Creative Writing

Resources to support creative writing at UTSA.

Card Games for Writers

Orange, blue, and black playing cards for Fabula

This site demonstrates how to use Fabula Storytelling Cards to define the elements of a story, develop plot, investigate characters, and more.

Fabula: A Framework for Fiction Writers by Binasco, Andrea; Di Pascale, Matteo (UTSA Library Catalog)

Call Number: PN3355 .F33 2016, request at JPL 2nd Floor, Front Desk

Publication Date: 2016

Published by Sefirot.
Fabula Storytelling Cards are a deck of 40 cards to inspire fiction writers to create, organize, and develop their stories. The box contains instructions for use, orange cards that help outline the "Hero's Steps" -- the story's plot -- blue cards that suggests "Assets" -- such as characters that participate in the story -- and "Reader's Steps" -- to refine the story.

Box holding Fabula for Kids, a card game

This site explains how to use Fabula Deck for kids -- how to select cards, develop stories, and think about how a story is structured.

Fabula Deck for Kids by Binasco, Andrea; Di Pascale, Matteo; Capobianco, Matteo Ufocinque (UTSA Library Catalog)

Call Number: BF408 .F33 2021, request at JPL Front Desk 2nd Floor

Publication Date: 2021

Published by Sefirot.
Fabula Deck for Kids is a deck of 34 cards that helps kids to invent and develop unlimited stories. It is designed to be used by children ages 6 and up, to help them build the structure of a story and develop it using their creative imagination. The box contains a die, instructions for use, and a set of beautifully illustrated cards that offer prompts for character, plot, genre, and more.

A box of Storymatic cards

This site describes the Storymatic game, explains its benefits for users, and describes how to play. It includes a written description and a video demonstration.

The Storymatic by Mooney, Brian (UTSA Library Catalog)

Call Number: PN198 .S76 2004, request at JPL Front Desk 2nd Floor

Publication Date: 2004

This game consists of 540 cards that can be combined in trillions of ways to create and develop stories, characters, plots, and more. It supports and enhances creative thinking, a useful skill in myriad scenarios including improvisation and public speaking as well as fiction writing.

 

This site explains the purpose of the Writer Emergency Pack -- "a deck full of useful ideas designed to help get your story back on track" -- and how to use it when you get stuck as you're writing fiction.

Writer Emergency Pack by August, John, author; Nelson, Ryan, designer; Friesen, David, illustrator. (UTSA Library Catalog)

Call Number: PN197 .W75 2020, request at JPL Front Desk 2nd Floor

Publication Date: 2020

This pack contains 52 cards -- 26 illustrated Idea cards to breathe new life into a story, and 26 Detail cards that provide specific suggestions -- to help stuck writers rejuvenate their fiction. It can be used by young writers as well as older writers, helping them understand and recreate their stories in new ways.