Writing 100 Class Website
 

Creative Nonfiction: Recent Summary

This section is an introduction to the art, craft, history and business of creative nonfiction (a genre also known as “literary journalism” or narrative nonfiction”). From the perspective of writers, we will read and discuss a sampling of excerpts and magazine articles that give an overview of the evolution and the contemporary variety of this form of prose composition, paying particular attention to the research strategies and formal writing techniques used in each. You will also become oriented to the practical skills and business etiquette of nonfiction freelance writing, including research sources, fact-checking, query letters and the importance of meeting deadlines. There will be several short in-class and at-home assignments, culminating in a more developed creative nonfiction project aimed at a specific publication of your choice. A draft of this assignment will be workshopped by your classmates, after which you will hand in a revised version that integrates their comments and suggestions for final grading. There will be an exam on the last class of the session.
 

Click to Download the 2008/09 Course Syllabus (pdf)
 

Writing Samples

Life Is Elsewhere: Big Brother goes Bird Watching
Aaron Shepard wrote the following Creative Nonfiction piece in a 3rd-year workshop and read it at the Department’s Graduating Student Reading. He later earned his MFA in fiction through the Department’s MFA program.
Read it...