Creative Writing is an introductory course suitable for college students of all majors. By learning the four genres of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and drama, through reading samples and practicing skills, students will find the best way of self-expression and thus become a confident creative writer.
Overview
Syllabus
- Chapter 1 Welcome to Creative Writing
- 1.1 The Foundation of Creative Writing: The Senses
- 1.2 Building on the Foundation: Using the Senses
- 1.3 Multi-genre Creative Writing Prompts, Waking Up Attention, Using the Senses, Memory
- 1.4 Connecting with Readers, Authors and Audiences
- Chapter 2 Writing Poems
- 2.1.1 The Music in Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Rhyme, Rhythm, Alliteration
- 2.1.2 The Building Blocks of Poems: Lines, Enjambment, End-stop
- 2.1.3 Figurative Language, Hyperbole, Repetition
- 2.1.4 The Sonnet, Classical Forms, Iambic Pentameter
- 2.1.5 Image, Diction, Metaphor
- 2.2.1 Organizing Poems, Stanzas, Balance, Harmony
- 2.2.2 Music, The Senses, Figurative Language, Onomatopoeia
- 2.2.3 Occasional Poems, Ode, Elegy, Epithalamium
- 2.2.4 Going Deeper into Rhyme, Echo, Sound
- 2.2.5 Going Deeper into Rhythm, Meter, Scansion
- 2.3.1 Conventional Form: The Cinquain
- 2.3.2 Visual Poetry
- 2.3.3 Free verse, Conversational Diction, Personal Uses of Form
- 2.3.4 Tempo, Pacing, Narrative Structure, Stanza Development
- 2.3.5 Open Poetic Forms, List Poem, Found Poem, Walk Poem
- Chapter 3 Writing Fiction
- 3.1.1 Getting Started in Fiction: Literary Fiction and Genre Fiction
- 3.1.2 Romance, Fantasy, Horror
- 3.1.3 Historical Fiction, Doing Research
- 3.1.4 Science Fiction
- 3.1.5 Literary fiction: The Basics
- 3.2.1 Characters and characterization
- 3.2.2 Plot
- 3.2.3 Setting
- 3.2.4 Narrator, Point of view
- 3.2.5 Dialogue
- 3.3.1 Flash fiction, Prose poems, Very Short Stories
- 3.3.2 Detective Fiction, Mystery Fiction
- 3.3.3 Starting the Short Story
- 3.3.4 Narrative Design, Beginnings, Endings
- 3.3.5 Exercises, Revision, Word Bank, Journey Motif, Personification
- Chapter 4 Writing Creative Nonfiction
- 4.1.1 Truth, Reality, Experience
- 4.1.2 Life Writing, Memoir, Autobiography
- 4.1.3 Nature, Travel, Food
- 4.1.4 Meditative Essay, Lyrical Essay
- 4.1.5 The Body, Being Human, The Self
- 4.2.1 Narrator, Point of View
- 4.2.2 Information, Research
- 4.2.3 Kinds of Narrative Structure
- 4.2.4 Tense, Immediacy, The Miniature
- 4.2.5 Person, Tense
- 4.2.6 Interdisciplinary Creative Nonfiction
- 4.3.1 Using Photos, Memories, Journals
- 4.3.2 Braided Essays, Sound, Diction
- 4.3.3 Childhood Wonder, Making it New
- 4.3.4 The Segmented Essay
- 4.3.5 Using Technology: Blogs, The Video Essay, The Graphic Essay
- Chapter 5 Writing Drama
- 5.1 The 10-Minute Play, The Basic Structure, Characters, Plot, Conflict
- 5.2 Theme, Characters, Dialogue
- 5.3 Writing a Film Script
- 5.4 Audience, Publication, Performing
Taught by
Lauri Ramey, Juan Wang, Xiaoxin Wang, and Lixia Xie
