The Creative Writing Program

This is a multi-genre introductory course, and a prerequisite for the others. English 71 introduces the craft and practice of creative writing. Through reading and writing in various genres, students will explore poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction in their many forms and sub-genres. Students will generate new pieces and be introduced to the workshop method. In workshop, they will offer constructive and critical feedback. Students will gain meaningful practice in revising their original work, and practice the critical skill of reading like writers to better understand the craft of creative writing.

Note: Students who have taken either English 30A and/or 30B may choose this course as an option, but are not required to take it as a prerequisite. In some cases, students with transferable creative writing credits from other institutions and/or a unique and meaningful creative writing history prior to enrollment may want to reach out with their enrollment questions.

This creative writing course focuses on the fundamentals of poetry and related forms. Students will generate new pieces and participate in a peer-to-peer workshop where they will offer constructive and critical feedback. While developing their writing process, students will also learn to apply critique and revise their original work. The course will also include literary analysis to understand better the craft of poetry, publication, and performance.

This course introduces the craft and practice of creative nonfiction, which employs many of the literary strategies and techniques of fiction writing to the telling of true stories. Students will explore CNF subgenres such as memoir, flash and micro-memoir, researched nonfiction, hermit crabs and other borrowed forms, lyric, braided, and other types of personal essays, cultural criticism, travel narratives and even hybrid subgenres. Students will expand and sharpen storytelling skills and gain a deeper understanding of the properties of creative nonfiction through writing, revision, reading, discussion, and critique. By reading and analyzing a range of nonfiction works, students will broaden their understanding of the narrative designs, literary techniques, and opportunities for expression available in creative nonfiction.