[Michael Rodriguez interviews Jim Daniels, Professor of English and Creative Writing at Carnegie Mellon University].

Detroit native Jim Daniels, Professor of English and Creative Writing at Carnegie Mellon University, talks about being identified as a Detroit writer and poet, reading in Detroit with author Philip Levine, script and short story writing, challenging himself to try new things and developing a character over time. Daniels also explains how our ideas of movies have influenced expectations in writing and changed the way many writers approach their craft and suggests that contemporary writers have dropped the idea of writing the great American novel for writing the great American screenplay. Daniels is interviewed by Michael Rodriguez for the Michigan State University Libraries' Michigan Writers Series.

Recorded at Michigan State University Main Library by the Vincent Voice Library, Sept. 21, 2007.