CLEAVER, Jerry

PERSONAL: Male.

ADDRESSES: Office—Writers' Loft, 1450 W. Waveland Ave., Chicago, IL 60613-3728. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, former writing instructor; Writers' Loft, Chicago, IL, founder; creator of online course "The Complete Story."

WRITINGS:

Immediate Fiction: A Complete Writing Course, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor to periodicals, including Writer's Digest.

SIDELIGHTS: Jerry Cleaver is a writing instructor and coach who taught at Chicago's Northwestern University for ten years and has also taught creative writing through his Writers' Loft and associated Web site for over two decades. Students worldwide participate in his "The Complete Story" program, in which they work directly with Cleaver. In addition, he has created seminars and other online courses for Writer's Digest and other writing-related concerns.

In his book Immediate Fiction: A Complete Writing Course Cleaver offers the same advice that has inspired his many students. The book offers many tips typical of writing guides, including the basics of plot and story, editing, rewriting, how to manage writer's block, and advice regarding getting published. Cleaver also provides exercises designed to keep the reader writing and shares anecdotes about his early writing career and his breakthrough into becoming a full-time writer and teacher.

A reviewer for Writers Write online noted that, "like a good teacher, his tone is encouraging and inspiring," and called Immediate Fiction "a terrific book for fiction writers." Bob Condor wrote in the Chicago Tribune that it "will guide you on story form and how to keep writing and get published. But Cleaver's highest potential as a teacher may be in encouraging students to learn more about themselves by the process of writing."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, March 3, 2002, Bob Condor, review of Immediate Fiction: A Complete Writing Course, p. 3.

Library Journal, March 15, 2002, Denise S. Sticha, review of Immediate Fiction, p. 90.

Publishers Weekly, November 26, 2001, review of Immediate Fiction, p. 56.

ONLINE

Jerry Cleaver Home Page, http://www.immediatefiction.com (June 1, 2005).

WritersWrite.com, http://www.writerswrite.com/ (March, 2002), review of Immediate Fiction.