Creative writing by James Green-Armytage

Wrapped in a Leaf
       Mostly written on the plane from New York to Ohio, September of 2002. The story completed itself in my mind as we were descending into Dayton and I saw a huge rainstorm approaching from the West, with the sunset behind it. The storm hit the airport just after we landed.

My Burrito and I
       Written while I was working at my first job at the neighborhood bookstore, age 18. That is, I wrote it one evening as I was sitting at the information counter and later standing at bag check. I was giggling like a maniac as I wrote it.

Stream of consciousness writing, spring 2002
       Written and compiled during the spring of 2002. During that term I did a lot of stream of consciousness writing. During the cold wet spring break when nobody was around I actually sat down and looked through all of the different freewriting documents (such as "Spumoni four stars," "Last after the platypus," and so on) to find the fragments that I thought were worth reading. As I look at them, themes seem to emerge, such as a kind of hopelessness settling in while some feeling of beauty still remains. I think a lot of it ends up being simultaneously about the limits of mental experience and the limits of language, as I am straining both at once in an effort to produce something fulfilling.

The Mystery Kids and the Case of the Missing Blazer
       Written in Kathmandu and Benaras, fall 2001. I actually wrote stories about the mystery kids when I was in second grade, and I did my best to capture the style of the original when writing their latest adventure.

The President's Journey
     Written in a single burst for a fiction writing assignment, spring 2000.

Story-poems, spring 2000
     Written at different times during the course of the spring 2000 term. Very dramatic; I mean I should add that I'm not that dramatic a person anymore. But that said, I still like it for what it is.

The Thieves
     Written for creative writing class in my senior year of high school. A bit simple and obvious, I suppose, but at the time it was good.

Death in Life and Other Stories
       Written for a summer school writing class after my senior year of high school which I had to take to make up for failing calculus. The writing is a bit strange, maybe not quite the best, but again I liked it at the time.