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Creative Writing Courses
CW 601 MFA Poetry Workshop +
Description:
The course will focus on the writing of poetry from two perspectives-craft and process. Through discussion of their own and published poetry, students will explore how writers develop language, imagery, and verbal music through attention to structural and other details presented in the work. Students in the workshop will read recently published poetry, discussing what makes this work successful and how they, as writers, can learn from it, while writing and critiquing their own work in a responsible and constructive manner. Students will be expected to present either new work or revised work to the workshop each week. More Info
Offered in:CW 602 MFA Fiction Workshop +
Description:
The course will focus on fiction writing from two perspectives-craft and process. Through discussion of their own and published fiction, students will explore how writers construct character, voice, suspense, story, etc. they will also discuss the more hazy area of process. Students in the workshop will read recently published fiction, discussion what makes this work successful and how they, as writers, can learn from it, while writing and critiquing their own work in a responsible and constructive manner. Students will be expected to present their own work to the workshop at least twice during the term. More Info
Offered in:CW 605 Memoir Workshop +
Description:
The primary activity of the workshop is discussion of student work in the area of life writing. This course will examine various examples of memoir, as well as address the following questions: What responsibility does the memoirist have to facts? Are facts and truth always synonymous? What is the difference between memoir and autobiography? Why write memoir when you could compose a story or poem? Students will read and discuss classical and contemporary examples of the genre to support their own written work. More Info
Offered in:CW 606 Literary Editing and Publishing +
Description:
The historical background of literary editing and publishing will be explored alongside a practical, hands-on project-oriented program in which students will actively engaging in editing and publishing. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
CW 614 The Teaching of Creative Writing +
Description:
The teaching of creative writing involves both the teaching of craft and the nurturing of students' imaginations. This course addresses ways of doing both, as well as theoretical frameworks for creating new models. What are the principal elements of poetry and fiction? How does a writing exercise elicit a response that adds to students' understanding of what they're doing? What's a good sequence of exercises, and what should students read to enhance their understanding of technique? How should students share their work - in a workshop, in small groups, on an on-line bulletin board, and other formats? How should creative writing be evaluated? Each week, we will examine a different pedagogical question. The course also addresses workshop and classroom management. Students will leave the course with the practical and theoretical tools necessary to construct a curriculum for their own classroom use, and an understanding of issues involved in exploring creativity. More Info
Offered in:CW 620 Techniques of Fiction +
Description:
This is a literature course designed for fiction writers and students interested in reading both canonical works of fiction and contemporary fiction from a craft perspective. We will read the novels and stories of such authors as Henry James, Earnest Hemingway, Virginia Wolff, Franz Kafka, Jane Smiley, and Jhumpa Lahiri, among others, and explore how these authors employ the tools of narrative fiction - exposition, plot dialogue, setting, point of view, character development, etc. In addition to considering the elements of craft, the course will explore several literary traditions - realism, minimalism, and fantastical literature - in order to understand how these traditions utilize the techniques of fiction to construct vastly different fictional worlds. Though this is not a creative writing course that makes use of workshop, students will be asked to write both a traditional analytical essay as well as a work of fiction, a story or extended scene, in the style of one of the authors we will be discussion during the semester. More Info
Offered in:CW 630 Documentary Poetics +
CW 675 Creative Writing Internship +
Description:
Partnering with an off-campus institution, students will work in an environment that will further their career goals as writers, editors, and/or educators in the field of creative writing. Internships may include assisting editorial functions at a literary magazine or publishing house, leading writing workshops in facilities including schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and shelters, or working with literary organizations such as PEN New England on projects that further literary goals. In addition to work in the field, students will generate writing about their internship experience. More Info
Offered in:CW 696 Independent Study in Creative Writing +
Description:
Students wishing to study a topic in Creative Writing not included in the list of courses available through the graduate program in English or the MFA Program in Creative Writing may develop a course of independent study under the direction of a faculty member. More Info
Offered in:CW 697 Special Topics in Creative Writing +
Description:
Special Topics in Creative Writing introduces a subject outside the list of currently approved courses in the MFA Creative Writing Program. The subject may be taught once under the Special Topics designation before requiring approval as a course addition. More Info
Offered in:- TBA
CW 698 Intern Seminar for MFA TA2s +
Description:
Prior to the beginning of the semester, TA2s meet with the intern director to prepare a common course syllabus. During the semester, students meet with the TA2 intern director weekly to discuss issues of pedagogy and classroom management. In addition to weekly meetings, students are observed by the director three times during the semester, and meet with the director after each observation for discussion. More Info
Offered in:CW 699 MFA Thesis +
Description:
In each of the final two semesters in the MFA Program, students enroll in CW 699 for a total of six credits, culminating in a capstone MFA thesis of 48-64 pages of poetry, or 100-200 pages of fiction. The thesis is written under the supervision of a thesis advisor, read by a thesis committee of a least three members, and subject to a public thesis defense. The MFA thesis is the focus of each student's three years of graduate study. It represents the best work the student has produced - informed by the MFA workshops, by the study of literature, and by subjects relevant to the student's project - mentored by faculty, directed by an advisor, and nurtured by an engaged community of writers. More Info
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