Creative Writing & Publishing (CWP)

Reading is so basic and so difficult at the same time, depending on the occasion. By college, we've all known how to read for a long time, but what does it mean to read like a writer? In this course we'll look closely at a variety of texts with the aim of discovering the many craft elements at play. What, for example, can we learn about the pacing of story, rhythm of sentences, and manipulation of time from a personal essay? How has the world been built, the characters been developed and what do these contribute to the tension or the plot in a short story? We'll examine the many choices writers make to create a very intentional and cohesive work of writing.

This course provides an overview of the history of book publishing in the United States from the mid-Nineteenth century to the present. In addition to examining some of the most famous publishing houses in the United States, including the celebrated Charles Scribner's Sons, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, Alfred Knopf, and HarperCollins, authors the course will look at the tension between art and commerce in the book industry, at the pressures to have a "bestseller," and at the relationship among authors, editors, agents and others in today's book industry.

This course, the required foundation course for the Creative Writing and Publishing Major and Creative Writing Minor, is meant to introduce the fundamental techniques of writing imaginatively in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. It assumes that you may wish to try writing in a variety of genres before committing yourself to advanced courses in one genre or the other. In a larger sense, the course should enable you to strengthen your ability to use written language for expression and communication.

Through the completion of in-class workshops, screenplay/motion picture analysis and successful completion of assignments, students will demonstrate understanding of how the visual language is used to influence on-screen representation, understand the "structure" of narrative writing for the screen, demonstrate the ability to work "story" into this structure, and demonstrate understanding of screenplay format. Sophomore academic standing or above or permission of instructor is required.

This course will help students develop the skills they need to publish professionally in the travel market, including writing feature articles, blog posts, social media copy, and you-are-there stories. Students will be encouraged to submit their articles to actual publications for consideration.

This seminar will focus on a special topic in creative writing, investigating in-depth a curiosity, wonderment or particular point of craft in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.

This course is offered for minors concentrating in Creative Writing. Each student will undertake a manuscript of poems, fiction, or literary nonfiction.

Students with compelling reasons may participate in independent study under the direction of a member of the English faculty. Permission of department chair is required.