Creative Writing

Apply what you learn in the English core to your own creative work, whether poetry, fiction, or essays. Learn how to think in images, argue in metaphor, and create characters that stick to the page. As Virginia Woolf says, “Nothing has really happened until it has been recorded.” As a creative writer, that’s now your job. In workshops, you’ll study and critique published works as well as the latest efforts of developing writers who share the table with you. You’ll also complete a literature course in poetry, nonfiction, the short story, or the novel, with the aim of creating more sophisticated literature yourself.

Skills:

You’ll have many options upon graduation: pursue an MFA or other graduate degree, teach, edit or create copy for a start-up, work as a paralegal, try your hand at speechwriting, or become a public relations specialist or advertising manager. With the Creative Writing track, you’ll improve your ability to synthesize and analyze, critique and present. You’ll become an expert in style and form and genre as you learn to create, revise, and improve your work, and help others to do the same.

Coursework:

5 classes/15 credits. The following courses should be completed in sequence unless otherwise noted.

• ENGL 218: Introduction to Creative Writing. Learn the fundamental writing techniques in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.
• Intermediate Workshops (choose two). Expand on the fundamentals introduced in ENGL 218 by focusing on a single genre. You may complete this requirement by taking two different workshops or the same workshop twice.
  
  • ENGL 317R: Writing Creative Nonfiction
  • ENGL 318R: Writing Fiction
  • ENGL 319R: Writing Poetry
  • ENGL 320R: Writing for Children and Adolescents
• Form and Genre (choose one; this course may be taken anytime). Focus on a favorite genre: mystery novels, drama, nonfiction, poetry, and more. This course will help you better understand the appeal of a particular genre, including how and why it emerges, its shifting contexts, its features across time, and its influence on perceptions and judgments.
  
  • ENGL 337R: Studies in Literary Form and Genre
  • ENGL 420: Young Adult Literature
• Capstone (choose one). Complete an advanced study and practice of styles and techniques in a single genre. Focus on the discipline and practice of being a writer and complete a retrospective portfolio to demonstrate growth.
  
  • ENGL 417R: Creative Writing Capstone: Nonfiction
  • ENGL 418R: Creative Writing Capstone: Fiction
  • ENGL 419R: Creative Writing Capstone: Poetry