ENGL 2261 - Creative Nonfiction Writing

1. Read, discuss, and critique a broad selection of texts, including literary nonfiction, with a focus on analyzing form and technique in order to guide and inform one’s own creative work.
2. Identify contemporary techniques in literary nonfiction genres.
3. Understand the creative process and practice techniques for prewriting, writing, revising, and editing one’s own creative work.
4. Understand writing for different audiences.
5. Understand the contemporary aesthetics and standards of literary nonfiction.
6. Participate in large and small workshops and be able to respond critically and analytically to written work, and practice this critical analysis of one’s own writing.
7. Understand that excellent contemporary literary writing derives from both individual and cultural values that are shaped by broader social, historical, and aesthetic standards and movements.
8. Students will be expected to produce a body of revised, polished literary nonfiction that will culminate in a final portfolio of 20-30 pages.

1. Overview of the creative process
2. Understand the importance of word choice and language
3. Develop and control figurative language and imagery
4. Explore techniques for discovering and creating material
5. Overview of traditional narrative structures
6. Overview of experimental narrative structures
7. Practice methods in showing vs. telling
8. Shape and revise drafts based on peer and instructor feedback
9. Overview of subgenres of literary nonfiction, such as memoir