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CREATIVE WRITING: 211/212

INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING offers practice in several forms (fiction, poetry, first person narrative, drama) enabling students to discover their own voice and their own material while developing the skills and techniques that will allow their work to engage a reader.

The INTERMEDIATE WORKSHOP is for students who have taken an introductory creative writing class. Students may choose specific genres: poetry, fiction, drama, or screenwriting. Students will learn to read and critique assigned texts as well as peer work. Students will explore form in their chosen genres through in class and assigned writing exercises, as well as preparing a critical presentation of an author. Finally, students will learn to offer both written and verbal critiques in their specific genres while learning to workshop peer work.

The ADVANCED WORKSHOP is for students with prior workshop experience and serious commitment to the writing. Students may choose specific genres: poetry, fiction, drama, or screenwriting. It is expected that students with such a commitment will be avid and attentive readers, both of assigned texts and each other. It is also expected that students will engage with various aspects of the genre, including formal (craft), oral (presentation), critical, historical, and contemporary, and follow their particular interests through independent research, reading, and creative work. Most importantly, the class is intended to provide a community of readers and responders that will help each writer grow and develop in the art.

Class work includes discussing assigned readings, workshopping student work, an individual creative project, and a critical project.