Honors Seminar in English: Creative Writing

Catalog description

Advanced Seminars in Creative Writing focus on a particular genre and/or topic. Genres include poetry, fiction, graphic novel, memoir, creative non-fiction, essay, or drama. Topics vary. Students work as apprentice writers, reading the work of published and expert authors, experimenting within the genre, engaging in structured peer review and group workshops, and preparing texts for publication and contest submission. Students discuss a number of issues relevant to the practice of creative writing and the production of literature, such as innovation and circulation, and numerous techniques, including the establishment of voice, creation of character plot development, pacing, and principles of prosody. Students may also consider the responsibilities of literary citizenship and the ethics of artistic representation. The courses offer an intense investigation of creative writing craft. Students develop skills in close, critical reading through the examination of exemplary works of contemporary literature and craft analysis, often reading an entire book per week. They also learn to read analytically and practically in workshop critiques of peer writing. In workshop discussion, students engage in a range of critical and editing tasks from close reading to broad conceptualization; they develop the ability to communicate ideas clearly and extemporaneously, and to negotiate meaning with others. Students experiment with and hone various writing techniques by executing focused exercises and drafting and developing pieces for final submission. They apply critical and analytical reading skills to revise and strengthen their own writing. The final project may include drafts and polished versions of two to three stories or essays, and up to a dozen poems.