Course Description

Develop your ability to translate the material of life experience into vivid, reflective, well-organized and persuasive prose that expresses a clear perspective or central idea. By the end of this course, you will have written about 25 pages of revised prose, as well as your regular journal writing assignments. You can draw upon a wide variety of types of experience including your own life story, life narratives of family members, and experiences you’ve heard or read about in books of viewed in films or on TV.

The course explores the craft of storytelling and the multiple ways in which we can employ the tools of fiction (e.g., character, setting, dialogue) in crafting creative non-fiction and fiction narratives. We will also examine the multiple ways in which students can build arguments from both experiential data and secondary sources. Readings will include nonfiction and fiction works by authors such as Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Andre Dubus, Anne Frank, Tim O’Brien, Flannery O’Connor, George Orwell, John Steinbeck, Amy Tan, Tobias Wolff and Alice Walker. Students will explore the craft of storytelling and the multiple ways in which one can employ the tools of fiction in crafting creative nonfiction and fiction narratives.