Craft Chaps

Craft Chaps offers substantive essays by contemporary writers on creative writing practice. Each chap focuses on one aspect of craft and also contains a writing exercise and bibliography for further reading. They are freely downloadable here.

As creative writing teachers, we’ve been frustrated by the lack of affordable texts available for our students. Introductory textbooks from major publishers often include anthologies of creative work which significantly increase cost, while book-length works of aesthetic theory privilege one aesthetic perspective.

Craft Chaps aims to democratize creative writing education through making this material accessible for use both inside and outside the academy. We also recognize that “craft” is not a neutral term and seek to contextualize it within a range of aesthetic and cultural contexts. Through offering chaps from different perspectives and literary communities, we encourage students to resist “universal” (often cis, white, male) notions of “good” literature.

Download any of our Craft Chaps for free by clicking on the cover image!

Please note that this series is funded by people like you and relies on contributions from our readers to continue. If you’ve enjoyed these chaps, do consider a small tax-deductible donation to Sundress Publications. We are an entirely volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit.


2024

Craft Chaps Cover for Meg Cass's These Vital Ruptures.
These Vital Ruptures: Body Horror as World Making
by Meg Cass
Craft Chap cover for Rajiv Mohabir's Between Influecne and Inspiration.
Between Influence and Inspiration: Poetry as Translational Act
by Rajiv Mohabir
Craft Chap cover for K. Iver's Becoming Mud.
“Becoming Mud”: A Neurodivergent Poetics Towards Movement
by K. Iver


2023

Memories We Never Had: Writing in a Postcolonial Existence by Cynthia Guardado
Memories We Never Had: Writing in a Postcolonial Existence
by Cynthia Guardado
Hidden Labor & The Naked Body: Work They Don't Prepare You For After Publication by Joshua Nguyen
Hidden Labor & The Naked Body: Work They Don’t Prepare You For After Publication
by Joshua Nguyen


2021

Craft Chaps (2021) Megan Giddings
A Delicious Letter: Correspondence on Narrative Time in Fiction
by Megan Giddings
Craft Chaps (2021) Tina Jenkins Bell
Messy Genius
by Tina Jenkins Bell


2020

Craft Chaps (2020) A.D. Carson
Rap & Storytelling Invention
by A.D. Carson
Craft Chaps (2020) Wendy C. Ortiz
::how to write the book while not writing the book::
by Wendy C. Ortiz
Craft Chaps (2020) Susan Power
The Structure of Love: Anatomy of a Novel
by Susan Power


2019

Craft Chaps Vol. 1 (2019) Chen Chen
You MUST Use the Word Smoothie: A Craft Essay in 50 Writing Prompts
by Chen Chen
Craft Chaps Vol. 1 (2019) Bayo Ojikutu
Method in Craft: Stanislavski, Voice and Workshop Alternatives
by Bayo Ojikutu
Craft Chaps Vol. 1 (2019) Ángel Garcia
Lessons on Erasure
by Ángel Garcia