In my research about crafts such as needlework, collage, textile arts, and photography, I became interested in writers and theorists such as bell hooks, Layli Long Soldier, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Jen Bervin, Sara Baume, and Sarah Hall who cross the threads of research, art, and creative writing in their work. Reading and writing this way asks you to become more attentive to the processes, methods, and materials makers use in the crafting of their projects—a dynamic that often highlights various forms of resistance and healing that emerge in these hybrid texts.

This exercise asks you to engage more closely with processes and materials in the development of a character. In ‘crafting a crafter,’ you should feel empowered to explore the material world around you and connect your findings to narrative in new ways.

Amy E. Elkins (she/her/hers) is Associate Professor of English at Macalester College and the author of Crafting Feminism from Literary Modernism to the Multimedia Present (Oxford University Press, 2022). As a scholar, multimedia artist, and writer, she's interested in intersectional approaches to the archive and cultural history in addition to experimental and multimedia academic writing practices. You can see her film-essay here and can find her on X/Instagram @amyEelkins.