Creative Writing

If you’ve ever finished a good book with the urge to write a better one… if you’ve always thought of taking a creative writing class but been reluctant to commit… if you’re ever tempted to let the dishes pile up and lock yourself with your laptop in a room of your own… then this course is your chance to explore the storytelling impulse in a supportive environment completely free of intimidation and pretension.

This course will suit the needs of beginning creative writers, but more experienced writers will find themselves engaged and challenged as well.  Whatever a student’s level of skill or experience, his or her work will receive individual attention, and each student will be taken on individual terms.

Class time will be divided between lectures by the instructor, student-led discussion of assigned readings, in-class writing exercises, and readings and workshops of student writing.  Readings will range from classic short stories to hip poetry and prose by just-emerging writers.  Discussion will focus on the nuts and bolts of craft: on how good writers do what they do, and on what we can learn from them.

Students will complete several assigned writing exercises.  By the end of the semester, each student will produce a significant, polished, rigorously revised work of around twenty pages, for example: the first chapter of a novel, a short story, a personal essay, or several short shorts.  Our discussions will focus primarily on fiction, and most students will choose to produce works of fiction as their final projects, but students with compelling interests in narrative non-fiction, poetry, screenplay, drama, the graphic novel, and other storytelling formats will be encouraged to pursue those interests, with the instructor’s permission.

Good citizenship is mandatory, and each student’s grade will be influenced by the quality of his or her participation.  Students must engage enthusiastically with the workshop process, and be supportive of their fellow writers.  Most importantly, students must be willing to share their love of literature, and to have fun!