course description of creative writing

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Creative Writing Major and Minor, Course Descriptions

Creative writing major and minor, course descriptions.

ENG 209. Introduction to Creative Writing. 3 Credit Hours.   This is an introductory course in writing fiction and poetry.  A basic premise of this course is that powerful stories and poems often emerge from attentive reading, fearless writing, and rigorous revision.  Some writers may be born, but all writers are made (as are athletes, doctors, painters, lawyers, and musicians) through the deliberate and persistent practice of discipline.  In English 209, readings, class discussions and in-class writing exercises will focus on the elements of craft.  We will pay special attention to reading as models and jumping off places into our own work.  We will, in effect, “imitate toward originality.” 

Learning Outcomes

Develop a working knowledge of the differences between poetry, fiction and the third genre.

Understand how to talk about these genres as writers.

Become familiar with the workshop as a form of receiving and giving feedback.

Understand the writing process, from idea to draft, workshop to revision, and the importance of all steps.

Gain a familiarity with reading and writing work that is multilingual.

Attend literary events and write reflections about them.

Produce a final portfolio of writing samples, including first drafts, intermediate drafts, and final revisions (three samples—one in each genre).

ENG 290/219. Introduction to Fiction Workshop .   3 Credit Hours.    This course is an introduction to the writing of contemporary short fiction where you will develop critical as well as creative thinking and writing skills.  We will focus on building your understanding of the elements of fiction and how you might use these elements to design your stories.  We are also concerned with developing your sense of what it means to be part of a writing community. The workshop environment requires extensive peer collaboration as we practice various writing strategies and examine the stages of the writing process: mining, collecting, shaping, drafting, and revising. This course meets requirements for creative writing majors and minors.

Prerequisite:  ENG 209 or   Requisite:   Creative Writing Majors or Creative Writing Minors. May not be taken in the same term with another Creative Writing course

Define and know the difference between a short story, vignette, flash fiction, novel, and the novella.

Develop and implement a vocabulary for talking about the craft of fiction. Terms should include tension, conflict, character, setting, plot, structure, pacing, voice, point of view, tone, revision, epiphany, resolution, scene, exposition, summary, narrative, sensory details, concrete details.

Recognize scenes as the building blocks of stories.

Write from the ground up, i.e. begin with the writing of scenes that develop character and conflict, that can move a story forward.

Write complete short stories, built upon the work done at the scene level.

Become comfortable with the workshop, with the giving and receiving of feedback.

Become aware of their personal writing process, and be able to describe it in reflection.

Continue to become familiar with work that is multilingual.

Produce at least one assignment that is multilingual.

Write work that fall under the literary tradition.

Produce a final portfolio of writing samples, including first drafts, intermediate drafts, and final revisions.

ENG 292/219.  Introduction to Poetry Workshop. 3 Credit Hours.   Our aim is to help each of you develop your interests and abilities as poets. This means we’ll be doing a lot of reading, writing, and revising during this semester. We’ll spend much of our time in the detailed discussion of your own creative work. We’ll also read the work of a diverse array of contemporary writers to gain an understanding of contemporary American poetry. You will learn the state of the art and you will contribute to its continuing evolution as engaged and active artists.

Actively participate in the workshop by receiving and providing critical feedback

Define key terms including diction, syntax, line break, stanza, image, metaphor, simile, and cliché.

Define the term ‘free verse’ and write free verse poems that feature tactile imagery and original phrasing/description free of clichéd language.

Understand the difference between concrete and abstract language.

Understand the poetic line as a unit of sound and meaning.

Generate evocative titles for their poetry.

Understand how punctuation shapes rhythm, cadence, and meaning in a poem.

Produce at least one poem that is multilingual.

Produce a final portfolio of free verse poetry that includes first drafts and final revisions.

ENG 390/391. Intermediate Fiction Workshop. 3 Credit Hours.   This workshop will look at the construction of effective contemporary stories. Its intention is to build a community of writers with a commitment to craft, to risk taking, and to building each other’s own sense of story. Students are expected to generate 20-30 pages of new writing and to complete one revision of a full-length story. In addition, each student may be expected to discuss writing from a reflective and critical perspective in the form of an annotated bibliography, close reading, essay, presentation, response paper, review, or some other form determined by the instructor. Topics may include an element of craft (i.e. balancing story with flashback), a narrative strategy (such as the unreliable narrator) or an exploration of a particular writer, group of writers, or writing school. This course meets requirements for creative writing majors and minors.

Prer equisite:  ENG 219 Or ENG 290 Or Permission of Creative Writing Director.  May not be taken in the same term with another Creative Writing course.

Write and revise 20-30 pages of new writing.

Develop and refine the use of literary elements in their short stories.

Develop their sense of what it means to be part of a writing community via workshop, attendance of literary events.

Read contemporary writers, including work from multilingual and/or multicultural writers.

Discuss writing from a reflective or critical perspective in the form of an annotated bibliography, close reading, essay, presentation, response paper, review or some other form determined by the instructor.

ENG 392/391. Intermediate Poetry Workshop .   3 Credit Hours.   This course will continue your development as writers and critical readers of poetry. While you may be familiar with workshop practices from prior courses, this intermediate workshop will challenge you into offering increasingly sophisticated feedback to your peers. We’ll be seeking similarly sophisticated turns of thought and language in the poems you write. Our course reading will complicate your notions of what’s possible in poetry and inspire you to write poems unlike any you have written before. 

Prerequisite:   ENG 219 Or ENG 292.  Or Permission of Creative Writing Director. May not be taken in the same term with another Creative Writing course.

Learning outcomes

Receive and offer critical feedback in workshop with an eye towards submitting their work to undergraduate literary journals like   Mangrove .

Display a deeper understanding of the terminology and elements of craft introduced in ENG 292/219.

Experiment with more figurative language, unconventional forms, and cross-genre work.

Be able to distinguish between free verse and formal poetry with an increased knowledge of terms like metered verse, blank verse, rhyme scheme, and fixed form.

Develop a stronger sense of his/her revision process with an emphasis on independent self-direction.

Produce a final portfolio of free verse poetry that includes first drafts and final revisions with an eye towards submitting their work to undergraduate literary journals at UM or elsewhere.

Read and offer original analysis of poetry by contemporary writers, including work from multilingual and/or multicultural poets.

ENG 404. Creative Writing (Fiction Prose). 3 Credit Hours.   This workshop will look at the construction of effective contemporary short stories. Its intention is to build a community of serious writers with a commitment to craft, to risk taking, and to building each other’s own sense of story. It is my hope that you find the material deep inside you and that you use your craft, your ability to risk and your community to develop your works. In addition to workshopping student narratives, we will ground our discussions in published contemporary short stories to give your own stories context in form and inspiration to grow. In the end, I intend for you to be strong storytellers and readers, able to write, critique and revise your works in a confident manner. This course meets requirements for creative writing majors with a concentration in fiction.

Prer equisite : ENG 390 Or Permission of Creative Writing Director.  May not be taken in the same term with another Creative Writing course.

Students should produce 20-30 pages of writing.

Construct effective short stories and write outside the short story form as well. This may include flash fiction, novellas, chapters from novels-in-progress, digital expressions, etc.

Read at an advanced and challenging level.

Take risks in their writing in order to develop the content of their work.

Be introduced to basic ideas about publishing for emerging writers.

Create a portfolio that is future-minded. In other words, the portfolios should include samples of work and the revision process, as well as proposals regarding either longer work to be written post-graduation, or postgrad plans, a process letter that serves as self-assessment, or an annotated list of goals for continuing the life of the writer after the undergraduate degree is completed.

ENG 406. Creative Writing (Poetry Workshop). 3 Credit Hours.   Students in this advanced poetry workshop will have the opportunity for hands-on experimentation with poetic crafts—structure, language, musicality—as well as for research, collaboration, and critique.  We’ll mine memory, mix genres, and explore culture and linguistic inventions, while enjoying the work of a diverse array of contemporary and canonical poets.  Through annotations and lively discussions of both contemporary poems and student work, as well as through exercises and assignments, students will create poetry of increasing risk and quality and develop the skills necessary to advance their craft.  A final portfolio of creative and critical work is due at the semester’s end.

Prerequisite:   ENG 392 Or ENG 391 Or Permission of Creative Writing Director. May not be taken in the same term with another Creative Writing course.

Receive and offer highly informed and eloquent critical feedback in workshop with an eye towards submitting their work to undergraduate literary journals like   Mangrove   and/or towards the compilation of an MFA application portfolio.

Write original work that reveals their unique aesthetic interests and displays a strong sense of individual voice.

Discuss their specific literary models and influences by speaking and writing knowledgably about the work of published poets they either admire or find difficult.

Experiment with more figurative language, unconventional forms, and cross-genre work

Effectively experiment in multiple languages, including writing in vernacular, dialects, and even invented language.

Be able to dramatically transform their poems from one draft to another with an emphasis on linguistic originality, descriptive sophistication, and thematic complication.

Produce a final portfolio of poetry that includes final revisions with an eye towards submitting their work to undergraduate literary journals at UM or elsewhere or towards the compilation of an MFA application portfolio.

Course Description for 407

Special Topics Advanced Workshop in Creative Writing

This course explores special topics in Creative Writing. Students will be taken step by step through the process of writing compelling fiction, poetry or nonfiction in the genre and specific form of the professor’s choice. Students will learn the basic skills and attitudes needed to research, produce and write in that specific form. Readings in the form will be broad and challenging. By the end of the course, students will have developed a portfolio of work that reflects the form under study.

Prerequisite:  ENG 390 or Permission of Creative Writing Director. This course may not be taken concurrently with another creative writing workshop.

Produce a significant amount of written work, equivalent to what is asked of them in ENG 404, but tailored to the needs and standards of the form being studied.

Recognize the major elements of the topic under study, and be able to talk about them in formal terms related to that topic.

Model the readings in their work via writing assignments, reflecting an understanding of the topic.

Complete a final portfolio or project that reflects their best work, their understanding of the topic, and their process.

Course Description for 408

Writing Autobiography

This course explores the writing of prose or poetry as autobiography. Students will be taken step by step through the process of writing compelling memoir, the essay, blogging or creative nonfiction as a way of exploring the Self. Students will learn the basic skills and attitudes needed to research, produce and write autobiography. Readings in the form will be broad and challenging. By the end of the course, students will have developed a portfolio of work that reflects the form under study.

Recognize the major elements of autobiography, creative nonfiction and the essay; and be able to talk about them in formal terms.

Model the readings in their work via writing assignments, reflecting an understanding of form.

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ENG 231. Intro to Creative Writing

Spring 2014.

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Creative Writing Course Descriptions

Winter 2021, wr 224, introduction to fiction writing.

See the Course Catalog for available sections.

WR 224 is an introduction to the writing of fiction. Our approach in this fiction writing workshop will be to develop your skills as a creative writer through several means: careful reading and analysis of our own work; careful reading and analysis of established writers’ work; the execution of several meaningful fiction exercises; and a constant commitment to revision. Assessment methods include creative writing exercises, quizzes and reading checks on textbook craft sections, peer review, and the evolution of a short story from first to final, polished draft by the end of the term. Successful completion of Writing 121 is a prerequisite for this course.

Bacc Core, Skills – Writing II (CSW2)

Liberal Arts Fine Arts Core (LACF)

Wayne Harrison

WR 224 is an introduction to the writing of fiction. Our approach in this online fiction writing workshop will be to develop your skills as a creative writer through several means: careful reading and analysis of our own work; careful reading and analysis of established writers’ work; the execution of several meaningful fiction exercises; and a constant commitment to revision. Assessment methods include creative writing exercises, quizzes and reading checks on textbook craft sections, peer review, and the evolution of a short story from first to final, polished draft by the end of the term. Successful completion of Writing 121 is a prerequisite for this course

WR 240, INTRODUCTION TO NONFICTION WRITING

Creative nonfiction is the genre of creative writing that bridges the act of making literary prose--the crafting of vivid scenes, a thoughtful narrative voice, and meaningful formats--with the kinds of practical personal writing often required in our academic and professional lives. In this course, we will discuss several published pieces from the creative nonfiction genre, including personal essays, memoir, and lyric essay. More importantly, we will also write, edit, workshop, and revise several pieces of our own creative nonfiction. Expect a lively class with lots of imaginative prompts, free-writes, and hardy discussion.

Bacc Core Requirement(s) Fulfilled: Core, Skills, WR II

WR 241, INTRODUCTION TO POETRY WRITING

“The art of poetry is ultimately an art of attention—Michael Blumenthal.” Throughout this course, we will consider the tools necessary to approach poetry more attentively as both readers and writers. This course will provide a firm grounding in the rudiments of poetic craft such as word choice, line breaks, imagery, structure, and other devices, as well as an introduction to different forms available to poets. We will consistently work through writing exercises and read/ discuss the work of various poets in order to aid us in the generation of our own poems.

WR 324, SHORT STORY WRITING

Kristin Griffin

Prerequisite: WR 224. This class is a workshop for writers experienced in writing fiction. Students learn techniques of the form by discussing their work, as well as the assigned readings, in a group setting. We’ll be reading work by current writers, some of whom will Skype in with advice, and learning the features of today’s literary landscape. The course assumes familiarity with major fiction writers and fundamental craft concepts such as point of view, characterization, dialogue, and theme. If you’re hoping to take your short story writing skills to the next level, this course is for you!

WR 424, ADVANCED FICTION WRITING

Rob Drummond

In this workshop we will read and write fiction.  Using published stories as models, we’ll discuss methods of characterization, plotting, scene-setting, dialogue, and so on.  Much of our work together will involve close reading and analysis of the texts in question.  Our emphasis will be on writing more complicated and sophisticated stories with concision and economy.

WR 440, ADVANCED CREATIVE NONFICTION

Justin St. Germain

In WR 466/566, Professional Writing, we’ll study texts, contexts and concepts important to the practice of professional writing and produce documents for both paper and digital distribution. As future professional writers, students will be expected to analyze organizations and institutions in order to develop effective communicative practices. Therefore, the class is organized with an eye towards future action: you will be reading what others have done and we will be developing strategies for your own future writing activities. The fundamental question addressed in this class is: what do professional writers do? Through the course, students will read definitions of professional and technical writing from academic and professional perspectives. Students will also research and report on a variety of documents in genres common in professional and technical writing as they develop an awareness of genre. Class reading and writing assignments have been designed to help students gain greater insight into the issues and challenges of professional writing in a variety of workplace contexts.

Click here for a full list of Winter 2021 course descriptions in Applied Journalism, English, Film, and Writing.

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Creative writing undergraduate course descriptions , engl 3420: introduction to fiction writing (waugh) .

This introduction to short story writing will help you see all the many things a story is besides what happens. Plot may be “the soul of a tragedy,” according to Aristotle, but it certainly won’t keep your readers if that’s all there is. We will examine why character matters, as well as imagery, description, setting, time, point of view, and sparkling prose, among many other things. By taking this course, you will learn to: 1) use a basic fiction writing vocabulary, 2) identify the core narratological concepts in a work of fiction, 3) recognize the sound and rhythm of good prose, 4) understand and employ various narrative modes and structures, and 5) participate fully and constructively in a workshop oriented class. In-person. Logan.

ENGL 3420 Introduction to Fiction Writing (Denetsosie-Mitchell)

This introduction to short story writing will draw upon natural patterns that exist within nature and help you apply those patterns to your fiction. The craft of writing should extend beyond the dramatic arc, where tension reaches a climax and then falls. Although many great stories have been written using this structure, it can feel stifling. By taking this course, you will experiment with form and nonlinear prose to explore the texture of narrative writing and consider how your story might meander, spiral, or explode. Using Jane Alison’s text, 'Meander, Spiral, Explode,' we will collectively identify new patterns and natural shapes within our stories to produce new narrative vessels that make our stories ring true. In-person. Logan.

ENGL 3420 Introduction to Fiction Writing (Olsen)

This is a fiction writing course that is accessible to beginning fiction writers and beneficial to writers who have had practical experience with fiction writing but minimal academic study in the field. The course is workshop-driven (meaning there will be extensive hands-on analysis of student work) but will also feature serious craft discussion and thorough readings of published material to help students better understand how to approach their own work. Students are encouraged to write in genres and styles that interest them. The course is structured as a hybrid with every-other-week in-class meetings that alternate with weeks where we discuss specific issues related to craft and contemporary fiction. Connect.

ENGL 3430 Introduction to Poetry Writing (Gunsberg)

This course is designed to help you become better writers and readers of poetry. To this end, we’ll discuss student work as well as poetry written by established authors. Our conversations will revolve around craft, which means we’ll explore those time-tested techniques that guide and strengthen poets’ efforts. This approach begins with close attention to the language that moves us and, moreover, careful consideration of why it moves us. Class discussion and careful reading of student work will be enhanced by your efforts to develop a critical/literary vocabulary, one that broadens your understanding of poetry and enlivens your responses to your classmates’ work. In person. Logan.

Eng 3430 Introduction to Poetry Writing: Poetry and Art: Building New Worlds (Grimmer)

In this workshop-based course, we will explore poetry’s role in articulating “better worlds” through a combination of classroom-based learning and experiential learning outside of the classroom. Our guiding questions include: 1. How does poetry interact with and create effects across different modes of art, including popular music and visual arts? 2. What are the relationships between language, bodies, and content across digital and analog forms of writing? 3. What are the sociopolitical effects of these relationships across racialized, gendered, and classed identity groups? This course will be a workshop-styled attempt to explore these questions by reading and experimenting with poetry in a variety of formats and in a variety of settings. Students can expect a combination of individual writing exercises, group-based arts projects, and experiential learning in local museums and cafes. Students will learn different craft techniques for playing with the effects of text-based poems; they will also experiment with translating those effects into audio and visual mediums. Students are expected to attend local readings, write outside the classroom in libraries, cafes, and museums, and practice navigating the dynamic between individual writing, digital content, and community-based arts. In person. Logan.

ENGL 3430 Introduction to Poetry Writing (Olsen)

Regardless of your previous experience or comfort level with poetry, this is a course that will help you find your way. By reading engaging contemporary poems and discussing techniques that will allow your writer's voice to emerge and shine, this class will use both discussion and workshop to help students improve. This is a hybrid course—that means we'll be meeting via Connect every other week and then engaging in poetry writing discussions over Canvas during weeks when we're not in class. There will be frequent workshops in which we will discuss student work and find ways to improve our work. Connect. 

ENGL 3440 Introduction to Creative Nonfiction Writing (Beck)

Nonfiction is the only genre that starts with an apology. It knows that you wished it were fiction and, sometimes, it does too. Because it starts with a stutter step—by defining itself by what it’s not—nonfiction is the most accepting of all genres. If you can follow nonfiction’s one rule, DMSU (don’t make stuff up) you can do whatever you want in the genre. English 3440 will be a mix of lectures and workshops that will focus on creating new nonfiction projects. Few parameters will be placed on the projects you will complete, but the class will emphasize narrative and personal writing. Project mediums will include traditional essays, podcasts and will be open to other experimentations. In person. Logan.

ENGL 3440 Introduction to Creative Nonfiction Writing (Engler)

You got something to say about the world? About your life? About Stranger Things, Beyoncé, or Neon Genesis Evangelion? Say goodbye to boring, dry, academic papers, and come join this workshop-style community where we experiment with the tools of nonfiction artist (like story, character, voice, and style) to learn the genre more popular than fiction. Whatever you might hope to say, this course will help you add layers of meaning and intrigue to find a compelling way to say it. In person. Logan.

ENGL 4420 Advanced Fiction Writing (Waugh)

The purpose of this advanced fiction writing course is to allow you to make the step from story dabbler to serious fiction writer, and to help you, as M.S. Bell says, “deploy unconsciously, intuitively, instinctively” the rudimentary skills you learned in the introductory course. The readings of our own work will be the basis for our workshop discussions, which means you must read the work in advance and come to class prepared with notes to help you give thoughtful, constructive criticism. We will also read exemplary texts to help us better understand what creates good writing, to train ourselves always to read as a writer, and to find how a particular word or sentence contributes to the overall effect. Similarly, we’ll cultivate a writer’s approach to life, the goal being to become what Henry James called, “one of the people on whom nothing is lost.” In person. Logan.

ENGL 4430 Advanced Poetry Writing: Advanced Multimodal Poetry: Building New Worlds (Grimmer)

In this workshop-based course, we will practice techniques for “building better worlds” through poetry and related multimedia arts. Our approach will combine in-class writing workshops with experiential learning outside of the classroom. Our guiding questions include: 1. How can we create poems that can create varied effects across multiple modes of art, including popular music and visual arts? 2. How can our poems help us navigate the relationships between language, bodies, and content across digital and analog forms of writing? 3. What do our own, our colleagues, and contemporary poems in general teach us about the sociopolitical effects of these relationships across racialized, gendered, and classed identity groups? This course will be a workshop-styled attempt to explore these questions by reading and experimenting with poetry in a variety of formats. Students can expect a combination of individual writing exercises, group-based arts projects, and experiential learning in local museums and cafes. Students will learn different craft techniques for playing with the effects of text-based poems; they will also experiment with translating those effects into audio and visual mediums. Students are expected to attend local readings, write outside the classroom in libraries, cafes, and museums, and practice navigating the dynamic between individual writing, digital content, and community-based arts. As an advanced course, students must receive and provide weekly feedback in writing workshops. In person. Logan.

ENGL 4440 Advanced Creative Nonfiction (Wells)

Michel de Montaigne says, “Every man has within himself the entire human condition.” By fairly and accurately investigating the larger meaning of a personal experience, a nonfiction writer can speak to the universal. The nonfiction writer is, therefore, tasked with honesty in their pursuit of discovery and greater knowledge. Often, we hear this described as a pact formed with the reader. However, we also know that memory can be fallible. David Lazar asserts that “Nonfiction blends fact and artifice in an attempt to arrive at truth, or truths.” Calling on memory for meaning may, at times, involve some imagination. So, then, where do the boundaries (if there are any) lie between fiction and nonfiction? What obligation does the nonfiction writer have to the reader? How does structure and form contribute to this discussion?

Advanced Creative Nonfiction builds off of the introductory course, which focuses on memoir and personal essay, to examine varied essay forms. We’ll examine craft techniques in order to deepen our understanding of form and structure. Together, we’ll look closely at braided, lyric, and flash essays to develop and hone our craft, while evaluating our own assumptions regarding writing strategies, memory, and fact along the way. Students will engage in writing exercises and workshops, with a focus on revision strategies to produce a final portfolio of innovative and polished essays. In person. Logan.

ENG 5450 Special Topics in Creative Writing: Mixtures and Margins: An Introduction to Multimodal Composition (Gunsberg)

How do contemporary writers use digital technology to adapt their poems, stories, and essays to a diverse and rapidly changing media textscape? English 5450 investigates this question by exploring different media forms, including alphanumeric writing, film, music, electronic literature, visual art, performances, and installations. Students will have opportunities to create new media texts that combine audio, visual, and interactive elements, such as printed poems that also occur as audio files or videos in conversation with print-based texts. We’ll discuss theories and historical antecedents of contemporary multimodal work before tackling three major assignments: 1) a multimodal adaptation of alphanumeric writing, 2) a digital media project, and 3) a performance or installation. Your efforts on these assignments will be supported by readings, experiments, and class visits from writers who steer their work in many exciting directions. In person. Logan.

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Selected Course Descriptions

The English Department offers a wide variety of Creative Writing courses on range of exciting topics.  We welcome you into our curriculum, where you might enjoy some of the classes below.

Slam Poetry   

Professor Daemond Arrindell

Slam Poetry is a term used to describe the style of writing and performance that has taken the world of poetry by storm since the inception of the "Poetry Slam" in the late 80's. But what is the slam style of poetry? And what is a poetry slam? In this course, we will dive deep into those questions and their answers. A main focus of this class will be to discuss, evaluate and analyze past and present slam poems, poets and styles both on the page as well as in performance. To observe what makes these poems effective, powerful, and moving within the craft of writing and what skill the poets employ to bring those poems to life on the stage. The goals of the course will be to for you to gain the skills to write well-crafted poems (imagistic, personal, and evocative) and to then employ the performance style that will best serve the theme and voice of each piece.

Graphic Novel

Professor Peter Bagge   

While combining words and pictures to tell a story dates back to the ancient Egyptians, the combination of the two has developed rapidly since the turn of the last century, in the forms of comic books and comic strips.  Moreover, the last few decades has seen a huge expansion in the use of this distinct medium, especially in the form of long term story telling (i.e.: "graphic novels"). 

This course will go over the history of comic art over the last century in order to familiarize the students with its many achievements and applications, while also providing inspiration for your own ideas.  We'll also discuss the basic language and techniques employed by comic writers and artists to better prepare you for your own assignments.

Young Adult Fiction   

Professor Stephanie Lewis  

Writers and readers are drawn to Young Adult fiction for a variety of reasons: the compelling plots of books like The Hunger Games , the unique characters that bring John Green's novels to life, Melissa Marr's exquisitely-built fantasy worlds, and the stories like Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak  and Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why  that help teens survive a sometimes dark and troubling world. In this class, we'll examine all of these aspects of YA Fiction. We'll read YA books from multiple genres as models and for inspiration. Through a variety of writing exercises and discussion, we'll explore character, point-of-view, plot, construction of scene, setting, theme, and teen voice. You will begin to work on your own Young Adult novel in the genre of your choice. There will also be time spent on peer review and workshopping, revision, and an in-depth discussion of the business of publishing YA books. By the end of the course, you will have at least two revised chapters and a synopsis to guide you toward completion of a publishable quality YA novel.

Writing Scripts   

Dr. Sean McDowell     

This course takes a practice-based approach to screenwriting, engaging the Aristotelian foundations of story, plot, character, dialogue, and conflict within the framework of the individual writer's lived experiences. You will write scenes on a weekly basis and we will read and critique these scenes during workshop. This scene work prepares you to produce a final short film screenplay. With the filmmaking tools of the 21st century taken into account-inexpensive video cameras and audio recorders, self-promoted internet distribution, and handheld devices that literally put cinematic experiences in our hands-you will write screenplays that can be independently produced on a low/no-budget basis. Your final scripts will have the option of getting produced (either by you or someone else) in subsequent sections of Narrative Filmmaking and Filmmaking I. 

Travel Writing: Stories Near and Far   

Dr. Susan Meyers   

Foreign lands and faraway places have captured the minds of readers and writers for centuries. In this creative writing class, we will explore the methods, styles, and ethical dimensions of writing about people and places around the world. From foundational stories like The Odyssey  and Gilgamesh  to spiritual journeys from Dante to Margery Kempe, travel-and the new insights that it can bring-has been a seminal means of intellectual and scientific discovery in western civilization. Recently, with the smashing success of bestsellers like Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love , travel writing has become so popular that major New York publishing houses have begun to devote entire imprints to a steady supply of tourism-based work from "writers who travel." At the same time, cultural critics caution writers-particularly those from countries with relatively more economic and political power-about the potential dangers of typecasting or misrepresenting the people and practices that they encounter abroad. In this class, we will examine both historical foundations and contemporary trends in tales and testimonies of travel, and we will practice writing about places near and far. As part of this work, we will explore various motivations for travel writing-journey, discovery, politics, storytelling, meditation, commerce, and self-discovery-as well as the ethical complexities that accompany them. Students will be introduced to the pertinent craft components of storytelling as they relate to travel, and they will be invited to write about place, travel, and community in a variety of formats. In addition, we will consider commercial aspects of travel writing, including publication venues, paying markets, and the lifestyle of a travel writer.

Writing Fiction: Longer Forms

Dr. Susan Meyers       

The idea of writing a full-length book can be exciting, intimidating, and mind-boggling. You might ask yourself, "How do I begin?" Or, "How much is enough?" What is  the process for planning and completing a book-length work of fiction, and how should such a work ultimately be put together? This class takes on these and other related questions in order to introduce you to the process, craft, and industry of writing longer fiction. Through analysis of craft essays by working writers as well as several book-length works, we will consider core principals related to structure, time, theme, and characterization. Alongside these discussions, we will survey the principle forms that longer fiction takes in today's market: novels, novellas, multi-perspective novels, vignette-driven novels, and story cycles. Your own work in this course will include original writing that will contribute to a larger work-in-progress that you will summarize and outline by the end of the term. Full-class workshops will provide you with feedback on your work, and additional professionally-oriented assignments will introduce you to the process of seeking publication for book-length works of fiction.  

Global Poetry    

Professor Maged Zaher  

Poetry is a global and diverse practice. In this class, we will explore a diverse set of poets--across languages, cultures, poetic practices--from ancient Arabic love poets, to modern and postmodern lyricism, to dirty conceptualism. The aim of this class is to expand both our reading and writing practices. We will contrast different poetic practices that will redefine and open up our understanding of what poetry is.

Kate Koppelman, Ph.D. Chair 206-296-5476 [email protected]

Bridget Hrybiniak Senior Administrative Assistant 206-296-5420 [email protected]

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Creative Writing Course Descriptions

Scroll down to read descriptions of the English courses offered at Carthage for the creative writing emphasis, or click on the following links for additional resources.

• Carthage Schoology for current students
• Course Schedules for all terms
• Current final exam schedule
• Emphasis requirements

Introduction to Literary Studies (HUM) (CL)

ENG 1160 / 4 credits  This gateway course, open to both majors and non-majors, introduces students to the essential techniques, approaches, and fundamental questions of literary studies. How can close attention to language enrich our understanding of any written text? How do we discern and make meaning from literature? Why does literature matter? In this course, students will develop their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills through the careful study of literature from an array of genres and periods. ENG 1160 is required of all English majors and minors and may be used for distribution credit in the Humanities. Fall/Spring

Studies in American Literature (HUM) (DIV) (CL)

ENG 2010 / 4 credits  This variable content course introduces students to some of the major critical questions of American literary and cultural studies. What is American identity, and how is it forged through literature and media? How do literary, media, and textual cultures produce and reflect the political concerns of particular historical moments? What do we read, and why do we read, and how do we read, when our aim is to understand ourselves as subjects, or as members of a national community, or U.S. history? How are identities (national, personal, racial, ethnic, gendered, sexual, dis/abled) forged in relation to a larger body politic or imagined community, and how does literature mediate that relation? The content of this course will shift, sometimes focusing on particular themes or ideas, sometimes focusing on historical period, but the courses aims will remain consistent: to better understand America through inquiry into the diverse literary productions that circulate in the U.S.; to better understand literature by considering its relation to the cultures, communities, imaginations, and politics of America. Fall/Spring

Studies in British Literature (HUM) (CL) (DIV)

ENG 2020 / 4 credits  This variable-content course provides an introduction to British literature through the study of one or more of the literary historical periods into which the discipline is traditionally divided, e.g., the early modern period, the nineteenth century, modernism, and/or contemporary literature. Through close study of particular authors, styles, and contexts, students will become familiar with the historical and artistic forces that shaped (and continue to shape) the literature of Britain understood in its most expansive sense. Fall/Spring

Creative Writing (AI)

ENG 2050 / 4 credits  A workshop in writing poetry and fiction. Through reading and responding to published literary pieces as well as their own projects, students will acquire increased appreciation for the craft and aesthetic of literature and their own writing skills. Fall/Spring

Literature in Its Time I: Prior to 1800 (HUM) (CL)

ENG 3010 / 4 credits  A rotating selection of courses engaging important themes, voices, and works of the medieval and Renaissance periods and the 18th century. Because literary works are not written in a vacuum but partake of the beliefs and concerns of a particular milieu, these courses provide the student with an interdisciplinary approach to literature by showing how philosophy, music, art, science, and society are reflected in and help shape the literature of each period. This course can be repeated for credit with alternating topics.

Literature in Its Time II: After 1800 (HUM) (DIV) (CL)

ENG 3020 / 4 credits  A rotating selection of courses engaging important themes, voices, and works of the British Romantic period, the Victorian period, the Modern period, and 19th to 21st century American literature. These courses follow the same interdisciplinary approach as Literature in Its Time I. This course can be repeated for credit with alternating topics.

Major Texts in Critical Theory (HUM) (CL) (DIV)

ENG 3030 / 4 credits  What is literature? What is a text? How does language work? What is the point of reading? How is literature connected to the world? Do we need to understand the historical and political context of a text to decide what it means? How might a reader’s own context influence interpretation? This course wrestles with difficult questions like these by exploring a rotating selection of major texts in the fields of literary theory and cultural criticism. Texts may include (but are not limited to) works by Ferdinand de Saussure, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Edward Said, Judith Butler, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Gloria Anzaldua, and/or Donna Haraway. We will study the critical texts for themselves, but we will also practice using their interpretive approaches. This course will be excellent preparation for thesis work in English but is not limited to English majors. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or above

Advanced Writing

ENG 3040 / 4 credits  A rotating selection of courses focusing on the production of literary and expository writing, the art of the short story and the poem, as well as the essay and creative nonfiction. Through intensive workshops each course will immerse students in the writing process, stressing the craft and technique of writing. In addition to reviewing students’ own work, the course will include some study of exemplary works in the appropriate form of discourse. Prerequisites: ENG 2050 or consent of the instructor NOTE: This course can be repeated for credit. Spring

Film and Literature (HUM) (CL)

ENG 3070 / 4 credits  This class will explore the relationship between film and literature. Students will be taught to “read” literature and film, analyzing narrative structure, genre conventions, and technical and artistic factors to better understand the relationship between text and image. In addition, students will examine how film and literature reflect the times and conditions in which they are made, and conversely, how they sometimes help shape attitudes and values in society. Our reading and viewing of texts will not only address aesthetic achievement and cultural values, but also distinguish the unique ways in which film and literature construct their representative meanings.

Literature of Diversity (HUM) (DIV) (CL)

ENG 3090 / 4 credits  Each offering in this rotating selection of courses explores a single diverse ethnic literature, such as African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American, and Native American. While content will vary according to the discretion of the instructor, this group of courses is united by a common desire to read a diverse literature according to its own heritage double-voice as it is further complicated by issues of gender and class. To this end, a course in Native American literature, for example, might begin with a study of the creation myths in the oral tradition, then move to historical, anthropological, autobiographical, and fictional accounts of the Native American experience as the two (often conflicting) voices of Native American and American describe it.

Literature and Gender (HUM) (CL) (DIV)

ENG 3100 / 4 credits  In this course the literature chosen for study will reflect issues relevant to considerations of gender. In some instances, works will be chosen in order to explore the idea of how literature portrays what it means to be gendered. In other instances, literature will be chosen in order to explore how writers of one gender portray characters of the opposite gender. In some instances the choice of literature will be based on extending awareness of writers who, because of their gender, have not historically been included within the canon. The historical and social contexts of these works will be an integral part of the conversation within the course.

Shakespeare (HUM) (CL)

ENG 3110 / 4 credits  This course will offer a deep engagement with Shakespeare through close study of several of his plays. Students will be assigned roles and learn to speak their parts with intention and meaning, developing an understanding of and learning to take pleasure in Shakespeareâ??s language and forms. Close reading and discussion will consider the plays on the page and in performance, while literary history and criticism will provide insight into their forms and contexts. Fall/Spring

Literary Genres (HUM) (CL)

ENG 3140 / 4 credits  This umbrella covers a series of courses on a single literary genre, such as the short story, poetry, drama, the epic, or the novel, that will vary in emphasis at the discretion of the instructor. The novel, for example, might be a course focusing on the novel as genre and as literature. The genre section of the course will acquaint the student with the relevant criticism. The literary section will approach the novel as literature according to formalist analysis of language and form; canonical issues; sociohistorical contexts; the influence of gender, race, and class; and the role of the reader.

Special Studies in a Major Author Prior to 1800 (HUM) (CL)

ENG 3150 / 4 credits  This seminar-style class studies the writing of a major English author prior to 1800. The variable content may draw from one or several genres and gives attention to literary criticism about the writer and the writer’s own literary theories. Social, historical, and biographical contexts also constitute elements of the study. Featured authors may include Chaucer, Spenser, Marlowe, Donne, Milton, Swift, or Pope; occasionally the instructor may choose to study two authors rather than one, if the two complement each other.

Special Studies in a Major Author After 1800 (HUM) (CL) (ITL)

ENG 3160 / 4 credits  This seminar-style class studies the writing of a major English author after 1800. The variable content may draw from one or several genres and will give attention to literary criticism about the writer and the writer’s own literary theories. Social, historical, and biographical contexts will also constitute elements of the study. Featured authors may include Austen, George Eliot, Twain, Yeats, Hardy, Woolf, T. S. Eliot, and Faulkner. Occasionally the instructor may choose to study two authors rather than one, if the two complement each other.

Junior Seminar: Critical Theory and Methods in Literary Studies (HUM)

ENG 4000 / 4 credits  This course, designed for English majors, will prepare students for advanced scholarship in literary studies (that is: the senior thesis in English). The course familiarizes students with genealogies of literary theory and current trends in research. Students will consider the historical, ethical, and philosophical concerns that impact our understanding of literature - its production, circulation, reception, and meaning. They will do this by reading and employing multiple traditions of literary theory, ranging from (but by no means limited to) aesthetic philosophy to cultural studies. Students will also study the modes of inquiry that inform literary studies by learning methods of research, and the modes and genres of scholarly writing in the field of English. This course should be taken by English majors in the semester preceeding their senior thesis. Prerequisites: Declared major in English and junior standing

Senior Seminar (CL)

ENG 4100 / 4 credits  This course, for senior English majors and seniors from other fields who may petition to be admitted, is a seminar for students to work independently on a substantial paper of literary criticism, while reporting progress and making a final seminar presentation before a group working in the same field of study. Instruction and discussion, especially in the early weeks of the course, will focus on the development of the English language, the history of literary criticism, and bibliographical tools necessary for further research in English. This course is required of all English majors and serves as an opportunity for them to demonstrate their ability to think critically and to express their ideas effectively in writing. They will, furthermore, be required to deal with questions and issues that derive from literary theory. Fall

Seminar in Creative Writing (AI) (WC)

ENG 4300 / 4 credits  In this course students will explore, in various ways, how writing enters the world outside the classroom. The primary focus is on the students’ Senior Chapbooks. They will develop the content of their Senior Chapbooks in a studio setting, learning how individual pieces can be combined to form a longer work and/or learning how a single longer piece can be readied for sharing in a more final form and to a wider audience. Students will undertake the material production of chapbooks, studying various methods of chapbook production and producing a chapbook of their writing. Finally, they will learn to present that writing in a public reading. Additional related course activities will include participating in public writing activities that extend beyond the campus, including some of the following: teaching writing in the schools or other public institutions; attending and participating in readings off-campus; and sharing work in various ways with the wider community (zines, posters, graffiti, street corner readings, open mikes, etc.). Prerequisite: ENG 3040 or consent of the instructor

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Fall 2022 Course Descriptions

Creative Writing Fall 2022

Looking for open courses? Try using the advanced class search  Class Schedule - SF State University (sfsu.edu)

C W 101 Introduction to Creative Writing is a general education course, and not recommended for Creative Writing majors. Courses that will apply to the Creative Writing major requirements begin at #300. C W 101 1  Introduction to Creative Writing   Monday      12:30-3:15 p.m.   TBA      C W 101 2  Introduction to Creative Writing   Monday      4-6:45 p.m.         TBA C W 101 3  Introduction to Creative Writing  Tuesday      12:30-3:15 p.m.    Maxine Chernoff      C W 101 5  Introduction to Creative Writing   ONLINE          Donna De La Perriere C W 101 6  Introduction to Creative Writing   ONLINE          Matthew Davison C W 101 7  Introduction to Creative Writing   ONLINE          Matthew Davison         

This introductory course focuses on the creative writing process of generating material through writing exercises in poetry, fiction, and playwriting. It also examines for craft selected readings of exemplary stories, poems, and plays. Open to all students. CROSS GENRE COURSE.

C W 300 1 Welcome to Creative Writing: Developing a Writing Practice in Community and Navigating the Degree Tuesday 12:30-3:15 p.m.  Nona Caspers

“Everyone has the right to suck,”  Michelle Carter, playwright and professor of creative writing SF State. “One can, I think, listen someone into existence,”  bell hooks What is “the habit of art”?  What is “world worlding”?  What is a “creative process”?  How might we befriend our subconscious, relax into darkness and mystery so they can help us discover our own truths on our own terms.    Welcome to Creative Writing is designed to support entering B.A. creative writing majors at all levels—folks transferring into SF State or fresh into the university.  You will practice writing in community with your major cohort, responding to generative writing prompts and perceptual experiments that intend to activate you toward the art of language and voice—your true faces—within varying cultural contexts and perspectives, including all of our geographical and historical contexts.  You will be introduced to department expectations in the classroom and meet our program’s faculty members, such as Joseph Cassara, Tonya Foster, Michelle Carter, May-lee Chai, Chanan Tigay, Andrew Joron (see website link for faculty and staff faces below). The guest faculty will talk with us about their varying writing practices and creative processes. The course also guides you in the practical use of advising materials, website information, and CW/LCA/SF State resources and opportunities as well as resources and opportunities in the Bay Area literary community.   People | Department of Creative Writing (sfsu.edu)

C W 301 1  Fundamentals of Creative Writing   Monday 12:30 – 3:15 p.m.  TBA

Prerequisite:  English 114, or equivalent. Priority enrollment given to Eng: Creative Writing; Eng: Ed w/ Creative Writing concentration; and Cinema majors. Instruction and extensive practice in writing poetry, fiction, and plays, with selected readings of exemplary stories, poems, and plays. This course is the prerequisite to Short Story Writing, Poetry Writing, and Playwriting.  CROSS GENRE COURSE.

C W 302 2 Fundamentals Creative Reading  Thursday 12:30-3:15 p.m. Steve Dickison

Prerequisite:  English 114, or equivalent. Enrollment limited to creative writing majors; non-majors admitted with consent of instructor. Students learn to read like writers through lecture-discussion and reading assignments. Submerges the student in literature and asserts the importance of reading.  We will analyze the basic craft elements intrinsic to four genres of writing: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and playwriting. Together we will apply this study to your own writing.  We will explore ways to access your own individual imagination. Through practice, writing can become a way to engage with yourself and the world.

C W 506 1 Business of Creative Writing ONLINE Wednesday 12:30-2:30 p.m.  Maxine Chernoff  

Prerequisites for C W 506: C W 101 or C W 301 with a grade of C or better. Enrollment limited to C W majors; non-majors admitted with consent of instructor. Covers agents, corporate and small publishing houses, E-publishing, markets, publicity, theaters, and arts organizations etc. Students write letters to agents/editors, press releases for book tours, and several short papers. (This is a paired course offering. Students who complete the course at one level may not repeat the course at the other level.)

C W 510 1  Poetics of Place   Wednesday 12:30-3:15 p.m.   Tonya M. Foster

Prerequisite: C W 301 or C W 101 with a grade of C or better. Priority enrollment given to Eng: Creative Writing, Eng: Ed w/ Creative Writing concentration and Cinema majors. In this course, we will examine poetry, essays, film, music, and art that respond to specific geographic locations and that question how creative makers have shaped and reimagined the built environment. We will explore the ways artistic imagination and practice can be grounded in, released by, and otherwise in dialogue with the particularities of place and context. Artists and writers to be studied include Aimé Cesaire, Carrie Mae Weems, Charles Baudelaire, Harryette Mullen, Kendrick Lamar, Eleni Sikelianos, Rebecca Solnit.

C W 510 2  Investigating Voice  Thursday 4-6:45 p.m.   Joseph Cassara          

Prerequisite: C W 301 or C W 101 with a grade of C or better. This process course will focus on the ways that writers of fiction and non-fiction utilize narrative voice on the page. What does it mean when we say that a text is voice-driven? How do writers create a consciousness on the page that feels uniquely its own? We will read short stories, novel excerpts, personal essays, reportage, and criticism with an eye towards style, syntax, and form. We will analyze both the stories being told and the manner in which they are conveyed by analyzing tone, the anatomy of the scene, modes of narration, and the ways details are rendered. Assigned authors include: Tommy Orange, Joan Didion, Eve Babitz, James Baldwin, Hilton Als, Junot Diaz, David Sedaris, Miranda July, Rivka Galchen, Annie Proulx, Alexander Chee, Marlon Riggs, Bryan Washington, among others. Emphasis will be on assigned readings, with some creative assignments.

C W 510 3  Speculative Fiction  Tuesday 4-6:45 p.m.   Andrew Joron          

Prerequisite: C W 301 or consent of instructor.

Speculative fiction is a genre that gives priority to “cognitive estrangement,” using narrative prose to push beyond ordinary reality into a zone where the familiar becomes strange, and the strange familiar. This course will survey various modes of modern speculative fiction, including science fiction, dystopian and Gothic literature, surrealism, and magical realism. Students will utilize readings in these modes as points of departure for their own creative writing. 

 C W  512GW 1  Craft Of Fiction - GWAR   Thursday 12:30-3:15 p.m.   Chanan Tigay 

Prerequisites: C W 301; ENG 114; ENG 214; B.A. majors in ENG, Creative Writing and ENG, Edu. (Creative Writing). This course will explore the contemporary short story, focusing exclusively on stories published in the last five years. Through this exploration students will become familiar with the current state of the short story, gaining an understanding of the literary landscape into which they will emerge upon completion of their degrees. Schedules permitting, a number of the writers whose work we read will visit the class to discuss their writing, their writing lives, and their paths to publication. Throughout the semester, students will complete a series of writing exercises which the class will workshop, culminating in writing their own complete short stories.

C W  513GW 1  Craft Of Playwriting - GWAR   Wednesday 4-6:45 p.m.  Anne Galjour

Prerequisites:  C W 301; ENG 114; ENG 214; B.A. majors in ENG, Creative Writing and ENG, Edu. (Creative Writing). Craft of Playwriting GWAR is the study of the principles used in the craft of dramatic writing.  Emphasis is placed on various techniques used in writing good dialogue. We also focus on action, character, subtext, conflict, crisis, climax, structure, scene, setting, plot, and story. We will look at the origins of play writing through the study of OEDIPUS by Sophocles, all the way to modern master works by August Wilson, Nilo Cruz, David Mamet, David Henry Hwang, Adam Bock and Annie Baker. We will discover for ourselves why these works continue to get produced to this day.  Students will write short critical responses to these playwrights’ use of language, strategies in craft elements, themes, individual voice, and sources of inspiration for their works.  Most importantly, students will write scenes, monologues and short plays generated from in class and take home writing assignments throughout the entire semester. The instructor will give critical feedback.   From this, students will produce at least 2 revised scenes and/or monologues and 1 Character Analysis essay.

C W 600 1  Uses of Personal Experience  ONLINE. Tuesday 12:30-2:30 p.m. Michelle Carter

Prerequisite: C W 301 or consent of instructor. Haruki Murakami was at a baseball game--rooting for his team, the Yokult Swallows-- when the lead-off batter hit a double: at that moment, he was inspired to write his first novel. "I can still recall the exact sensation," he wrote of the day.  "It felt as if something had come fluttering down from the sky, and I had caught it cleanly in my hands." At times, personal experience is manifested in an artist's work quite explicitly. Other times, its workings are a mystery.   In this course, we'll explore the force and presence of personal experience in works created in a range of literary and nonliterary genres.  Weekly creative writing prompts will spring from the work of a variety of writers and creative artists including: Qui Nguyen, Haruki Murakami, Eduardo Galeano, Anthony Veasna So, Donja R Love, Tongo Eisen-Martin, E.J.Koh, Chet-la Sebree, Kiese Laymon, Rem Koolhaas, Alexander Chee, Nick Cave, Carmen Maria Machado, Anne Carson, Myriam Gurba, Sarah Ruhl, Tommy Orange, Justin Torres, Grace Paley, Alison Bechdel, Allie Brosh, Marjane Satrapi, Yevgenia Belorusets, Hansol Jung, Ngozi Anyanwu, Will Eno, Danez Smith, Bruce Mau, and Juliana Delgado Lopera.   Students  will be encouraged to render and explore experience in different forms: literary genres, works for performance, song creation, video creation, graphic storytelling, gaming--any creative genre students might be driven to investigate. 

C W 601 1 Work In Progress  ONLINE Wednesday 7 – 8:30 p.m.  Donna De La Perriere 

Prerequisite: Senior standing in Creative Writing.  Enrollment is limited to undergraduate majors in English: Creative Writing and English: Education (Creative Writing).  Work In Progress  is an advanced process course that offers senior creative writing majors the opportunity to delve into an extended writing project of their own design. Our work in this class will focus on the creative process as it extends past the first burst of inspiration into the longer haul. We’ll study and try out a variety of creative practices that writers can use to keep their projects alive, open, and dynamic over the long haul. These practices will also enhance the work of deepening, extending, and re-envisioning our projects. Most writers do their work under the intense pressures of earning a living and in a society that has little sympathy with the long, time-consuming, and deeply eccentric creative process. Yet it is precisely the stimulation and challenge of this rich process that can sustain us as writers over the years. 

C W 602 1 Playwriting  Monday 4-6:45 p.m.  Anne Galjour               

We will be discussing assigned plays, paying specific attention to how these selected playwrights have responded to situations and events in the world and how they have set their imaginations to what they have witnessed and experienced.  We will pay close attention to how their characters and the situations they are in unfold through the journey of each play.  We will also be doing writing exercises to help you tap into your own individual imagination and creative problem solving powers. For this, you will need to keep a journal and bring it to class each week. Your journal is a “What if …?” space where you can answer any question with free associations about anything that pops into your head,- ideas, circumstances, connections, solutions, images, sounds. If you are having any problem with your characters, circumstance, setting, whatever,-- your journal is a place  to brainstorm it and let your mind run free. We will begin each class with a free write or prompt for your journal, followed by in-class discussion of texts, and weekly writing exercises that will focus on different aspects of craft. We will read, write, rewrite, then rewrite again and again till we have polished scenes and plays.  To support the process we will listen to each others’ scenes heeding Walter Kerr’s words,   “Begin with a situation and then make certain characters enter it honestly.”  

C W 603 1 Short Story Writing  Thursday 4-6:45 p.m.  Junse Kim 

Prerequisites:  C W 301 ; C W 511GW or C W 512GW or C W 513GW. Enrollment limited to creative writing majors; non-majors admitted with consent of instructor. This course will explore different aspects of fiction writing craft by critically analyzing published short stories, as well as fellow students’ creative writing.  Students will then apply and hone these craft concepts through in-class writing exercises and homework assignments, transforming conceptual knowledge of craft into “how to” applicable knowledge.  Each student will then explore their creative process and consider how it can include critical thinking, consciously applying craft in three written assignments and a complete short story.

C W 606 1 Art of Revision. ONLINE  Tuesday 9-10:30 a.m.  Matthew Davison

Prerequisites: C W 101 or C W 301; C W 302; C W 512GW or C W 603 Examine and experiment with the artistic processes of published writers (and a variety of other artists) who've taken a project from idea to completion. Study interviews, process notes, and "middle drafts" of these artists. Include analyses of the draft process, genre across artistic and literary forms, and creation and revision of student work. CROSS GENRE COURSE

C W 609  Directed Writing B.A.  By Arrangement   Please Email for Instructor Permission          

Permission of the instructor is required  to take this course; you will be dropped without prior consent of the instructor. By the middle of the semester before you plan to enroll in Directed Writing, submit a sample of your writing in the instructor’s mailbox along with a note explaining that you want to take their Directed Writing class. Be sure you include your name, address, phone number and e-mail. If the instructor is on leave, please email your writing sample to them. Class times to be directly arranged with the instructor.

C W 609 1  Directed Writing B.A. Students     ARR          Michelle Carter  [email protected] C W 609 2  Directed Writing B.A. Students     ARR    Michael David Lukas  [email protected] C W 609 3  Directed Writing B.A. Students     ARR          Maxine Chernoff  [email protected] C W 609 4  Directed Writing B.A. Students     ARR          Nona Caspers  [email protected] C W 609 5  Directed Writing B.A. Students     ARR           Paul Hoover  [email protected] C W 609 6  Directed Writing B.A. Students     ARR           Andrew Joron  [email protected] C W 609 7  Directed Writing B.A. Students     ARR           May-lee Chai  [email protected]

C W 640 1  Transfer Literary Magazine     Tuesday  4-6:45 p.m.   Junse Kim

Prerequisite:  C W 301; C W 302; C W 511GW or C W 512GW or C W 513GW; or consent of instructor. Join the staff of  Transfer , the literary magazine of the Creative Writing Department, established in 1950, and one of the longest running student literary magazines in the US. The course is designed to give you a working taste of what it takes to put out a literary magazine (including critical analysis and discussion of short-listed submissions, proofreading, solicitation and distribution) and to make you think about the world of literary magazines and your own beliefs in literature.  Come prepared to analyze and discuss text and investigate your own literary aesthetics.  In order to bring  Transfer  into the 21st Century, in addition to assisting the editors publish the print magazine, class members will create, design, and edit an accompanying webzine, where they will publish their own work and works of others.  If you’re interested in being an editor of  Transfer,  at the end of the semester you will be given the opportunity to apply for an editor position for the next issue. This is a process course (not a lab) and can be used to fulfill 3 units of the Creative Process requirement. CROSS GENRE COURSE.

C W 675 1 Community Projects-Literature ONLINE Thursday 7-9:00 p.m. Anne Galjour

Prerequisite: C W 101 or 301 with a grade of C or better. Enrollment is limited to undergraduate majors in English: Creative Writing and English: Education (Creative Writing). Non-majors admitted with consent of instructor. Paid and unpaid internship positions designed to give CW students practical knowledge and experience are available through local literary and arts organizations, civic and community organizations, Bay Area school districts and within the Creative Writing Community at SF State. Check out our Community Projects in Literature Internship Leads on  our Community Projects page . Incredible academic internships are also available for C W 675/875 credit through SF State’s  Institute for Civic and Community Engagement (ICCE) . Check out their list of paid and unpaid internships on their website. These working by remote and/or in person internships are robust opportunities to 'learn by doing'. If you have any questions please contact Anne Galjour at  [email protected] . C W 675/875 may be taken twice for 6 units of credit.     

C W 685 1 Projects in Teaching Creative Writing    ARR      Nona Caspers

Prerequisites: (If this is your first time as an instructional aid, please register for C W 859 Practicum in Teaching first.) Advanced undergraduate standing, grade of B+ or better in the course in which the student will be an aide, and approval of the department Chair.  Students are placed with a creative writing faculty member in a supervised practicum/internship experience, in which they explore the theoretical and practical aspects of teaching creative writing. CROSS GENRE COURSE. Please contact Nona Caspers,  [email protected] , for a permit number. This position is for course credit only.

C W 699   Independent Study          By Arrangement   

Prerequisite:  Consent of instructor and a 3.0 GPA.  Upper division students may enroll in a course of Independent Study under the supervision of a member of the Creative Writing department, with whom the course is planned, developed, and completed. This course may be taken for one, two, or three units. No priority enrollment; enrollment is by petition, and a copy of your unofficial SF State transcript.  Petition for Independent Study forms  are available on the registrar's website. This form must be signed by the instructor you will be working with, and the department chair. Your instructor will give you the schedule and permit numbers to add the course during the first week of the semester. 

GRADUATE CLASSES:

Note:  Preference in all Creative Writing graduate courses will be given to students admitted to either the M.A. or the M.F.A. programs in Creative Writing.  Preference in M.F.A. level courses will be given to students admitted to the M.F.A. program.  Priority in M.A. and M.F.A. writing workshops and creative process courses will be given to students admitted in the genre of the course.  Other Creative Writing M.A./M.F.A. students may enroll in these courses only with the permission of the instructor.

C W 785  Graduate Projects in the Teaching of Creative Writing   ARR    Nona Caspers

Prerequisites:  (If this is your first time as an instructional aid, please register for C W 859 Practicum in Teaching first.) Advanced undergraduate standing, grade of B+ or better in the course in which the student will be an aide, and approval of the department Chair.  Students are placed with a creative writing faculty member in a supervised practicum/internship experience, in which they explore the theoretical and practical aspects of teaching creative writing. This is the course to sign up for if you want to be an instructional aid, (I.A.) in a specific undergraduate class for 3 units of credit. CROSS GENRE COURSE. Please contact Nona Caspers,  [email protected] , for a permit number. This position is for course credit only. If you are interested in applying to the paid teaching positions, you will need to take C W 860 Teaching Creative Writing. This course does not qualify you to apply to the teaching positions.

C W 803 1  Advanced Short Story Writing  ONLINE Monday 7-8:30 p.m.   Donna De La Perriere

Prerequisite: Classified graduate standing in Creative Writing. Priority enrollment given to graduate Creative Writing fiction students; open to Creative Writing students in other genres only on a space available basis, to be determined at the first class meeting. A graduate-level short story writing workshop the aim of which is to foster your growth as a writer by encouraging you to expand the range of possibilities for the way your stories might be made, what they might say, and how they might mean. Toward that end you’ll be creating new work, thinking about ways to deepen/extend early drafts, developing and refining work in progress, discussing issues of craft, considering how published writers of short fiction create work that is formally alive and vivid, and engaging each week with work by your fellow workshop writers.

C W 804 Advanced Poetry Writing   Wednesday 4-6:45 p.m.   Barbara Tomash

Prerequisite: Restricted to graduate Creative Writing students or consent of the instructor. For this course students will engage in a semester-long project of writing a poetry chapbook. Chapbooks—collections of around 15-25 pages—are the way many poets choose to present a conceptually and/or aesthetically cohesive, but shorter, body of work. Often, a chapbook is the initial book publication of an emerging poet. It is a wonderful vehicle for introducing your voice to new audiences and can take many forms—a simple stapled pamphlet, a handmade letterpress book. In this course we will discuss what the chapbook format can uniquely highlight and focus in our writing practice, and particularly, what experiments can be made that might not be available in another form. How is writing a chapbook different from writing a full length book? What artistic challenges do these two activities share? And what processes are distinctive to each form? Our workshop discussions will focus on questions such as how our chapbooks-in-progress find integrity and a sense of wholeness; what are possible approaches to ordering, grouping, sequencing, and revision—questions that are pertinent to the writing of any work of literary art. Our approach will include close readings of diverse chapbooks by contemporary poets including chapbooks by past graduates of the SF State Creative Writing Department such as Raul Ruiz, Jennifer S. Cheng, and Sarah Rosenthal, and by Rosebud Ben-Oni, Srikanth Reddy, and Terrence Hayes. The class format will include discussion of the weekly reading assignments, the presentation of work in progress, offering verbal and written feedback, and may also include in-class and at-home writing assignments. May be repeated for a total of 9 units.  

C W 806 1 Business of Creative Writing  ONLINE  Wednesday 12:30-2:30 p.m.   Maxine Chernoff

Prerequisite: Classified graduate standing in Creative Writing. In this class we will explore some aspects of the “business” of creative writing—how writers find and create audiences for their work, find editors and publishers, and pay the rent—as well as how they create lives in which art and the creative process are central. This is a survey class, not a seminar, so while this class will not teach you how to become a best-selling writer in ten easy steps, it will provide you with a larger sense of the business side of creative writing, while encouraging you to develop your ability to distinguish between the business of creative writing and the art. Each class period will involve lecture & discussion by guest speakers (poets, writers, literary agents, book editors, literary journal publishers, reading series curators, book distribution managers, free-lance writers and editors, literary nonprofit managers, and the like). You will be given a writing and/or research assignment the week before each presentation to lead you into the speaker’s field.

C W 807 1 Developing the Novel  ONLINE  Thursday 9-11 a.m.   Matthew Davison

Prerequisite: Classified graduate standing in Creative Writing. Priority enrollment given to graduate Creative Writing fiction students; open to Creative Writing students in other genres only on a space available basis, to be determined at the first class meeting. Writers read. That’s the basic idea behind this course. Through reading, analyzing, and discussing a wide range of novels, we will begin to stretch and grow as our practice as writers. By studying works of long fiction and discussing the historical develop.m.ent of the novel, by asking what a novel is, where the form might be going, and how the heck you go about writing one, we will discover the forms and craft elements best suited to what we want to express in our own work.

C W 809  Directed Writing for Graduate Students      By Arrangement

Prerequisite: Classified graduate standing in Creative Writing. Permission of the instructor is required to take this course; you will be dropped without prior consent of the instructor. The semester before you plan to enroll in Directed Writing, submit a sample of your writing in the instructor’s mailbox along with a note explaining that you want to take their Directed Writing class. Be sure you include your name, address, phone number and email. If the instructor is on leave, please email your writing sample to her or him.                                                                 

C W 809 1 Directed Writing For Grad Students      ARR    Michelle Carter  [email protected]         C W 809 2 Directed Writing For Grad Students      ARR    Michael David Lukas  [email protected] C W 809 3 Directed Writing For Grad Students      ARR    Maxine Chernoff  [email protected] C W 809 4 Directed Writing For Grad Students      ARR    Nona Caspers  [email protected] C W 809 5 Directed Writing For Grad Students      ARR     Paul Hoover  [email protected] C W 809 6 Directed Writing For Grad Students      ARR     Andrew Joron  [email protected] C W 809 7 Directed Writing For Grad Students      ARR     May-lee Chai  [email protected]

C W 810 1  Contemporary World Fiction   Tuesday 12:30-3:15 p.m.    TBA

Prerequisite: Classified graduate status in creative writing or consent of instructor. This generative process class will explore novellas, mostly in translation, from countries including Viet Nam, Senegal, Denmark, Palestine, England, Argentina, and Germany. You will write biweekly responses to exercises and a 5-7 page novella excerpt by the end of the semester.

C W 810 2  The Prose Poem  Thursday 12:30-3:15 p.m.  Paul Hoover

Prerequisite: Classified Creative Writing graduate status in the M.F.A. program or consent of instructor.  Enrollment priority will be given to M.F.A. poetry students. This seminar in the creative process is an investigation of the history and practice of prose poems.  Assigned reading will include Arthur Rimbaud ( The Illuminations ), Victoria Chang ( OBIT ), Maxine Chernoff ( Evolution of the Bridge: Selected Prose Poems ), Fernando Pessoa ( The Book of Disquietude ) and Brandon Shimoda ( Evening Oracle ). 

C W 840 1  14 Hills Literary Magazine  Tuesday 4-6:45 p.m.  Michael David Lukas

Prerequisite: Classified graduate standing in Creative Writing. Fourteen Hills is a working small press as well as a graduate course in editing, publishing, and other skills essential to thriving and leading in the contemporary literary world. Each year, we publish one issue of  Fourteen Hills: the SF State Review , a nationally recognized literary print magazine, as well as the Michael Rubin Book Award (MRBA) winner, a book-length work by an SF State student or recent graduate. Fourteen Hills is run entirely by students with support from our Faculty Advisor and the Department of Creative Writing. The course, taught primarily by the Editor-in-Chief, is designed to give students an opportunity to observe and engage in many aspects of running a literary magazine, from editorial decisions to distribution logistics, from public relations and author interviews to curating a literary prize, from aesthetic considerations to the dynamics of equity and narrative justice in the broader publishing field. Students in the class serve as staff for the journal, working closely with the editors to consider and evaluate work for publication as well as learning about the copy-editing process, visual art selection, cover design, distribution, sales, and promotion. This is a class designed to merge real-world, hands-on publishing experience with the honing of skills that can ignite, inspire, and empower us in all our literary endeavors. CROSS GENRE COURSE.

C W 852 1   Workshop in Creative Nonfiction  Wednesday 4-6:45 p.m.  Chanan Tigay               

Prerequisite: Classified graduate standing in M.F.A. in Creative Writing, the M.A. in English; Creative Writing, or the new M.A. in Creative Writing. In this graduate Creative Nonfiction Workshop, you will submit 2-3 pieces of creative nonfiction—either separate shorter pieces or sections of something longer you are working on. You will hone your skills as critics, responding weekly to your classmates’ submissions, both in class and in feedback letters. The great majority of our time will be dedicated to discussing students’ work, with an eye toward drawing connections between craft principles and their own writing practice. We will workshop two writers’ submissions each week, examining such craft elements as structure, tension, dialogue, clarity, arc and character, paying particular attention to the ways in which conventions of craft are applied and understood—and oftentimes reinterpreted or subverted.

C W 853 1   Workshop in Fiction  Tuesday 7-9:45 p.m.     Michael David Lukas

Prerequisite: Classified graduate status in the M.F.A. in Creative Writing or consent of instructor. In this course, you will delve into your fiction, explore and hone your voice, develop craft application skills, and take large, daring leaps toward your most cherished goals as a writer. We’ll turn close attention to each student’s manuscript in an atmosphere of aesthetic rigor, mutual support, and critical analysis from a writer’s perspective. We’ll pay attention to a variety of craft at play in developing your work, including character develop.m.ent, scene detailing, plot, point of view and psychic distance, developing and sustaining internal/external narrative tension/conflict, evocation of setting, treatment of time, and subtext in dialogue, with a focus on how all of these aspects of craft work together in fulfilling your narrative's artistic and dramatic potential. Your critical analysis skills will be honed through close readings of weekly reading assignments, with the goal of incorporating these skills when reading your own work before submitting a manuscript, identifying if your narrative intent is achieved, and if not, using this insight to evolve your writing process to fulfill your intent. We will also explore the mental and emotional aspects to our writing process that stand outside of craft, noting how it affects our work, and how to develop strategies to address these issues. The end goal of this workshop is to transform what we learn of Craft and Process into sustainable skills that you can take with you through the rest of your time in the program, and beyond. May be repeated for a total of 18 units. 

C W 854 1   Workshop in Poetry Tuesday 12:30-3:15 p.m.   Paul Hoover

Prerequisite: Classified graduate standing in M.F.A. in Creative Writing, the M.A. in English; Creative Writing, or the new M.A. in Creative Writing.  Students will concentrate on the creation and revision of their poetry.   The class format will include discussion of reading assignments, group discussion of student work, and in-class and at-home writing assignments. 

C W 855 1 Workshop in Playwriting Monday 4-6:45 p.m.  Peter Nachtrieb

Prerequisite: Classified graduate standing in M.F.A. in Creative Writing, the M.A. in English; Creative Writing, or the new M.A. in Creative Writing. Maria Irene Fornes wrote: "My goal in workshops is always what will be advantageous for the growth of the individual writer, rather than for the writer to show the other people in the class what he or she has accomplished." In that spirit, we'll focus on generating new work and using craft and process triggers to explore work already under construction. We'll also spotlight craft and process challenges of interest to the group.  Our methods, while diverse, will be adapted to target the needs of the group's particular members.  May be repeated for a total of 18 units.

C W 859  Practicum In Teaching   Monday 12:30-3:15 p.m.  Nona Caspers  

Students working for the first time as Graduate Instructional Aides in undergraduate Creative Writing courses are required to take this Practicum course concurrent with their GIA teaching semester. Students meet as a group once every three weeks and post teaching journals and case studies on iLearn on a weekly basis. This course provides pedagogical grounding for pragmatic classroom teaching work and offers students a structured forum in which to discuss their teaching under the supervision of an experienced teacher and in collaboration with other Graduate Instructional Aides. Open to both M.A. and M.F.A. Creative Writing students. Undergraduates accepted by special permission. This position is for course credit, only. If you are a graduate student interested in applying to the paid teaching positions, you will need to take C W 860 Teaching Creative Writing to qualify.

C W 860 1  Teaching Creative Writing Thursday 4-6:45 p.m.  Michelle Carter

Prerequisite: Classified graduate standing in Creative Writing. This course is required to apply to our paid graduate teaching associate positions. Applications for these positions are accepted at the end of each Spring semester, and you may be enrolled in this class to apply. This course engages Creative Writing graduate students in practical and theoretical exploration of the teaching of creative writing.  Our methods and activities will be diverse. We'll create and deliver exegeses and lectures.  We'll explore strategies for giving useful, generative feedback--oral and written--to student works-in-progress.  We'll hold practice sessions in leading class discussions, setting out to use text models with creativity, adaptability, and imagination.  We'll also discuss aspects of Creative Writing pedagogy as stimulated by essays and interviews.  By the end of the semester, each student will have prepared a syllabus for a fifteen-week creative writing course. These activities will be not only pragmatic but also diagnostic: as the semester progresses, each student will aim to unearth their particular passions and priorities as writers, educators, and human beings--i.e. the prime movers in the discovery of each of our unique teaching voices and styles. CROSS GENRE COURSE.

C W 875 1  Community Projects-Literature  Thursday 7-9 p.m.   Anne Galjour

Prerequisite: C W 101 or 301 with a grade of C or better. Enrollment is limited to undergraduate majors in English: Creative Writing and English: Education (Creative Writing). Non-majors admitted with consent of instructor. Paid and unpaid internship positions designed to give CW students practical knowledge and experience are available through local literary and arts organizations, civic and community organizations, Bay Area school districts and within the Creative Writing Community at SF State. Check out our  Community Projects in Literature Internship Leads .  Incredible academic internships are also available for C W 675/875 credit through SF State’s  Institute for Civic and Community Engagement  (ICCE). Check out their list of paid and unpaid internships! These working by remote and/or in person internships are robust opportunities to 'learn by doing'. If you have any questions please contact Anne Galjour at  [email protected] . C W 675/875 may be taken twice for 6 units of credit.                         

C W 880 1 Art of Short Fiction    Thursday 12:30–3:15 p.m.  Joseph Cassara

Prerequisite: Classified graduate status in M.F.A. in Creative Writing or consent of instructor. Prerequisite: Restricted to graduate M.F.A. in Creative Writing students or consent of the instructor. Examination of the creative process, emphasizing techniques, style, and structure. Topics to be specified in the Class Schedule. May be repeated for a total of 18 units when topics vary.

C W 880 3 Earning Dramatic Emotion Wednesday 4-6:45 p.m. Junse Kim

One of the most difficult narrative issues in fiction writing is how to emotionally move your readers.  Often, what we writers render on the page are concepts of drama meant to profoundly affect the reader, but it does not.  In this graduate process class, we will critically analyze the intricate concepts of how emotions are developed in fiction, and master how to recognize and apply narrative craft that earns and fulfills its dramatic intent.  These skills will be developed through discussions of published works, in-class writing exercises, and creative writing assignments.  Students will be challenged to incorporate narrative techniques in fulfilling dramatic intent into their writing, but with the understanding that the craft consciously being applied (sometimes with difficulty) eventually will become absorbed into their unconscious writing intuition.    

C W 881 1  Open Work: The Long Poem   Wednesday 4-6:45 p.m.  Tonya Foster

Prerequisite: Classified graduate standing in M.F.A. in Creative Writing, the M.A. in English; Creative Writing, or the new M.A. in Creative Writing. Language has a role to play in the day to day, in the social, in the public, in the private, in what Langston Hughes calls “the language of the tribe.” Language has a role to play in the home, on the street, in the national and in the inter/and transnational spaces that we occupy or from which we are displaced. Language animates and circumscribes each position, perspective, condition—lived, hoped for, imagined. The long poem includes the epic and the day to day, the hymn and the choreopoem. In this course, we will write and read to explore the long poem, its form and focus. Course requirements include short reading responses and one 12+ page long poem. Readings include: Homer   (928 B.C.-?)                              The Odyssey  (c. 8 th  century BCE) ,  (trans. Emily Wilson) (2018) Aimé Cesáire   (1913-2008)                   Return to the Native Land  (1939) ,  (trans John Berger) (1969) Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)         “The Anniad” ( 1949)    Allen Ginsburg (1926-1997)                “Howl” (1956)                          James Schuyler (1923-1991)               “Hymn to Life” (1973)   Ntozake Shange (1948-2018)             “for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf” (1975)      Alice Notley (1945-  )                           The Descent of Alette   (1992)    Anne Carson   (1950-  )                          Autobiography of Red  (1998)   

C W 882 1  Architectonics of the Play   Monday 12:30-3:15 p.m.  Anne Galjour

Prerequisite: Classified graduate status in the M.F.A. in Creative Writing or consent of instructor.  In this M.F.A. Creative Process course we examine the structure of action by exploring how playwrights work with Time, Ritual, Symbols, Metaphor, Ma (negative space) Sound, and Architecture to communicate themes and ideas. How does Suzan Lori-Parks employ the famous Zapruder film of JFK being shot to explore the great hole in American History?  How do Akira Kurosawa and Harold Pinter employ Ma (negative space) in creating scenes? How does Beckett use symbols and sound to create a theatrical world? How does Adam Bach use tape on the stage floor to establish real and imagined boundaries? How does Velina Hasu Houston use the ritual of serving tea to release a ghost story? These are a few examples of how we will dive into the creative process. Discussion of texts and in-class writing prompts will produce germinal seed ideas for your own plays and monologues that you will develop throughout the semester.  Poets, fiction writers and creative non-fiction writers are also most welcomed to participate. 

C W 893  Written M.A. Creative Project (3 units)  By Arrangement

Prerequisite:  advancement to M.A. candidacy in English: Creative Writing.  Advancement To Candidacy (ATC) and Culminating Experience Proposal forms must be on file in the Division of Graduate Studies the semester before registration. These 3 units M.A. students sign up for while working on the culminating experience/thesis/written creative project, which may be a collection of short stories, a group of poems, a novel or a play.  To enroll: contact your thesis/written creative work committee chair the first week of the semester for the schedule and permit numbers to add the class. You must enroll in this course or you will not receive credit for your thesis.

C W 893  Written M.F.A. Creative Work (6 units)   By Arrangement

Prerequisite:  advancement to M.F.A. candidacy in Creative Writing; Advancement To Candidacy (ATC) and Culminating Experience Proposal forms must be on file in the Division of Graduate Studies the semester before registration. These 6 units M.F.A. students sign up for while working on the culminating experience/thesis/written creative project, which is expected to be a book length collection of short stories, or poems, or a novel or a play of publishable quality.  Enrollment is by permission number during priority registration/enrollment: you will be emailed the correct class and permission numbers to enroll in your section. You must enroll in this course or you will not receive credit for your thesis.

C W 899  Independent Study    By Arrangement

Prerequisite:  consent of instructor and a minimum GPA of 3.25.  A special study is planned, developed, and completed under the direction of a faculty member. This course may be taken for one, two, or three units. No priority enrollment; enrollment is by petition, and a copy of your unofficial SF State transcript.  Petition For Independent Study forms  are available online (699, 899). This form must be signed by the instructor you will be working with, and brought with an unofficial transcript for the department chair signature. Your instructor will give you the schedule and permit numbers to add the course during the first week of the semester.       

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INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING

• Kara Mae Brown

Course Description

Our introduction to creative writing takes seriously the idea that to write creatively is both a craft and a practice. A craft meaning: writing is something that can be taught, can be learned, and can be improved with time and practice. A practice meaning: creative writing must be a habitual act that you dedicate yourself to without the promise of a quick or easy reward. This class will tend to both the craft of creative writing by introducing some of the core conventions of both poetry and prose. This class will tend to the practice of creative writing by asking you to engage in many reading, writing, and revising exercises and introducing the ways in which communities of writers work together to strengthen each others’ work.

Creative Writing at City Tech

Course Descriptions

Current creative writing course offerings.

ENG 1141: Introduction to Creative Writing

Introductory techniques and skills in writing poetry, drama, the short story and the essay. Emphasis on the student’s awareness of creative potential. Foundation course for the Academic Minor in Creative Writing.

ENG 2142: Writing Poetry

Practice the craft of writing effective lyric, narrative, and experimental poems, studying poems by accomplished poets and producing poems in a seminar and workshop setting. Key concepts and skills include observation and description, the use of persona, imagery, metaphor, connotation, sound, line breaks, structure in poetry, syntax and grammar. The course incorporates a variety of cultural perspectives in the theory and practice of writing poetry.

Future Creative Writing Courses

Beginning in Fall 2024, new courses in creative writing will be added. See the appropriate college catalog for information on specific class offerings. Forthcoming courses include:

ENG 2143: Writing for the Stage and Screen

An introduction to writing dramatic stories for the stage and screen with a focus on creative processes and techniques associated with creating modern, conventional stories for theater and film. Covers developing scripts, creating story ideas, writing and formatting dramatic scenes, and pitching film and stage projects to peers. The course includes analyzing dramatic literature and engaging in research of dramatic texts, as well as studying methods and theory regarding act-based plays and films.

ENG 2144: Writing Fiction

An introduction to concepts of fiction writing, including strategies for plot and character development, expression, dialogue, point of view, effective language use, and revision. Read from a variety of fiction genres and forms from diverse voices to analyze choices made by professional writers. In-class workshops introduce methods for receiving and delivering effective constructive criticism with the goal of improving creative development.

ENG 2145: Writing Nonfiction: Memoir and the Personal Essay

An introduction to memoir and personal essay writing. Course topics include strategies and techniques to develop an autobiographical point of view, a unique reflective voice, storyline, expression, dialogue, effective language use, and strategies for revision. Read from a variety of genres and forms of memoir, autobiography, personal essays, journals, letters, and diaries to analyze choices and techniques used by professional writers. The workshop portion of this course introduces methods for receiving and delivering effective constructive feedback with the goal of improving one’s own creative development.

For specific course offerings, see the College Catalog for the appropriate semester or contact one of the Minor in Creative Writing program coordinators.

The OpenLab at City Tech: A place to learn, work, and share

The OpenLab is an open-source, digital platform designed to support teaching and learning at City Tech (New York City College of Technology), and to promote student and faculty engagement in the intellectual and social life of the college community.

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Creative Writing Program

1000 E. University Ave.

Laramie, WY 82071

Phone: 307-766-6452

Fax: 307-766-3189

Email: [email protected]

Course Descriptions

CW 1040 Intro to Creative Writing    Bergstraesser      

This course is designed to help you craft various works of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. In addition to in-class writing exercises, creative exercises outside of class, and discussions, you will critique each other’s writing in a constructive workshop atmosphere—thereby developing useful editorial skills that will help you improve your own writing.

Through lecture and discussion, we will explore the technique and devices involved in creating these three genres. We will read and discuss the works of many different writers, using their technique and content as a guide for your own writing.

And if this course description seems dull, the class is anything but.

CW 2080 Intro to Poetry      Northrop        TR 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

In this course we will read and write poetry; we will discuss, enthuse over and question our responses, question the poems and our expectations of poems. Completing and revising both in- and out-of-class writing assignments, students should expect to produce, by the end of the semester, a poetry portfolio (and artist statement).  Class time will be divided between discussion of reading assignments and workshop submissions.  Please see instructor with any questions. 

CW 2125 Special Topics in Writing: Animals. Northrop. TR 2:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Our worlds are not the only worlds. We live with and beside the non-human animals: pronghorn, Swainson’s hawks, lap dogs, mountain lions straying through town, pine beetles, Mourning Cloaks, drowned kittens, nighthawks overhead, raccoons in the kitchen, Mountain Whitefish.  How do we sound these worlds?  And why? To what ends?  Writers have long looked to and imagined the non-human, but how  do  we do that?  How do we write (and think) that which we name but may not be able to fully know?  In this course we will consider (through class discussion of assigned readings, independent research, writing exercises and semester-long creative writing projects) ways of thinking / representing non-human animals and our relationships with them. In this course, we will approach and mind those relationships.

We will be considering a range of creative work: stories, poems, essays, short videos, dramatic monologues, paintings, photographs.  Of each creative piece we will discuss the questions that we read as driving the piece, and the questions the piece raises for us.  It’s not possible for me to know our questions now, ahead of time, but some  possible  questions, or rather, some of my own questions:  How do we look at non-human animals?  How are we looked at?  How do non-human animal and human animal lives intersect?  What boundaries have been erected historically and why, to what end?  How are our lives shaped by non-human animals?  How are non-human animals lives shaped?  What responsibilities do humans have?  What causes for joy, what concerns?

CW 4050-02 Writers Workshop: Fiction. Pexton. TR 1:20 p.m. - 2:35 p.m.  

In this class students will read examples of published short stories, and possibly some longer work, and participate in discussions that break down the elements of fiction at work: character, setting/place, point of view, tone/style/narrative voice, dialog, conflict/plot, main ideas, etc. The reading will be mostly, if not entirely, Realism. The writing will be short stories of varying length, from flash fiction to short-short stories to full-length stories. Students who wish to write longer pieces should discuss the work with the instructor before committing to such a project for this class. The writing will be approximately 30 pp +/- of original fiction (this excludes, for the purposes of this course, fan fiction or game fiction) plus additional writing of occasional exercises and critiques/analyses of the outside reading and peers' work. Attendance required. If circumstances force the class to move entirely online, attendance will consist of posting required materials on the required date at the required hour. Text materials supplied by the instructor.   

CW 5540-01 Seminar: Writing for Public Audiences. Brown. 

CW 5540-02 Seminar. Northrop. T 4:10 p.m. - 7:10 p.m.

CW 5560-01 Writing Workshop: Time & Place. Hagy. M 3:10 p.m. - 6:20 p.m.

CW 5560-02 Writing Workshop: Creative Nonfiction. Brown. W 3:10 p.m. - 6:20 p.m.

For a full listing all courses offered by Creative Writing, please use the UW Catalog .

Program Code: CRWE.S.AA • Credit Hours: 61

Description.

The Creative Writing Program is designed specifically for students interested in studying how to write original creative work, including poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Students hone their writing skills and learn about the world of publishing in this program, as well. Graduates of this program are well-prepared to transfer to a four-year college or university to continue their studies. The curriculum fulfills the freshman and sophomore general education requirements of most four-year colleges and universities. . As part of this degree program, students must complete the requirements of the Ohio Transfer 36 in order to graduate.

Program Requirements

• BIS 1120 - Introduction to Software Applications
• COM 2206 - Interpersonal Communication OR
• COM 2211 - Effective Public Speaking OR
• COM 2225 - Small Group Communication
• ENG 1101 - English Composition I
• ENG 1201 - English Composition II
• ENG 2250 - Introduction to Creative Writing
• ENG 2262 - Writing to Publish

Choose three courses from:

• ENG 2255 - Poetry Writing AND/OR
• ENG 2256 - Fiction Writing AND/OR
• ENG 2257 - Creative Writing: Nonfiction AND/OR
• ENG 2259 - Novel Writing
• LIT 2220 - Introduction to Literature
• LIT 2217 - Images of Women in Literature OR
• LIT 2234 - Literature of Africa, Asia, & Latin America OR
• LIT 2236 - African-American Literature
• OT36 Arts & Humanities Elective    (at least one non-LIT)  6   Cr. Hr(s).
• OT36 Mathematics Elective     3   Cr. Hr(s).
• OT36 Natural & Physical Sciences Elective     6   Cr. Hr(s).
• OT36 Social & Behavioral Sciences Elective     (at least two disciplines)  9   Cr. Hr(s).
• Language Elective 4   Cr. Hr(s).

Language Elective 4 Cr. Hr.

• CHN 1101 - Elementary Chinese I
• FRE 1101 - Elementary French I
• GER 1101 - Elementary German I
• JPN 1101 - Elementary Japanese I
• SPA 1101 - Elementary Spanish I

• Prospective Students
• Current Students
• Transfer Students
• Dual Credit
• Continuing Education
• Business Partners
• Veterans & Military

Course Descriptions

ENGL  1301  Composition I Intensive study of and practice in writing processes, from invention and researching to drafting, revising, and editing, both individually and collaboratively.  Emphasis on effective rhetorical choices, including audience, purpose, arrangement, and style.  Focus on writing the academic essay as a vehicle for learning, communicating, and critical analysis.  Lab required.  Prerequisite: Meet TSI college-readiness standard for Reading and Writing; or equivalent.  3 credit hours.  (A)

ENGL   1302  Composition II Intensive study of and practice in the strategies and techniques for developing research-based expository and persuasive texts.  Emphasis on effective and ethical rhetorical inquiry, including primary and secondary research methods; critical reading of verbal, visual, and multimedia texts; systematic evaluation, synthesis, and documentation of information sources; and critical thinking about evidence and conclusions.  Lab required.  Prerequisite: ENGL 1301. 3 credit hours.  (A)

ENGL   2307  Creative Writing I Practical experience in the techniques of imaginative writing. May include fiction, non-fiction, poetry, screenwriting, or drama. Additionally, this course does not satisfy the college requirements for a sophomore literature course. Prerequisite: ENGL 1302. 3 credit hours. (A)

ENGL   2311  Technical and Business Writing Intensive study of and practice in professional settings.  Focus on the types of documents necessary to make decisions and take action on the job, such as proposals, reports, instructions, policies and procedures, e-mail messages, letters, and descriptions of products and services.  Practice individual and collaborative processes involved in the creation of ethical and efficient documents.  Prerequisite: ENGL 1301.  3 credit hours.  (A)

ENGL  2322  British Literature I A survey of the development of British literature from the Anglo-Saxon period to the Eighteenth Century.  Students will study works of prose, poetry, drama, and fiction in relation to their historical, linguistic, and cultural contexts.  Texts will be selected from a diverse group of authors and traditions.  Prerequisite: ENGL 1302 or ENGL 2311. 3 credit hours.  (A)

ENGL   2323  British Literature II A survey of the development of British literature from the Romantic period to the present.  Students will study works of prose, poetry, drama, and fiction in relation to their historical and cultural contexts.  Texts will be selected from a diverse group of authors and traditions.  Prerequisite: ENGL 1302 or ENGL 2311.  3 credit hours.  (A)

ENGL   2327  American Literature I A survey of American literature from the period of exploration and settlement through the Civil War.  Students will study works of prose, poetry, drama, and fiction in relation to their historical and cultural contexts.  Texts will be selected from among a diverse group of authors for what they reflect and reveal about the evolving American experience and character.  Prerequisite: ENGL 1302 or ENGL 2311.  3 credit hours.  (A)

ENGL   2328  American Literature II A survey of American literature from the Civil War to the present.  Students will study works of prose, poetry, drama, and fiction in relation to their historical and cultural contexts.  Texts will be selected from among a diverse group of authors for what they reflect and reveal about the evolving American experience and character.  Prerequisite: ENGL 1302 or ENGL 2311.  3 credit hours.  (A)

ENGL   2332  World Literature I A survey of world literature from the ancient world through the sixteenth century.  Students will study works of prose, poetry, drama, and fiction in relation to their historical and cultural contexts.  Texts will be selected from a diverse group of authors and traditions.  Prerequisite: ENGL 1302 or ENGL 2311.  3 credit hours.  (A)

ENGL   2333  World Literature II A survey of world literature from the seventeenth century to the present.  Students will study works of prose, poetry, drama, and fiction in relation to their historical and cultural contexts.  Texts will be selected from a diverse group of authors and traditions.  Prerequisite: ENGL 1302 or ENGL 2311.  3 credit hours.  (A)

ENGL  2341  Forms of Literature: Short Story, Novel, Poetry, and Drama The study of one or more literary genres including, but not limited to, poetry, fiction, drama, and film. Prerequisite:  ENGL 1302 or ENGL 2311. 3 credit hours. (A)

ENGL  2389  Academic Co-op English Integrates on-campus study with practical hands-on work experience in English. In conjunction with class seminars, the student will set specific goals and objectives in the study of English. Contact the Associate Dean/Director for more information. Prerequisites: Consent of Associate Dean/Director and meet TSI college-readiness standard for Reading and Writing; or equivalent. 3 credit hours. (A)

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