Spring 2023 Course Atlas

WEBSITE MIGRATION IN PROGRESS. Spring 2024 classes are listed on atlas.emory.edu

 

Permission is required to enroll in all Creative Writing classes unless otherwise noted. A link to the application can be found in the menu on the left.

Applications must be submitted via email to the department administrator, Nora Lewis, at nora.lewis@emory.edu. The application must be in Word format. If a writing sample is required, the sample must be attached to the application form and submitted together as ONE document in Word format. The email subject line should include "application" -- failure to use this subject keyword may result in a delayed response.

 

All students must take one 200-level Intro (either 270, 271, or 272) before advancing to Intermediate 300-level workshops. The same is required of non-majors who wish to take Creative Writing workshops, though some instructors may choose to waive this requirement for junior and senior non-majors. The requirement is never waived for majors. 

Spring 2023 course that does not require a 200-level introductory class:

  • ENGCW 389W-1 Special Topics: Introduction to Dramatic Writing (crosslisted with FILM and THEA 385W-1)

Students who have completed the 200-level requirement may apply to any Intermediate workshop.

A 300-level Intermediate course is a pre-requisite for an Advanced course. Students who wish to take an Advanced course in fiction, poetry, or playwriting must receive a grade of A or A- in their Intermediate 300-level course.

OXFORD STUDENTS: Oxford students may apply for an ENGCW 271W Introduction to Poetry Writing workshop, as that course is not taught at Oxford in Spring 2023. Oxford students who have completed a required 200-level introductory course may apply for Emory 300-level intermediate workshops.

Please see http://creativewriting.emory.edu/home/academics/major-english-creative-writing.html for more information about the Creative Writing Program requirements.

 

Applications will be accepted until the end of Add/Drop/Swap in the Spring (or until classes are full/closed).

All classes are HAPW unless otherwise noted and most have a maximum of 15 seats.

 

DO NOT EMAIL AN INSTRUCTOR FOR PERMISSION. The instructors will forward your email to the Creative Writing Program administrator Nora Lewis, who will then communicate with you regarding the application process.

If you are not sure if a course is open, or have any other questions, please email Nora Lewis at nora.lewis@emory.edu. ***OPUS is NOT an accurate picture of availability*** as students who have been accepted into a class may have yet to enroll or be added in.

Students will receive an email from Nora Lewis with information about acceptance into classes.

Emory College Course Atlas: https://atlas.emory.edu/

 

CREATIVE WRITING SPRING 2023 COURSE ATLAS

ENGCW 271W Introduction to Poetry Writing

ENGCW 271W:  Introduction to Poetry Writing (three sections) MAX: 15 students (each section)

Extracurricular activities for all sections:

Students are required to attend on-campus readings and colloquia sponsored by the Creative Writing Program outside of class time and are encouraged to attend any other activities sponsored by the Program.

Pre-requisite: None

 

Sections:    ENROLLMENT IS NOW CLOSED FOR ALL SECTIONS

ENGCW 271W-1  Sturm          Monday 2:30-5:30

ENGCW 271W-2  Shoemake   Tuesday 2:30-5:30   

ENGCW 271W-3  Sturm          Wednesday 2:30-5:30

 

Sturm's sections: Contemporary Lineages:  

This class is an opportunity to generate new creative work in a collaborative, critical setting. In order to develop the relationship between creative reading practices and creative writing practices, we will read and discuss books by a number of 20th and 21st century poets whose work will guide our discussion of poetic techniques and aesthetic practices. We will study these poets in order to study our own interests, intentions, and practices as writers. In particular, we will explore and critique the concept of “other lineages,” of the various micro-traditions and aesthetic affiliations that exist between poets. Students should expect to devote themselves to a practice of reading and writing and be prepared for mature discussions of complex material. We will write new poems in correspondence with the material we read, recite poems, engage with poets’ archival materials in Emory’s Rose Library, create a poetics statement, and produce chapbooks of our own poetry.

 

Texts:

 

The Sonnets, Ted Berrigan (Penguin Books, 2000)

ISBN 9780140589276

 

Toxicon and Arachne, Joyelle McSweeney (Nightboat Books, 2020)

ISBN 9781643620183

 

Lovability, Emily Kendal Frey (Fonograf Editions, 2021)

ISBN 9781734456653

 

Provided as PDFs: selections from the work of Amiri Baraka, Jack Spicer, Federico Garcia Lorca, George Oppen, Alice Notley, James Schuyler, and others

 

Assessment:

Students’ grades will be based on timely and attentive completion of the following exercises:

Poem-Responses: 20 points each (200 total)                        

Workshop Participation & Discussion: 100 points               

Chapbook with revisions: 100 points

 

Extracurricular Activities: Students will be required to attend one class in the Rose Library, located on the 10th floor of Woodruff Library.

 

 

Shoemake's section: 

In this course, we will explore contemporary poetry written in English through close reading and discussion to inform your own writing for workshop. Students will be expected to develop the skills necessary to read, write and analyze the elements of what makes a poem. Each week students will explore poems and readings to encourage and inspire their own original work. Students will also write original poems each week of the semester for peer workshop the following week. Students will also be expected to read one full collection of poetry of their choosing and make a presentation to the class. A final portfolio and reflection is due at the end of course.

 

Texts:

The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry, Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux (ISBN: 978-0393316544)

A contemporary poetry collection in English (not a translation), of your choosing, published 2000 or later.

 

Assessment:

Final portfolios: 50%

Class participation including written feedback on peers’ poems: 15%

Poems 15%

Midterm presentation 10%

Reading Series written reflection 5%

Poet’s Notebook 5%

ENGCW 272W Introduction to Fiction Writing

ENGCW 272W: Introduction to Fiction Writing (four sections) MAX: 15 students (each section)

Extracurricular activities for all sections:

Students are required to attend on-campus readings and colloquia sponsored by the Creative Writing Program outside of class time and are encouraged to attend any other activities sponsored by the Program.

Pre-requisite: None

Students must attend the first class to be enrolled in these workshops.

 

Sections:     ENROLLMENT IS NOW CLOSED FOR ALL SECTIONS

ENGCW 272W-1  Lee                        Monday 2:30-5:30

ENGCW 272W-2  Houck                    Tuesday 2:30-5:30    

ENGCW 272W-3  Skibell                   Wednesday 2:30-5:30  

ENGCW 272W-4  Yanique                 Thursday 2:30-5:30   

 

 

Lee's section:

Reckoning with Space

This is an introductory course on the art of fiction writing. We will explore some fundamental elements of fiction craft including characterization, plotting, setting and world-building, dialogue, scene development, beginnings, and endings. Students will create two new short stories, complete short writing exercises, and submit one revision and reflection essay to be included in a final portfolio.

This course takes its lead from fiction writers and decolonial theorists who argue that land holds memory. We will use this premise as a jumping off point for constructing stories through our direct and critical engagement with space and place. We will interrogate the spaces of fiction—those represented in text as well as the spaces in which fiction appears printed, chanted, or told—and explore the connection between spatial history and the dynamic stories we craft.

 

Text:

Matthew Salesses, Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping (Catapult, 2021)

 

Assessment:

Workshop comments 25%

Writing exercises 20%

Class participation 5%

Two short pieces of new fiction (5-25 pages each) 25%

Revision and portfolio 25%

 

Houck's section:

An introduction to the philosophy and practice of short literary fiction. Through exercises, discussion, readings and workshops, we will explore the challenges and possibilities of the short form. This class is dedicated to a model of learning-by-doing in which we will practice as writers, editors, and collaborators in a fiction-writing community. A significant portion of the semester will be dedicated to the writing workshop, for which students will be expected to write, submit, and discuss original works of short fiction with their peers. Selected readings will be provided digitally; students should budget for the cost of printing and copying for class. 

 

Texts:

Required: The Art and Craft of Fiction, 2nd edition, Michael Kardos

Readings and handouts from the instructor

 

Assessment:

Coursework will be collected in a Final Portfolio at the end of the year, which will account for the majority of a student’s grade. Portfolios will include drafts of workshopped stories and one (1) story selected for revision. Participation, attendance, and analytic assignments will also be assessed.

 

*Note: Work in the final portfolio will be graded normally, but workshopped drafts will not be receiving letter grades during the semester. They will instead be given a comprehensive feedback letter from the instructor, along with a ‘Draft-Stage Evaluation’ using the Early/Middle/Late system. This system has approximate letter-grade equivalents (Early and Early-Middle = C or below, Middle = C+ to B, Middle-Late = B to B+, and Late = A- to an A), but is meant to indicate how finished a story is, on its own terms and as a draft, rather than as a completed work. Feedback in this form (along with feedback from peers) is oriented towards the re-approach, revision and fine-tuning of students’ stories, and better emulates the real-world processes of practicing authors.

 

Skibell's section:

Course description: Our course will serve as a workshop into the form and structure of fiction writing for the beginning student. We will be working in a round-table workshop format. We will learn by doing. Topics covered will include:  

1) scene work; 2) POV; 3) plot vs. narrative; 4) beginning near the end; 5) characterization;  6) dramatic action, etc..  

 

Writing: Each student will write three short stories for the workshop. The first will be 7-9 pages in length; the second 8-12. As a final project, each student will write a 3- to 5-page story for the final class.  

 

Workshop: We will read and discuss each other’s stories. Through the process of speaking intelligently and generously about other people’s work, one hones one’s own narrative and dramatic sense. Each class member’s work will be discussed twice. Everyone is expected to participate in the roundtable discussions generously and openly.  

 

Reading each other’s work: One of the greatest benefits of the workshop is getting feedback from one’s peers. I encourage you all to be generous with one another on this score. Make honest and full-hearted and generous comments on the one another’s manuscripts, and be prepared to throw yourself into the class discussions. Each of you will get back what you give to your peers in this regard. 

 

Grading: I don’t feel it’s right to grade young writers on the quality of their work. Evaluating creative work is subjective at best. And so our class will work on a 100-point grading system. Attendance at our 13 classes is worth 2 points each for a total of 26% of your grade. (Miss a class, lose two points. Arrive 30 minutes late, lose 1/6 of a point, etc.) Your 28 peer responses, turned into Skibellresponse@gmail.com on time, are worth 1 point each for a total of 28% of your grade. (These will be time-stamped and strictly counted. Do not send other correspondence to this address.) Each story is 10 points each, and your proof of attendance at a two Creative Writing Reading Series event or other literary events is worth 2.5 points each.  This totals 89 points, which equals a B.  

The other 11% of your grade is my subjective evaluation of your performance, in class and on paper. This means, in essence, that by doing 100% of the work, you are guaranteed a B. My evaluation of the final 11% will consider: manifest effort, progress made from beginning to end, attitude to the class and the work, and other such intangibles as level of engagement, intellectual inquiry, curiosity, generosity, pro-activity, consistency, a positive attitude, as well as a Bell Curve comparison to your peers. Some students take ownership of a workshop, others seem less involved. If you want an A, make sure you take ownership of the class and that you compare favorably to the most involved students.

 

Textbooks: none

 

Yanique's section:

Making People: Empathy and Expertise

This is an introductory course on the art of fiction writing.  We will focus on elements of craft such as character development, narrative control, dialogue, scene development, setting, structure, openings and endings.  We will engage with fiction writing as always about creating human beings with histories, bodies, and social realities; as always about creating a world anew for an audience; and as always a form of communication with an ongoing humanity—be it dead writers, current beloveds, future anonymous readers or one’s own self.  Students will come to understand the fiction workshop as a place to face fears, biases and the limitations of the imagination all via practice and hard work. Students will come to see fiction as a place to communicate as writers and critics.  Students come to see fiction writing and critical reading as a place to engage bravely and vulnerably with grief, joy and the full range of human emotions between. 

 

Texts:

Telling Tales ed. by Nadine Gordimer

Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid

Selected stories handed out by the professor

 

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on four elements of the course, as listed below.  Each aspect of the class will be weighed equally at 25%. Students must perform with excellence on all elements of the course to receive an A-.  Excellence is defined by the professor.  Students performing very well will receive a grade on the B to B+ scale.  Students performing well will receive a grade on the C+ to B- scale.  Students performing mediocrely will receive a grade on the D to C scale. Students performing inadequately will be asked to leave the class or they will receive an F grade. The A grade is reserved for students who exceed the professor’s expectations.

You may miss one class without excuse or consequence.  Missing two classes will result in one half-reduction of your overall grade.  Missing three classes will result in the one full reduction of your overall grade.  Missing more than three classes will earn you an F, and removal from the class.  This is a seminar class; we all need you to be physically and fully present.

No assignments are accepted late or by email unless clearly stated in the syllabus.  Late assignments will be graded as a zero.

 

ENGCW 370RW Intermediate Fiction

ENGCW 370RW: Creative Writing: Intermediate Fiction (two sections) MAX: 15 students (each section)

Note regarding application to this course:

  • Pre-requisite: Any 200-level Creative Writing workshop (ENGCW 270W, 271W, 272W)
  • Applications must include a 10-15-page fiction writing sample
  • Applications must be submitted in Word format as ONE document with writing sample included

Extracurricular activities for both sections:

Students are required to attend readings and colloquia sponsored by the Creative Writing Program outside of class time and are encouraged to attend any other activities sponsored by the Program.

Students, including those on the waitlist, must attend the first class to be enrolled in this workshop.

 

Sections:   ENROLLMENT IS NOW CLOSED FOR BOTH SECTIONS

ENGCW 370RW-1  Sathian           Tuesday 2:30-5:30  

ENGCW 370RW-2  Houck             Wednesday 2:30-5:30  

 

 

Sathian's section:

Content:

Now that you have reached the intermediate level of your college fiction writing journey, it’s time to start talking about genre. What kind of writer do you want to be? Are you drawn to sensitive psychological realism, character driven stories, and quiet epiphanies? Do you enjoy playing with form and voice, writing stories told entirely in text message or monologue? Do you like horror, science fiction, or magical realism? Or are you a fan of several of the above genres? What about your voice—are you a serious writer, a funny writer, or both? 

This class is about understanding how many ways there are to write great fiction, as seen through the lens of short stories. We’ll read several types of stories at the start of the semester, and you will (with luck) begin to discover your “literary ancestry,” the writers who shape and influence you. In doing so, you’ll also (again, with luck) begin to shape your own voice, style, and concerns.

This is also primarily a workshop class, which means you will be turning in your writing and discussing it with your classmates.

Students will be graded on the quality of their writing, including grammar, style, flow, and narrative success. Some of this is subjective and will be determined by the instructor.

Lastly, this class will deal in revision, because most of writing is just revising what you have already written, over and over and over again. As Philip Roth put it in The Ghost Writer, “I turn sentences around. That’s my life. I write a sentence and then I turn it around. Then I look at it and turn it around again.”

 

Text:

Roget's Thesaurus, 8th Edition | ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062843737

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062843739

 

 

Houck's section:

Intermediate Fiction Writing is a workshop studio course focused on the craft and development of short, literary fiction. Students will read short stories published by a diverse set of innovative contemporary authors weekly, and be asked to produce at least two original stories for peer review and assessment. Other coursework includes short exercises and craft-focused analysis. Our course theme will be on the relationship between form and meaning in fiction – thus we will read and practice structurally innovative short stories. Students are expected to be present and engaged in class discussion, to incorporate acquired skills and concepts into their writing, and to participate an active literary community of their peers.

 

Texts

Required:

  • One (1) edition of The Best American Short Stories anthology – specific editions will be individually assigned to students after the initial class; students will purchase their specific edition (ranging between 2005 and 2021, respectively) and read it asynchronously during the semester in support of a short analysis essay.
  • Weekly readings and handouts from the instructor

 

**Non-required texts:  

  • The Half-Known World: On Writing Fiction, Robert Boswell, Graywolf Press 2008
  • Now Write!, Later Printing Edition, Sherry Ellis, ed., Penguin 2006
  • The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers, John Gardner, Vintage Books 1991
  • Narrative Design: Working with Imagination, Craft and Form, Madison Smart Bell, W. W. Norton 1997
  • Burning Down the House: Essays on Fiction (Expanded Edition), Charles Baxter, Graywolf Press 2008
  • The Elements of Style (Third Edition), William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, Allyn & Bacon 1995

 

**Non-required texts offer writing resources outside the classroom, and source many of the concepts we engage with during the semester

 

Assessment:

Coursework will be collected in a Final Portfolio at the end of the year, which will account for the majority of a student’s grade. Portfolios will include drafts of workshopped stories and selected revisions. Participation, attendance, and analytic assignments will also be assessed.

*Note: Final work will be graded normally, but workshopped drafts will not be receiving letter grades during the semester. They will instead be given a comprehensive feedback letter from the instructor, along with a ‘Draft-Stage Evaluation’ using the Early/Middle/Late system. This system has approximate letter-grade equivalents (Early and Early-Middle = C or below, Middle = C+ to B, Middle-Late = B to B+, and Late = A- to an A), but is meant to indicate how finished a story is, on its own terms and in terms of its potential. Feedback in this form (along with feedback from peers) is oriented towards the re-approach, revision and fine-tuning of students’ stories, and better emulates the real-world processes of practicing authors.

ENGCW 371RW Intermediate Poetry

ENGCW 371RW: Creative Writing: Intermediate Poetry          MAX: 15 students 

Note regarding application to this course:

  • Pre-requisite: Any 200-level Creative Writing workshop (ENGCW 270W, 271W, 272W)
  • Applications must include a writing sample of 3-4 poems, each on a separate page
  • Applications must be submitted in Word format as ONE document with writing sample included

Extracurricular activities:

Students are required to attend readings and colloquia sponsored by the Creative Writing Program outside of class time and are encouraged to attend any other activities sponsored by the Program.

Students, including those on the waitlist, must attend the first class to be enrolled in this workshop.

 

ENGCW 371RW-1  Christle        Tuesday 2:30-5:30    ENROLLMENT IS NOW CLOSED

 

Content:

This is an intermediate, intensive workshop in which you will read, discuss, create, revise, and otherwise experience an abundance of poetry. We will seek, in our meetings, to make connections between the language and ideas of poetry and those of the worlds we inhabit. Together we will develop and expand a shared vocabulary in which poems can be made, read, understood, furthered, and enjoyed. You will read five full-length poetry collections, as well as an abundance of other texts (posted to Canvas) including poems, essays, and other materials in order to familiarize yourself with the breadth of possibilities and traditions from which you might draw. The Creative Writing Program is hosting three readings this semester, and your presence will be required at all of them.

Writing assignments will include one new poem each week, in-class exercises, an imitation-based response to one of the assigned texts, and a final portfolio, which will include revised poems and an introductory essay.

Highly engaged, curious, respectful participation in discussion of classmates’ work, assigned texts, and other conversations is required. In varying forms over the course of the semester you will receive a combination of feedback from both myself and your peers, which you will use as you revise.

An openness to experimenting with new forms of reading, writing, and attention will buoy your work.

 

Texts:

  • Li-Young Lee, Rose 
  • Cathy Park Hong, Engine Empire 
  • Nuar Alsadir, Fourth Person Singular 
  • Chessy Normile, Great Exodus, Great Wall, Great Party 
  • William Carlos Williams, Spring & All 

 

Assessment:

Your writing of weekly poems (15%)
Class participation (20%)
Individual conferences and attendance at CW events (10%)
Imitation poem assignment (15%)
Your final portfolio of revised poems (30%)
Your portfolio’s introductory essay (10%)

 

ENGCW 373RW Advanced Fiction

ENGCW 373RW: Creative Writing: Advanced Fiction       MAX: 15 students

 

Note regarding application to this course:

  • Pre-requisite: an A or A- in ENGCW 370RW Intermediate Fiction
  • Writing sample of 10-15 pages of fiction submitted with the application in ONE Word document

Extracurricular activities:

Students are required to attend readings and colloquia sponsored by the Creative Writing Program outside of class time and are encouraged to attend any other activities sponsored by the Program.

Students, including those on the waitlist, must attend the first class to be enrolled in this workshop.

 

ENGCW 373RW-1  Yanique     Tuesday 2:30-5:30    ENROLLMENT IS NOW CLOSED

 

Learning and Mastery 

This is an advanced course on the art of fiction writing.  In this course you will be pushed to answer the questions: Why write?  What is this story for? Is this narrative needed?  We will consider the ethical demands of creating human beings, placing them into scenes, and setting them off into plots. Students will create personal cannons, and begin to consider their own place in the literary traditions.  We will pay close attention to the craft of fiction writing as a way to participant profoundly in being human.  The course design will be created in response to the cannons you create, the craft concerns you present, and your own submitted writing throughout the class.  In this way, we will be group of writers addressing our strengths, weakness and curiosities together. 

 

Texts:

Selected pieces handed out by the professor

Selected pieces handed out by students

Events announced by the professor

  

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on three elements of the course, as listed below.  Each aspect of the class will be weighed equally.  Students must perform with excellence on all elements of the course to receive an A-.  Excellence is defined by the professor.  This is an advanced class, and thus excellence is expected.  Students performing very well will receive a grade on the B to B+ scale.  Students performing less than very well will be asked to leave the course, or they will receive an F grade. The A grade is reserved for students who exceed the professor’s expectations.

All assignments must be typed in standard format and font (exceptions being work in which non-standard format and font is part of the narrative). 

All assignments must be handed in via hard copy at the start of the class on the day due.

No assignments are accepted late or by email.  Late assignments will be graded as a zero. 

Students may have one absence without excuse or consequence.  A second absence will result in the reduction of a full grade.  Three absences will result in failure of the class, and the student will be asked to leave.  Two lates count as one absence. 

ENGCW 374RW Advanced Poetry

ENGCW 374RW: Creative Writing: Advanced Poetry     MAX: 15 students 

Note regarding application to this course:

  • Pre-requisite: an A or A- in ENGCW 371RW Intermediate Poetry
  • Writing sample of 3-4 poems (on separate pages) submitted with the application in ONE Word document

Extracurricular activities:

Students are required to attend readings and colloquia sponsored by the Creative Writing Program outside of class time and are encouraged to attend any other activities sponsored by the Program.

 

ENGCW 374RW-1       Christle      Thursday 2:30-5:30    ENROLLMENT IS NOW CLOSED

 

Content:

This course is intended for students with a serious commitment to poetry, and a strong belief in their ability to learn among a community of people whose work will both overlap with and differ from their own. Students will strive for excellence and excitement in the regular composition and revision of new poems, as well as an ever-broadening sense of the possibilities of our art. In addition to posting poems for workshop, students will provide context for their creative work, sharing influential texts and ideas, in order to deepen the class’s collective ability to understand where their poems are coming from, and where they might be headed. Readings will include full-length poetry collections and essays on craft. Each student will be responsible for guiding discussion of one book (with a partner), and attendance at all Creative Writing Reading Series events is required.

 

Texts:

Feeld by Jos Charles

Passion by June Jordan

The Babies by Sabrina Orah Mark

Voyager by Srikanth Reddy

The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke by Rainer Maria Rilke, Stephen Mitchell (translator)

 

Assessment:

Writing (40%)
15% Weekly poems (complete/incomplete)
15% Portfolio of revised poems (graded)
10% Where you’re headed essay (graded)
 
Reading (35%)
10% Opening comments on classmates’ poems (graded)
5% Annotations on classmates’ poems (graded)*
10% Book introduction (graded)
5% Prompt composition based on assigned books (complete/incomplete)
5% Creative Writing Reading Series attendance (complete/incomplete)
 
Participation (25%)
5% Where you’re coming from packet (complete/incomplete)
15% Active engagement in discussions and other in-class activities (graded)
5% Two individual conferences (complete/incomplete)

 

ENGCW/THEA 375RW Advanced Playwriting/Drama

ENGCW/THEA 375RW-1: Creative Writing: Advanced Playwriting (Drama)

MAX: 15 students (ENGCW: 10/THEA: 5)

 

Note regarding application to this course:

  • Pre-requisite: an A or A- in ENGCW/THEA 372RW Intermediate Playwriting
  • Writing sample of 10 pages of dramatic writing submitted with the application in ONE Word document. Plays are preferred, but submit any type of dramatic writing that best represents your voice.

 

Extracurricular activities:

Students are required to attend readings and colloquia sponsored by the Creative Writing Program outside of class time and are encouraged to attend any other activities sponsored by the Program.

 

ENGCW/THEA 375RW-1       Belflower      Monday 2:30-5:30  ENROLLMENT IS NOW CLOSED 

 

Content: Students will generate, workshop, and revise a full-length play.  

This is an intensive workshop in which you will conceptualize, generate, and workshop long one-act or full-length plays (minimum 60 pages).

This is NOT a place to expand or revise an already-existing script. We are collectively starting at the beginning (a very good place to start). Adaptations are not allowed; riffs might be (let’s talk about it).

The assumption is that you already know how to write a play by gaining entry into this course.

Our goal this semester is to push that knowledge further and expand the scope of your work.

 

Texts: none

 

Assessment: This class will be graded on a 500-point scale. [breakdown on syllabus]   

ENGCW 376RW Creative Nonfiction

ENGCW 376RW-1: Creative Nonfiction: Nonfiction Magazine and Long-form Writing

MAX: 15 students

 

Notes regarding application to this course:

  • Pre-requisite: Any 200-level Creative Writing workshop (ENGCW 270W, 271W, 272W)
  • Applications must be submitted in Word format as ONE document with writing sample included
  • Students must provide some evidence they have done journalistic and/or nonfiction writing (they should attach a writing sample of 6-10 pages of prose or journalistic writing to their application) or explain in a short (3-page) essay what motivates them to seek a course that emphasizes that genre. This course is not open to first-year students.

 

Klibanoff     Tuesday 2:30-5:30 

 

Content:

This workshop is focused on long form, nonfiction magazine and feature writing -- reading it, reporting it, writing it, and doing so in ways and by means that separate the exceptional from the pedestrian. This is nonfiction. Be prepared to be a reporter, to meet people face-to-face, to ask questions, to see and hear things with your own eyes and ears. We’ll have visiting experts on hand as we discuss where great ideas come from, how to be strategic in your reporting, the art of the interview, and crafting stories, then stories within stories. We're looking mostly at print, but we will see beyond the dead tree media at the growing opportunities for magazine-style writing and long-form narratives online. Ultimately, the goal of the course is for you to become a considerably wiser and more effective nonfiction story-teller, for which the basis is sound reporting. Students should budget for photocopying.

 

Textbook:

Storycraft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction, Jack Hart (2nd edition)

 

Assessment:

This course in magazine and feature writing requires students to report, report and report (which means interviewing people, conducting research, observing people, situations) and to write complete stories in a narrative, journalistic style that meets high standards for clarity, accuracy, story-telling and ethics. Students will be assessed primarily on their engagement in effective, ethical reporting (gathering of information) for magazine and feature stories, and on the overall development of their reporting skills; on the development of their narrative writing as they seek the ultimate goal: to produce publishable work; on class participation, and on the quality of their responses to assignments.

 

Extracurricular activities:

Students are required to attend on-campus readings and colloquia sponsored by the Creative Writing Program outside of class time.

ENGCW/FILM 378RW: Screenwriting

ENGCW/FILM 378RW-2: Screenwriting      MAX: 15 students (ENGCW: 10/FILM: 5)

Note: Screenwriting section 1 and Advanced Screenwriting 379RW-1 are taught by Professor Conway of Film and Media Studies. No Creative Writing application required.

Writing sample required: any writing but preferably prose narrative.

PRE-REQUISITE: Screenwriting applicants must have taken one of these classes:
 
ENGCW 270W Introduction to Creative Writing
ENGCW 271W Introduction to Poetry Writing
ENGCW 272W Introduction to Fiction Writing
FILM 101 Introduction to Film (formerly FILM 270)

 

ENGCW/FILM 378RW-2       Skibell       Monday    2:30-5:30

 

Content:

Our course will serve as an introduction into the form and structure of screenwriting. Screenwriting is a highly technical and peculiarly limited form of narrative and, in the course of our workshop, we will cover its rules, its structure and its glory. We will learn by doing, and some of our essential topics will include an understanding of: 1) scene work; 2) plot vs. narrative; 3) beginning near the end; 4) characterization; 5) dramatic action, etc. 

Writing: Each student will write three short screenplays for the workshop. The first will be 10-12 pages in length; the second 12-18. As a final project, each student will write a 5-page screenplay. Because screenwriting is all about concision, we will avoid writing full-length screenplays for the time being and concentrate instead on the shorter (and in many ways more demanding) form. 

 

Typically, short screenplays concentrate on a small cast of characters. For the purposes of our workshop, in which we will all be reading roles in one another’s screenplays, and because in a longer work, it’s easier to create uninteresting “functionary” characters, rather than interesting “round” and complete characters, I strongly recommend each writer limit their conception of plot and their cast of characters.  

 

Texts: Will be hand-outs. 

 

Grading:

I will not be grading the aesthetic quality of your work. Rather I will be evaluating and judging the manifest effort in and integrity of your work. No grade will be assigned to your screenplays-in-progress. The breakdown will be (30%) for doing your written work; (30%) for your workshop participation, and (30%) for your final presentation; (10%) for miscellaneous things. 

 

ENGCW 389W/FILM/THEA 385W Special Topics: Introduction to Dramatic Writing

ENGCW 389W-1: Special Topics: Introduction to Dramatic Writing 

Crosslisted with FILM 385W-1 and THEA 385W-1

MAX: 15 students (ENGCW: 5/FILM: 5/THEA: 5)

Notes regarding application to this course:

  • Pre-requisite: none
  • Writing sample to be submitted with the application in ONE Word document: short play (10 pages or fewer), or two to four poems, or a short screenplay sample if possible. If you don’t have any of those, 5 pages max of fiction is acceptable. 
  • This counts as a 300-level workshop instead of an Introduction class.

 

Students must attend the first class to be enrolled in this workshop. 

  

Tabaque    Thursday   2:30-5:30      NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

 

Content:

This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of dramatic writing for the stage and screen, specifically short form plays and the 30-minute television pilot. We will examine the different dynamics at play when writing for bodies in performance through analysis of contemporary texts and virtual media. We will produce a substantial portfolio of individual short works as well as complete an extended unit that focuses on collaboration and mimics a professional television writers room. Our composition will be supplemented by analytical discussion and written reflection on the work of writers in the field of television and theater right now. Attendance to department readings, performances, and watching of assigned streaming shows outside of class meetings will be required.

 

Texts:

No required text. Readings will be made available on Canvas and will consist of a selection of plays, teleplays, and short film scripts from a variety of working writers.

 

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on their demonstrated understanding of dramatic technique, ability to write with intention and artistry, willingness to give and receive targeted feedback, as well as their adaptation, respect, and commitment to learning collaborative writing practices. Highest grades will be given to students who make extraordinary progress in their composition over the course of the semester, approach their analytical assignments with the same rigor and creativity as their writing exercises, and participate generously in group writing assignments and group discussion. Students who need substantial correction either in the shaping of dramatic work, the meeting of class deadlines, or feedback given to other writers will receive lower grades.

ENGCW 495RW Honors

ENGCW 495RW Honors

Permission required: Accepted Honors students only.

Pre-requisite: Approval of project by Honors thesis director.

Please review Honors application guidelines at http://creativewriting.emory.edu/home/academics/honors-program.html