Introduction to Creative Writing

An introduction to general principles. Students' fiction and poetry receive critical evaluation through workshops and conferences. The course is designed to improve students' creative and critical faculties through exposure to a variety of styles and genres in contemporary literature--e.g., poetry, fiction, drama, creative nonfiction, hybrid forms. The course emphasizes the finished product as well as the writing process, which includes not only putting words on paper, but also reading, analysis, and revision. Students examine forms and structures, word choice, line lengths and line breaks, sentences, paragraphs, beginnings and endings, rhetorical strategies, cadences and music, tone and voice, and syntax and diction. Class sessions include variations of the following: writing exercises, craft talks, discussion about the assigned readings, and discussion of student work.