Creative Writing (CRW)
CRW 377. Creative Writing and Healing: the Power Of Words. 3 Credit Hours.
This introductory creative writing workshop encourages students majoring in any discipline to explore health and healing through their own poetry and fiction, as well as through study of works by modern contemporary writers who focus on the body, illness, health, and healing. No previous creative writing experience necessary.
Prerequisite: WRT 101.
Fulfills Core Requirement(s): Visual and Performing Arts (VPA).
Cross-listed Courses: ENG 377
CRW 384. Introduction to Writing Poetry. 3 Credit Hours.
This introductory creative writing workshop is devoted to the writing and revising of poems. We will explore writing techniques as well as writing samples by established authors, but most of our time will be devoted to critiquing student poems with an eye toward revision and improvement. Students will complete a final portfolio of poetry to be submitted at the end of term.
Cross-listed Courses: ENG 384
CRW 385. Creative Writing Workshop. 3 Credit Hours.
Intensive practice in the writing and criticism of poetry and fiction. Associated readings geared to the needs of the individual participant. Course can be repeated for credit. Fulfills Core requirement(s): VPA (Visual and Performing Arts).
Prerequisite: WRT 101.
Cross-listed Courses: ENG 385
CRW 386. Introduction to Playwriting. 3 Credit Hours.
A workshop that introduces students to the techniques of dramatic writing. In our explorations of structure, dialogue and methods of characterization, students begin by writing one- to two- page exercises, advance to outlines for plot and character and finally write a ten-minute play which is performed in class. Fulfills Core requirement(s): VPA.
Prerequisite: WRT 101.
CRW 387. Scriptwriting. 3 Credit Hours.
This course provides study and practice in the special requirements of writing fictional works for television and film. This course will focus on: basic dramatic structures and story telling, the premise, the pitch, character development, writing the treatment, story outlines, writing the master scene and completing the script. At semester end, students are expected to produce full-length tele-plays, radio dramas or film scripts. Fulfills Core requirement(s): VPA.
Prerequisite: WRT 101.
CRW 388. Writing Green: Poetry, Fiction, and Our Place in the World. 3 Credit Hours.
This introductory creative writing workshop encourages students majoring in any discipline to explore the physical world in which we live and the current environmental crisis through their own poetry and fiction, as well as through study of works by diverse modern and contemporary environmental writers. The course subtitle includes the phrase "our place in the world," referring to the study of "place" or the physical environments where humans live, as well as our "place" in the sense of the role humans play, or might play, in shaping the world in which we live. No previous creative writing experience necessary. This course can substitute for CRW 385 or CRW 386 as a prerequisite for upper level creative writing courses. Because of the emphasis on creative responses to physical environments, the course can include field trips and could be taught in a study abroad setting. Prerequisite(s): WRT 101 or equivalent.
Fulfills Core Requirement(s): Visual and Performing Arts (VPA).
Cross-listed Courses: ENG 388
CRW 390. Independent Study. 1-3 Credit Hours.
A student who wishes to pursue an independent project for academic credit must submit, prior to registration, a proposed plan that includes a description of the project and its goals, the methods to be followed, a schedule of work and supervision, an evaluation procedure and the number of credits sought. The proposal must be approved by the supervising faculty member, the department chair and the dean of arts and sciences. It will be kept on file in the dean of arts and sciences' office. An independent study concentrating on writing may be used to fulfill part or all of the creative writing curriculum requirement for 9 hours of writing workshops. Fulfills Core requirement(s): VPA.
CRW 391. Advanced Poetry Workshop. 3 Credit Hours.
A poetry writing workshop for students who have completed the introductory creative writing workshop or who can demonstrate advanced creative writing abilities. The course requires a close study of poems by major modern and contemporary authors and may include exercises in traditional forms. Fulfills Core requirement(s): VPA.
Prerequisites: WRT 101 and CRW/ENG 385.
Cross-listed Courses: ENG 391
CRW 392. Advanced Fiction Workshop. 3 Credit Hours.
A fiction writing workshop for students who have completed the introductory creative writing workshop or who can demonstrate advanced fiction writing ability. The course requires the reading of major modern and contemporary authors, weekly short writing assignments and the writing of an extended work of prose fiction or a linked series of short stories. Fulfills Core requirement(s): VPA.
Prerequisites: WRT 101 and CRW/ENG 385.
Cross-listed Courses: ENG 392
CRW 395. Nonfiction Writing Workshop. 3 Credit Hours.
A workshop that will introduce students, through reading of contemporary writers and weekly short writing assignments, to the many varieties of creative nonfiction, including the personal essay, memoir, travel writing, the lyric essay, the portrait, and the political essay. We'll engage the eternal concerns and debates of nonfiction writing, including: what it means to tell the "truth," representing the "I" or first-person narrator as a character, telling other people's secrets, the (un)reliability of memory, etc. We'll learn how to use traditional fiction techniques (scene, character, setting, dialogue) in nonfiction, as well as practice techniques more typically seen in creative nonfiction, such as enacting on the page the writer's "story of thought." On occasion this writing workshop will be offered with a particular focus, such as writing about science, family, or sports. The focus will be announced in advance of registration.
Prerequisite: WRT 101.
Cross-listed Courses: ENG 395
CRW 480. Honors Tutorial in Creative Writing. 3 Credit Hours.
CRW 480 Honors Tutorial in Creative Writing is the course students must register for to complete an Honors Degree in Creative Writing. The course is designed for the student who excels in one or more creative writing genres, and who deserves further challenge and recognition. By the end of their junior year at the latest, qualified CRW program concentrators and minors will be invited to pursue a CRW honors degree. Applicants will be required to have a 3.0 overall GPA and a 3.5 GPA within Creative Writing Program courses. Those accepted will work towards completion of a high quality manuscript of poetry(at least 30 pages), fiction, creative nonfiction, or a play (at least 50 pages), along with an Introduction of between 5-10 pages. Multiple genre manuscripts are acceptable, with the length to be determined by the instructor. Students may complete this honors manuscript either while taking their 4th CRW advanced or genre specific workshop during their senior year (in which case they would participate in regular workshop activities but meet additionally with the instructor regarding the honors project) or while working individually with an instructor. Students must undertake a "defense" of their creative project before a designated CRW honors program committee (the defense may include a public reading or, in the case of a play, a public performance). The student may gain permission to register for another three credits of ENG 480 if doing so is useful and necessary. Fulfills Core requirement(s): Visual and Performing Arts (VPA).