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What Happens in a Creative Writing Class?

There is a wide variety of classes that one can take at a university or college and the curriculum usually covers a range of different topics. Sometimes students can even specialize in a particular subject or area of study. But sometimes, the classes can be so specific that it might feel like a waste of time for the general education student.

If you are thinking about taking a creative writing course at university or college, it might be a good idea to check what would happen in a typical class session. We can help with that by looking at a real-life experience of a Creative Writing course at New York University.

Overview Of The Course

The NYU class has a weekly session and generally meets once a week for four hours. Most of the instruction is done in a lecture-and-discussion format with the occasional short reading or creative writing exercise to stimulate the mind. The level of interaction between the students and the instructor is quite high; they usually ask questions and offer suggestions about the topic at hand, which is exactly what you would want out of a class teaching technique. To give you an idea of what a typical class syllabus might look like, here is a small subset of the topics that were covered in the Spring 2018 course:

Creative Writing Fundamentals

This is probably the most important category, as it lays the groundwork for the entire rest of the course. Some of the topics tackled in this category include:

  • How To Begin A Story
  • Variety In Genre
  • How To Form A Story Line
  • The Elements Of A Story
  • How To End A Story
  • Creating Dialogue
  • Structuring A Novel
  • Organizing Your Materials
  • Introduction To Plot & Structure
  • Writing A Character
  • Character Vs. Trait
  • The Hidden Elements Of Plot & Structure
  • How To Write An Effective Scene
  • Storyboards For Screenplays
  • Action & Cutting Scenes
  • Subtext & Allusion
  • Film Form
  • The Craft Of The English Language
  • The History Of English

Advanced Creative Writing

The second part of the course focuses on advanced techniques and concepts that can be applied to the specific area of creative writing. Some of the topics covered in this category include:

  • Anatomy Of A Scene
  • Symmetry In Poetry
  • How To Make Your Scenes Memorable
  • Style & Fashion In Literature
  • Tone And Metaphor
  • Fiction, Fantasy, & Science Fiction
  • Narrative Arc In Short Stories
  • Creative Thought & Language
  • Hyperbole & Metaphor
  • Postmodernism In Fiction And Non-Fiction
  • Genres In Art
  • Modernism
  • Short Story & The Novella
  • The Short Story In English

Thesis, Dissertation, & Final Project

The last part of the course is devoted to the preparation of a thesis, a dissertation, or an independent study. Your final project will consist of a literary work that you have developed throughout the course. For a more detailed explanation, please refer to the NYU website.

The whole point of the class is to give you a solid foundation in creative writing and build up your confidence so that when the day of graduation comes, you will feel ready to take on the world. And, hopefully, a few of the worlds that you have imagined!