Creative Writing

The creative writing research guide offers a selection of information resources for researching various aspects of creative writing projects: from generating ideas, to finding information that can help you write about people, places, and times that are outside of your own experience, to fact checking. You'll also find links to writing tools like dictionaries and thesauruses, resources for writing careers, information about publishing, and a list of literary journals in MHC's collection.

Don't see a source that specifically addresses what you're researching? Think of this guide as a sampling of suggested types of sources. If, for example, you're looking for information about the natural world, field guides are a great tool. The links found in the Places section are to North American field guides, but you could find some for Africa by searching the terms "field guide" and "africa" in the library catalog. And, of course, ask if you need further help!

Special thanks to Mount Holyoke Creative Writing instructor Andrea Lawlor, especially for their suggestions for the Resources for Writing Careers and Publishing sections of this guide.