflict in Fiction

Wally Lamb

On Becoming a Writer
On Character and Theme
On Creating Plot and Character in Fiction
On Revising Fiction
On Storytelling

Dylan Landis

Advice to Aspiring Writers
On Becoming a Writer
On Conflict in Literary Works
On Her Inspirations and Role Models
On Her Writing Habits
On Where Her Ideas Come From
On Why Students Should Read and Write More

Phillip Lopate

Advice to Aspiring Writers
On Becoming a Writer
On His Inspirations and Role Models
On His Writing Habits
On Where His Ideas Come From
On Why Students Should Read and Write More

Frank McCourt

Frank McCourt’s Voice in Angela’s Ashes
On Getting Started as a Writer
On Voice and Storytelling

Dinty Moore

Advice for Aspiring Writers
On Becoming a Writer
On His Writing Habits
On Where His Ideas Come From
On Why Students Should Read and Write More

Don Morrill

Advice for Aspiring Writers
On Becoming a Writer
On His Inspirations and Role Models
On His Writing Habits
On Where His Ideas Come From
On Why Students Should Read and Write More

Joyce Carol Oates

Advice to Aspiring Writers
On Becoming a Writer
On Her Inspirations and Role Models
On Her Writing Habits
On Theme
On Where Her Ideas Come From
On Why Students Should Read and Write More

Anne Rice

On Becoming a Writer
On Dialogue in Fiction
On the Novel
On Research and the Novel
On Transition in Fiction

Mike Rose

On Creativity, Mixing Genres, and Lives on the Boundary
On Writing Non-Fiction
On Writing Poetry and Poetic Prose

Marjorie Sandor

Advice to Aspiring Writers
On Becoming a Writer
On Her Inspirations and Role Models
On Her Writing Habits
On Point of View
On Where Her Ideas Come From
On Why Students Should Read and Write More

Jane Smiley

On Character and Point of View in Fiction
On the Challenges of Writing Fiction
On Her Novel Horse Heaven
On the Structure of the Novel
On Two Types of Novelists

Miscellaneous Videos

Literary Texts (audio)

“Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

Cultural Contexts

Challenge to Democracy, ca. 1944
Malala Yousafzai Addresses United Nations Youth Assembly
President Reagan’s Challenger Disaster Speech

Think Aloud Student Videos

Think Aloud: Student Chelsea Dickson
Think Aloud: Student Laura Paik
Think Aloud: Student Stephen Epples