Department of English

This writing workshop will focus on how to tell a good story -- whether it's fiction or creative nonfiction -- and will help writers tap into their own experiences to create, shape and revise stories for a wider audience. In-class writing exercises and visualizations will jump-start or enhance works-in-progress that may include the short story, personal essay, novel or memoir. Students also will explore the importance of detail, humor, perspective, character and place in both fiction and non-fiction. We will read short selections from a range of versatile writers, including Grace Paley, James Baldwin, E. B. White, Barbara Kingsolver, Jamaica Kincaid, Michael Malone and Mark Twain. Students will be asked to maintain writing journals, participate in discussions, and write and revise work on a weekly basis.