Creative Writing

This ten-week online Grammar Lab course is skillfully designed to meet the needs of all students. It is beneficial for those with little grammar experience and advantageous for those with a strong grammar background seeking expert status. Whether you are looking to gain a solid foundation in grammar or hoping to refresh your knowledge with today’s most recent rules of grammar and English usage, this course will provide you with the opportunity to discover and focus more on those areas that you specifically need to review, and less on those that you have already mastered. In this class,...

Creative writing begins when the spark of an idea ignites the fuel of language. The writer picks up a pen or presses fingers to the keyboard and begins to transform an idea into a story or a poem, an essay or novel, or any of a dozen other shapes. For those who would like to travel the road of creative writing, this class offers a map for the journey. Through the exploration of a wide variety of writing forms and styles, you will discover and develop a stronger sense of yourself as a writer. According to Ernest Hemingway, “The only kind of writing is rewriting,” and in this class you will...

Whether you are writing short fiction, a novel, or memoir, characters are what draw your reader in and make them care enough to read on. This course offers methods for creating three-dimensional characters that your readers will react to, relate to and remember. You will acquire a toolkit of exercises to help you develop or more clearly define both primary and secondary characters. Exercises and assignments will help you fill a notebook with character sketches and scenes, and help you start a chapter or short story featuring your most unforgettable character.

Within you there dwells an innate sense of storytelling and a unique voice with which to tell your stories. In this course you will explore writing techniques to help you locate and refine the "natural music" of your own voice. Through writing exercises and heavy journaling you will learn how to unearth the stories that want to be told. We will cover the role of conflict in creating stories, setting, description, revision, proofreading, and how to sustain the writing process. Expect to fill pages and pages in your writer's notebook with story seedlings, character sketches, monologues and...

­­­Literary criticism is not a form of negatively critiquing a writing piece, but rather conscientiously and carefully analyzing written works through various lenses. Reading and critiquing are possibly the only ways for writers to know how their writing sounds to readers and critics alike. This class will create a safe, collaborative space where students will learn to give and receive thoughtful, objective, and constructive feedback so they may effectively convey their desired messages and reach their intended audiences. In this course, whether you're writing fiction or nonfiction, we will...

In the 19th century, a strange marriage of art, literature, science, and psychology catapulted society’s obsession with the archetypal madwoman into the mainstream. Pathologies that had once been used to portray the outré now came to be seen as essential characteristics of all women, casting ideological shadows well into the 21st century. Students will go beyond the confines of literature alone to investigate this unique commingling of ingredients—the fictional madwoman, the pictorial madwoman, scientific theories concerning gender, medical documents, written testimonies of asylum inmates,...

Gender is infinitely more intricate than the biological question of sex. Uncover the cultural, social and political implications of gender identity in three powerful works. Kiss of the Spider Woman, by Argentine writer Manuel Puig, delves into themes of sexuality, morality, constructs of beauty and escapism while readers follow the discussions and discoveries between a Marxist revolutionary and a homosexual window-dresser as they share a prison cell for six months. Discover the gender-bending, century-crossing Orlando, by Virginia Woolf, and navigate the age-old question as to whether...

Ernest Hemingway wrote “All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse.” One of the most influential writers of the 20th century, he has given us just that: A front-row seat at his musings on war, love, masculinity, morality, alcoholism, the American abroad, and the aimlessness of the lost generation. Through round-table discussions of The Sun Also Rises, A Movable Feast, and the short...

Explore this Unique Take on Immigration Stories Immigration has once again taken center stage in the national spotlight, giving artists, writers and thinkers another opportunity to consider and help reimagine the complex possibilities and outcomes of intermingling human perspectives from a creative standpoint. It is often said that the U.S. is a nation of immigrants, whose various cultural backgrounds have helped shape what America is. This course centers thematically around the immigration stations of Ellis Island on the East Coast and Angel Island on the West Coast. We will explore the...

Famous, and infamous, for his brilliant turn of phrase, seething social commentary and flamboyant personality, Oscar Wilde was the toast of the literary world throughout the 1880’s and 1890’s. Join us for an in-depth exploration of three of his most popular works. Laugh out loud at his farcical comedy, The Importance of Being Ernest, a play about superficial love, mistaken identities and cucumber sandwiches. Investigate such concepts as extravagance, beauty-as-commodity, morality, and the difference between art and culture in The Picture of Dorian Grey, Wilde’s late-Victorian Gothic novel....

Gain a deep understanding of the history of children's literature by studying classics of post-enlightenment writing for children. This course provides children’s book writers, illustrators and enthusiasts alike an essential exploration of the development of children’s literature over time, while also providing benchmarks for critiquing one’s own work. Reading will include several masterpieces in the genre. Learning Objectives: Analyze children/young adult literary texts within historical & cultural contexts through discussions and written assignments. Learn about the multiple literary...

10 WEEKS | ONLINE Course Overview: This course is designed for students who wish to expand their fiction writing and explore the realms of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror in innovative ways. Students will learn to refine their skills in speculative fiction writing, focusing on essential storytelling techniques such as world-building, character development, pacing, and atmosphere. Throughout the course, students will understand how to craft immersive worlds, skillfully subvert genre tropes, and balance familiar conventions with fresh ideas. Valuable insights into the publishing world are also...

Many of us have had fascinating lives, whether lived inwardly or outwardly, during childhood long ago or in the past decade. But when it comes to writing a memoir, where do we begin? The day of our birth? The day we left home? The beginning or end of a marriage? Memoir is most successful when it is not the "story of a life" but a focused part of that life: a dozen summers spent working on a grandfather's farm; a long relationship with a dying relative; the first year of law school. In this course, students will explore methods for planning and focusing on what their memoirs should be. Use...

The ability to edit your own written work is a skill that's highly valued by employers and publishers. This class focuses on strengthening your writing for the web using journalistic techniques. Whether you want to create blog content, feature articles, or marketing copy, it is essential to organize your writing in logical, clear, and engaging ways. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to recognize good writing, critique their own work, write clean copy, and edit content for optimal readability.

The goal of this course is to introduce you to the purpose of journalism and the fundamentals of news and featue writing. In this ever-changing media landscape, one thing can remain constant: an individual reporter's professionalism. This course is intended to help students learn to develop story ideas, cultivate sources, practice interviewing techniques, and craft and structure compelling articles. Journalism ethical standards are covered and provide a valuable guideline for best practices.

Effective interviewing techniques translate to writing that is clear, lively, and – depending on the writer's mission – instructive or entertaining. This course will encompass all the integral components of the interviewing process, including preparation, one-on-one dynamics, comparing interview styles, how to take useful notes, asking the right questions, coaxing interesting quotes from interviewees and using quotes effectively in a feature story. Students will participate in interviewing and writing exercises in class and complete a major interview/writing assignment out of class.  

Have you ever told yourself that someday you will write a children's book? Now's your chance! Join us as we demystify the writing process and examine the wide variety of books offered to children: picture books, easy readers, early chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, children's magazines, fiction and nonfiction. If you want to write for children but don't know where to start, this course is for you. It reveals the best way to choose an idea, how to benefit from critique to improve your revisions, and how to write a catchy query letter or intriguing cover letter to...

Let the wild rumpus begin! Do you dream of imaginary lands and mythical creatures? Learn how to inspire a child's imagination by giving them the tools necessary to explore the world around them. The well-written picture book entertains the child while developing their reading skills. In this course you'll learn about writing for children and you'll be asked to write and revise several picture book manuscripts. There will be an opportunity to read your work (in-class) and to discuss and critique the work of other students. We will discuss the needs of the illustrator, how to approach...

Revision is the key to improving your work to reach the next level: publication. But often the hardest part is to figure out which words to cut, which to leave in, and how to tighten up the rest. This writing course will concentrate on revision through sharing your work - picture books, easy readers, nonfiction books, and novels - for constructive feedback from classmates and the instructor. What You Will Learn: Deep dive into the revision process. Tips on writing techniques. How the submission process works for publication. How to provide and receive critique via in-class exercises....

Discover how successful middle grade and young adult books are crafted, and begin to plot out and write a tale of your own. In this course, we will consider how a plot works, what makes a compelling character, and what drives a reader forward. Students will participate in an online critique group and have an opportunity to get their first five pages reviewed.

The market for children’s nonfiction and informational books and articles has never been better. In this course, which can be taken by those familiar with writing for children and those just beginning, students will learn about the needs and trends within nonfiction work for children ages 3-12 – magazines, trade books, school-library publishers, and book packagers. Students will gain practice researching nonfiction topics and writing for the various markets, as well as examining the variety of writing styles that can be used to write about individual topics. Topics covered in the course...

Amy Lowell wrote, "No one expects a man to make a chair without first learning how, but there is a popular impression that the poet is born, not made, and that his verses burst from his overflowing heart of themselves. As a matter of fact, the poet must learn his trade in the same manner, and with the same painstaking care, as the cabinet-maker." Let’s look at poetry from a designer’s perspective. As a designer of poetry, we are charged with creating works of beauty that sometimes fall within certain parameters such as: What does this “space” need? What do I want to “say” here? What are my...

As writers, we are the witness and voice of our time, and as such, we are invited to translate what we experience to share and celebrate with the generations to come. This course invites you to develop your writing while reconnecting with Mother Nature, or as author Bill Plotkin says, "grow deeper into our human nature". We will immerse ourselves in the contemplations of writers who have spent their life close to the heartbeat of Mother Nature. Through the examples of their offerings, your own discoveries in the inner and outer composition of your landscapes, you will shape writing that...

There a many avenues to building a business around writing. In this short course we will briefly discuss various possibilities including becoming a book author, “freelance” writer for hire, or journalist/article writer. You will learn how to develop a business mindset, determine the best writing path for you, and create a sustainable business.