7000024 - Writing your own Story
Course Description
What is your story? What is a story that only you could write? In this intensive and supportive writing course, you will learn to draw from memories, experiences, and research to write personal stories about specific moments, eras, form, and themes. Through lectures, readings, discussions, workshopping, and writing exercises, you will learn about and discuss ethical considerations, memory, and truth. We will experiment with different elements of craft, such as the journey of a story, narrative voice, and the revision process. You will also learn the basics of revisions, book proposals, literary grants, pitches, and queries.
Upon completion of the course, you will have written a portfolio, which will serve as the beginning of your own memoir.
What You'll Learn
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Respond to a variety of readings from published authors to investigate personal essays and memoir as a genre
- Explain different approaches to the journey of a personal narrative and apply one to your own writing
- Participate in substantive discussions of personal essays and memoir approaches to form and style to share your learnings with other students and learn from others
- Engage in a writing practice with other writers to experiment with your writing style and your role as a narrator and authority of the material
- Provide supportive feedback to others and demonstrate the application of feedback provided through workshopping your work
- Identify the implicit challenges inherent in writing true stories and the ethics of writing from life
- Demonstrate the use of personal essay and memoir styles and techniques in your own writing by creating and revising a portfolio of writing
Additional Requirements
- This course is intended for adult learners who are at least 18 years of age.
- There are no prerequisites for this course.
- You may take this as an individual course.
- You do not have to register in the Creative Writing Certificate to take this course.
Sponsoring Partner
School of English and Theatre Studies, College of Arts
Applies Towards the Following Certificates
- Creative Writing Certificate : Electives
Technical Requirements
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*Course details are subject to change.