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(Opens in new window).
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
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
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
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