Welcome to EngW 1101, Introduction to Creative Writing.
- If you have always wanted to try your hand at writing but have never had the occasion, this class is your opportunity.
- If you want to improve your writing skills in a creative way, this class is also for you.
- If you want to become a better, sharper reader by being more aware of the writing process, and of how writers manage to actually write whole books, this is the class for you.
- If you have old notebooks in your bottom drawer, you will want to bring them out and look at them again in the light of what this course will have taught you, to see if you can make something of them.
The idea of this introductory course is to explore the craft of writing in its multiple forms and to improve your critical skills and your ability to read as writers with the help of nine local visiting writers who will talk about the writing of poetry and prose, and of their own process of composition in a lecture on Tuesday. Fall semester’s visitors are Michael Dennis Browne, Katrina Vandenburg, Todd Boss, Julie Schumacher, Alexs Pate, Amy Shearn, Patricia Hampl, Ray Gonzalez, Catherine Watson, Ed Bok Lee.
The smaller sections—which will meet on a different day—will include discussions of the samples of writing by the visiting writers and the critique of peer work, but the main emphasis will be on your own writing: you will be asked to write and revise regularly, and to complete three creative portfolios through a progression of exercises in poetry, prose and narrative prose. Some of the areas that will be engaging you are: finding your material, writing from memory, invention and imagination, recognizing character, how to compose and why revision. None of the instructors will assume previous writing experience
Fall 2008 EngW 1101 Schedule
September 3--Week 1 Intro to 1101/short TA Introductions
September 10–Week 2 How to Begin a Poem ("What the Poem Wants") with Michael Dennis Browne
September 17--Week 3 Narrative Poetry with Katrina Vandenburg
September 24 --Week 4 Rhythm and Cadence with Todd Boss
October 1--Week 5 Student Conferences
October 8 --Week 6 Character with Julie Schumacher (Poetry Portfolio Due)
October 15--Week 7 Plot and Structure with Alexs Pate
October 22--Week 8 Setting with Amy Shearn
October 29 --Week 9 Student Conferences
November 5 --Week 10 Defining Literary Nonfiction with Patricia Hampl (Fiction Portfolio Due)
November 12 --Week 11 Writing from Memory with Ray Gonzalez
November 19–Week 12 Travel Writing/Writing About Place with Catherine Watson
November 26–Week 13 No class–Thanksgiving Holiday
Special Topic
December 3–Week 14 Panel-Performance Poetry with Ed Bok Lee
December 10–Week 15 Student Readings (Nonfiction Portfolio Due)
February 20--Week 5
