V-Campus

In this course, students develop the imaginative, critical and technical skills necessary for writing fiction and poetry. Using the published work of well-known authors and original student writing, students explore various topics and problems that confront anyone embarking on the creative-writing process. Students read texts as writers, not as critics or historians of literature; each text is reviewed as a template for imitation and inspiration. The course follows the workshop model where students bring their own stories and poems to class for group discussion, and develop the skills to sympathetically critique each others' work. Through this process, students learn a variety of techniques for improving and developing their own writing. By the end of the course, students will be comfortable and confident in identifying basic and complex literary devices such as assonance, consonance, alliteration, aspects of plot and narrative, literary allusion, etc. Handouts, in-class exercises, peer review, and individual conferences help students define and set goals for strengthening their writing.