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Creative Writing

CREA E-1 Introduction to Creative Writing (23321)

Spring term

Jill McDonough, MA, Author.

Class times: Wednesdays beginning Jan. 27, 7:35-9:35 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Course taught via live web conference.

Limited enrollment.

If you want to jumpstart your writing, if you do not want to have to choose between writing poetry and prose, or if you would like a basic overview of what different genres can accomplish, this is the course for you. In this online course, we create a supportive environment for exploring and sharing all aspects of creative writing. Starting with short exercises, students try their hands at writing and revising stories, personal essays, and poems. We work together to construct assignments, to help you get at what you want to write, to discover your style, your voice, and the genre that best expresses what you wish to say. We read short pieces by contemporary poets and writers and discuss voice, form, language, and plot. These readings, peer support, and individualized assignments help you develop a collection of polished pieces you can be proud of at the end of the course. (4 credits)

CREA E-20 Introduction to Memoir

Fall term (12750)

Sanford Kaye, MA, Professor of English, Curry College.

Class times: Tuesdays beginning Sept. 1, 7:35-9:35 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Limited enrollment.

Spring term (22787)

*** CREA E-20 Spring term (22787) has been CANCELED. ***

This is an introductory course for those interested in autobiographical writing. We explore the possibilities of the medium, the uses of narration and reflection, the changing shape of memories, and the distinctions between the private, personal, and public from the standpoints of material and audience. There is assigned writing for each class meeting, and students submit a final portfolio of their revised work. (4 credits)

CREA E-22 Introduction to Creative Nonfiction (13379)

Fall term

Gregory A. Harris, MFA, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School.

Class times: Wednesdays beginning Sept. 2, 7:35-9:35 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Limited enrollment.

How can nonfiction also be creative? In this course, we look at writing that is inventive rather than invented, examining and imitating the tactics writers use and the risks they take to convey what happened, what is happening, and what they hope or fear will happen. Writing and rewriting (reportage, cultural critique, literary response, opinion, memoir) form a key part of the course. (4 credits)

CREA E-23 Fiction Workshop: Story Origins (23188)

Spring term

Gregory A. Harris, MFA, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School.

Class times: Wednesdays beginning Jan. 27, 7:35-9:35 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Limited enrollment.

Does everyone have a story to tell? Why just one—why not 200? Or an infinite number? What if we could see the story in every human moment—and tell it with passion? This workshop focuses on story origins. We spend part of the semester learning new techniques to get stories started and new ways of looking at the very nature of storytelling. We read what different authors have to say about where stories come from, and what different journals seem to look for in stories. We consider a great volume of published fiction, to see what makes a plot or character compelling. In the last six weeks of the term, we finish some of the stories we have started, and work on polishing them into completed, publishable works. (4 credits)

CREA E-25 Introduction to Fiction Writing

Fall term, section 1 (13120)

Christopher S. Gleason, PhD, Associate Professor of English, Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Class times: Mondays beginning Aug. 31, 7:35-9:35 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Limited enrollment.

Fall term, section 2 (11133)

Philip Gambone, MA, Instructor in English, Boston University Academy.

Class times: Wednesdays beginning Sept. 2, 5:30-7:30 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Limited enrollment.

Fall term, section 3 (13315)

Christopher S. Mooney, MA.

Class times: Thursdays beginning Sept. 3, 5:30-7:30 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Limited enrollment.

Spring term, section 1 (22507)

Sarah Braunstein, MFA.

Class times: Mondays beginning Jan. 25, 5:30-7:30 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Limited enrollment.

Spring term, section 2 (23177)

William Weitzel, PhD, Preceptor in Expository Writing, Harvard University.

Class times: Thursdays beginning Jan. 28, 5:30-7:30 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Limited enrollment.

A workshop for writers with little or no experience in writing fiction. The class focuses on the elements of fiction: dialogue, voice, image, character, point of view, and structure. Students are asked to read and discuss fiction by major writers, to critique each other's work, and to write and revise at least one short story. Requirements also include several short writing exercises. (4 credits)

CREA E-30 Introduction to Poetry Writing

Fall term (12600)

Zachary C. Sifuentes, MFA, Preceptor in Expository Writing, Harvard University.

Class times: Thursdays beginning Sept. 3, 7:35-9:35 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Limited enrollment.

Spring term (22188)

Laurie Ann Rosenblatt, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.

Class times: Mondays beginning Jan. 25, 5:30-7:30 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Limited enrollment.

In this introductory workshop, students have the opportunity to develop a sound foundation for writing poems with greater know-how and conviction. Weekly meetings are mainly devoted to discussing student work, paying close attention to the essential workings of language and syntax, rhythm and measure, and image and metaphor. Along with composing poems that grow out of exercises, imitations, and individual affinities, students select an anthology poem to memorize and recite in class, become better acquainted with instrumental poetic terms and forms, and help one another develop a sharper ear for the sound and sense of prosody and versification. (4 credits)

CREA E-45 Beginning Screenwriting

Fall term (13116)

Susan Steinberg, PhD, Filmmaker.

Class times: Tuesdays beginning Sept. 1, 5:30-7:30 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Limited enrollment.

Spring term (22865)

Wayne Wilson, MFA, Screenwriter.

Class times: Wednesdays beginning Jan. 27, 7:35-9:35 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Limited enrollment.

This course is an introduction to the craft of writing a script for an original motion-picture screenplay with emphasis on story structure, character, and the language of film. Students study produced screenplays; write exercises in character development, scene construction, dialogue, and description; and are expected to complete a treatment and the first act of an original screenplay. (4 credits)

CREA E-50 Intermediate Fiction Writing

Fall term (12928)

Debbie Danielpour Chapel, MFA, Assistant Professor of Film and Television, Boston University.

Class times: Thursdays beginning Sept. 3, 5:30-7:30 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Limited enrollment.

Spring term (23286)

Christopher S. Mooney, MA.

Class times: Thursdays beginning Jan. 28, 5:30-7:30 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100.

Limited enrollment.

A workshop for writers with experience in writing fiction. Students learn techniques of the form by discussing their work, as well as the assigned readings, in a small group setting. The course assumes familiarity with major fiction writers and fundamental craft concepts. Prerequisite: a college-level creative writing course or permission of the instructor. Students should bring a sample of their own fiction (10 pages or fewer) to the first class. (4 credits)

CREA E-100r Advanced Fiction Writing

Fall term (11998)

Paul L. Harding, MFA, Author.

Class times: Mondays beginning Aug. 31, 7:35-9:35 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100, graduate credit $1,800.

Limited enrollment.

Spring term, section 1 (22613)

Suzanne Berne, MFA, Author and Adjunct Lecturer on English, Boston College.

Class times: Mondays beginning Jan. 25, 7:35-9:35 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100, graduate credit $1,800.

Limited enrollment.

Spring term, section 2 (23196)

Christopher S. Gleason, PhD, Associate Professor of English, Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Class times: Wednesdays beginning Jan. 27, 7:35-9:35 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100, graduate credit $1,800.

Limited enrollment.

This is an intensive workshop in the craft of writing short fiction for students who have read widely among past and contemporary masters of short fiction and who are accomplished in the elements of prose composition (mechanics, syntax, and structure). Students are expected to produce two new short stories (10 to 20 pages each) and to revise them during the term. Prerequisite: an intermediate-level writing workshop. Students should bring a 10-page sample of their work to the first class. (4 credits)

CREA E-105r Writing the Novel (22894)

Spring term

William J. Holinger, MA, Director, Secondary School Program, Harvard Summer School.

Class times: Tuesdays beginning Jan. 26, 5:30-7:30 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100, graduate credit $1,800.

Limited enrollment.

This is an advanced fiction-writing course for novelists. We discuss process, form, and structure, as well as techniques of fiction, such as narration and characterization, as they relate specifically to the novel. Class meetings run mainly as workshops: students respond to one another's work. Prerequisites: students should have completed other fiction writing courses, and a novel should be under way when the semester begins. Students should bring a brief outline or synopsis of their novel-in-progress to the first class. (4 credits)

CREA E-110r Advanced Poetry Writing (22679)

Spring term

Zachary C. Sifuentes, MFA, Preceptor in Expository Writing, Harvard University.

Class times: Thursdays beginning Jan. 28, 7:35-9:35 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100, graduate credit $1,800.

Limited enrollment.

In this intensive poetry workshop students refine their craft through critiques of their own work and discussions of other poems, poets, and poetry. The course focuses on writing as a process, with the aim of enhancing work through revision. Students are expected to produce new work. Prerequisite: an intermediate poetry course, or permission of the instructor. (4 credits)

CREA E-120r Advanced Screenwriting (13211)

Fall term

Christine Evans, PhD, Briggs-Copeland Lecturer on English, Harvard University.

Class times: Mondays beginning Aug. 31, 5:30-7:30 pm.

Course tuition: undergraduate credit $1,100, graduate credit $1,800.

Limited enrollment.

Each student develops a short original screenplay through several drafts in this workshop, drawing on guided writing exercises and constructive feedback from classmates and the instructor. The course focuses on dramatic structure, character, and plot development and the visual language of the screen. Prerequisite: CREA E-45, or the equivalent. (4 credits)



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