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Creative Writing Program
| Creative Writing Course Listing |
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Director, Professor Jennifer Finney Boylan
Advisory Committee: Professors Peter Harris, Susan Kenney,
Debra Spark; Associate Professors Michael Burke and Natalie Harris; Assistant Professor Adrian Blevins
Students majoring in English may "concentrate" in Creative Writing; students majoring in other subjects may elect Creative Writing as a "Minor."
The Minor/Concentration is designed to enhance existing major programs, to add structure and a sense of purpose to those students already committed to creative writing, and to encourage the consideration of the study of creative writing at the graduate level.
| Requirements For The Minor or Concentration In Creative Writing |
The minor consists of seven courses total: four writing workshops and three courses in literature. For English majors electing the "concentration," the requirements are the same, except that the three literature courses are not required. (English majors will encounter literature as part of their program of study.) The four writing workshops must include a sequence of one introductory and one advanced writing course in either fiction or poetry (ENs 278 and 378, OR ENs 279 and 379). The additional two workshops might include: the introductory course in the other genre, courses in playwriting, screenwriting, creative nonfiction, or memoir. Courses in other "special topics" are offered each year, including, for instance, "Novel Writing," "Writing About Place," and "Teaching Creative Writing in the Schools."
A course of study should be discussed with Jennifer Boylan, the advisor to the minor.
First priority for admission to English 278 and English 279, the introductory courses in fiction and poetry writing, is given to sophomores. Due to enrollment pressures, students who do not register for English 278 as sophomores may run the risk of being unable to elect the minor.
Admission to intermediate and advanced writing courses is by manuscript submission only.
No requirement for the minor may be taken satisfactory/unsatisfactory.
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A Creative Writing Concentration within and in addition to the English major is offered as another option in development of skills in creative writing. The requirements for the concentration are specified in the "English" section of this catalogue.
Courses |
EN179 Imaginative Writing. An introduction to creative writing and close reading in a variety of forms, including poems, novels, screenplays, drama, creative nonfiction, and short stories. Issues of craft will be addressed by writing original poetry and fiction. This course does not count toward the creative writing concentration or minor.
Four credit hours. L. STAFF
EN278 Fiction 1. Introduction to the writing of fiction, with emphasis on on student manuscripts. Enrollment limited.
Prerequisite: English 115. Four Credit Hours. A. BOYLAN, KENNEY, SPARK
EN279 Poetry 1. Introduction to the writing of poetry, with emphasis on student manuscripts. Enrollment limited.
Prerequisite: English 115. Four Credit Hours. A. BLEVINS, P. HARRIS
EN378 Fiction 2. Practice in the writing of short stories, with major emphasis on student manuscripts. Enrollment is limited; admission is by manuscript submission only. Consult instructor for deadlines and format for manuscript submission. Manuscripts are used as a basis for determining enrollment.
Prerequisite: English 278. Four Credit Hours. BOYLAN, KENNEY, SPARK
EN379 Poetry 2. Practice in the writing of poetry, with major emphasis on student manuscripts. Enrollment is limited; admission is by manuscript submission only. See instructor for deadlines and format for manuscript submission. Manuscripts are used as a basis for determining enrollment.
Prerequisite: English 279. Four Credit Hours. BLEVINS, P. HARRIS
EN380 Creative Nonfiction. Creative nonfiction includes renderings of personal experience, presentations of opinion and passion, profiles of people, and evocations of time and place. Based upon "fact," it uses elements of fiction. A writing workshop with weekly assignments designed to help students find their best material and their strongest voices. Also, reading and discussion of the work of published essayists. Counts as a Creative Writing "fourth requirement."
Four Credit Hours. A. BURKE, N. HARRIS
EN382 Environmental Writing: Writing on Place. Practice in the forms of nonfiction that seek to evoke and represent place, and experiences of it. A writing workshop that begins with sample readings, followed by assignments, then consideration of student work. Counts as a Creative Writing "fourth requirement."
Four Credit Hours. A. BURKE. Not offered in 2004-05.
EN381j Genre Workshop: Screenwriting. An introduction to the craft, and to the art, of telling stories in film. Following an introduction to the screenplay format and the use of screenwriting software, all sorts of films, both formulaic and idiosyncratic, will be examined. Exercises, lectures, and workshops will explore issues of character and structure, culminating in the writing of an original screenplay-- either an original film or an adaptation of an existing work.
Four Credit Hours. A. BOYLAN
EN3xxb Genre Workshop: Creative Nonfiction 2. Advanced class in the writing
of creative nonfiction, with emphasis on student manuscripts. Admission
is by manuscript submission only; consult instructor for deadlines and format for manuscript submission. Prerequisite: Creative Nonfiction 1 or Environmental Writing.
Four Credit Hours. BURKE, N. HARRIS. Not offered in 2004-5.
TD349B/EN3xxc Genre Workshop: Playwriting. An introduction to the craft of writing for the stage. Lectures on the structure of dramatic action, character, and staging will lead to the creation of a one-act play. Student playwrights will act in informal readings and productions of works created by the class.
Four Credit Hours. A. BOYLAN,
349Bf Special Topics: Playwriting. The focus of the course will be on developing ten-minute plays , although consistently produced work on a longer piece will be acceptable. Works all read and critiqued in class. Grading is on participation in critiquing (occasionally in writing) and on scenes written throughout the semester. Writers block is not an option . Enrollrment limited.
Four Credit Hours. SEWELL.
EN3xxd Genre Workshop: Feature Writing. Feature writing is a branch of nonfiction, related both to journalism and to creative nonfiction. It is most often associated with writing for magazine or periodical publication. Feature writing forms include profile, travel, first-person adventure, history, intimate biography, subject-specific topics, reviewing, or the personal essay. This is a workshop course which involves understanding the characteristics of each mode, studying examples of each, and the crafting of student work in several forms.
Four Credit Hours. A. BURKE. Not offered in 2004-5.
EN398 Gendered Memoir An examination of the location of sexuality and gender within a wide range of autobiographical texts. Students will create their own autobiographical pieces, which will be discussed in a workshop setting. Texts to be read will include excerpts from Boswell’s Life of Johnson, Thurber’s My Life and Hard Times, Augusten Burroughs’ Running with Scissors, Mary Karr’s Cherry, Alice Sebold’s Lucky, Alexandra Fuller’s Don’t Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight, and the Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth.
Four Credit Hours. A. BOYLAN.
EN3yyb Special Topics in Creative Writing: The Graphic Novel. A course in the graphic novel, starting with the form’s antecedents (in pre-Colombian picture manuscripts, Japanese scroll painting, and cave painting) and moving forward to Hogarth in the 18th century and comics and collage novels in the 20th century. Students will look at early practitioners of the form (Will Eisner), as well as contemporary artists (Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware and Daniel Clowes) and contemporary theorists and historians (Scott McCloud, Roger Sabin and Trina Robbins). Students conclude the semester with analytic work or by producing a graphic novel segment.
Four Credit Hours. SPARK. Not offered in 2004-5.
EN4xx Projects in Creative Writing. For students interested in undertaking a substantial, independent project related to the production or teaching of creative writing. Projects may include service learning efforts in the community, independent studies, internship with appropriate accompanying academic work, etc. Prereq of most advanced class in the given genre of study (generally Fiction 2 or Poetry 2), as well as approval of the instructor. (Students must have a draft of a project proposal approved by the instructor before registering for this class.)
Four Credit Hours. BOYLAN, P. HARRIS, KENNEY, SPARK
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