Related courses
- VISU S-34z Summer Seminar—The Book as Art: Working with Letters, Ink, and Paper
- VISU S-159 Cinematic Vision: Scriptwriting for Production
Related subjects
Creative Writing Courses
- CREA S-25 Beginning Fiction
- CREA S-30 Beginning Poetry
- CREA S-45a Beginning Screenwriting
- CREA S-105r Advanced Fiction: The Novel
- CREA S-106r Advanced Fiction: Short Stories
- CREA S-108r Advanced Creative Nonfiction
- CREA S-120r Advanced Screenwriting
- CREA S-175 Legal Writing
- CREA S-180 Effective Business Communication
CREA S-25 Beginning Fiction
Section 1 (32442)
Class times: Mondays, Wednesdays, 6:30-9:30 pm.
Course tuition: undergraduate credit $2,700.
Harvard College students see additional information.
Limited enrollment.
Section 2 (31640)
Class times: Tuesdays, Thursdays, noon-3 pm.
Course tuition: undergraduate credit $2,700.
Harvard College students see additional information.
Limited enrollment.
Students learn and practice the fundamentals of writing fiction—description, dialogue, tone, plotting, and so on—in a workshop setting. By discussing and analyzing published short fiction, students learn the narrative techniques and strategies of creative writers. This course is intended for those who write regularly and wish to broaden their skills and talents. (4 credits)
CREA S-30 Beginning Poetry (32817)
Class times: Mondays, Wednesdays, 3:15-6:15 pm.
Course tuition: undergraduate credit $2,700.
Harvard College students see additional information.
Limited enrollment.
This course is an opportunity for students to create a community of writers. They workshop poems, become stronger readers of poetry, consider the details that make good poems, and become flexible, accurate critics of the work of others as well as of their own. They do generative exercises that keep the writing process fun and help them avoid writer's block. They talk a lot about revision and editing, and learn ways to approach a poem for the second, third and nineteenth times, with the right balance of tenderness and ruthlessness. They talk about narrative, form, line breaks, word choice, meter, literary magazines, and getting published. (4 credits)
CREA S-45a Beginning Screenwriting (32078)
Class times: Mondays, Wednesdays, 6:30-9:30 pm.
Course tuition: undergraduate credit $2,700.
Harvard College students see additional information.
Limited enrollment.
This course is a workshop for writers who want to learn the fundamentals of feature-length motion picture screenplays: dramatic structure, plot, character, concept and theme development, dialogue writing, and the use of visual language. During the semester, students produce a complete feature film treatment, a complete Act 1 script in format, and a scene breakdown, and prepare a class presentation of their treatment and script for discussion. (4 credits)
CREA S-105r Advanced Fiction: The Novel (31360)
Class times: Tuesdays, Thursdays, 3:15-6:15 pm.
Course tuition: undergraduate and graduate credit $2,700.
Harvard College students see additional information.
Limited enrollment.
This course is intended for writers with advanced writing skills and broad familiarity with the work of American and European masters of the genre. Individuals enrolled in this course are given reading and writing assignments according to their needs in structure, narrative voice, character, and style. The class is run mainly as a workshop: students read each other's work and respond to it. The instructor will contact enrolled students before the beginning of the semester to ask for a writing sample from a work in progress (a novel); admission to the course is based on this submission. Prerequisites: students should have completed other fiction writing courses, and a novel should be under way (a minimum of two chapters) when the semester begins. (4 credits)
CREA S-106r Advanced Fiction: Short Stories (31449)
Class times: Tuesdays, Thursdays, 6:30-9:30 pm.
Course tuition: undergraduate and graduate credit $2,700.
Harvard College students see additional information.
Limited enrollment.
This course is intended for students who have completed several stories or made significant headway on a novel, have read widely among the masters of fiction, and are working toward the goal of publication. The course includes discussion of published writing but largely follows the workshop format. Students are expected to produce two new stories or approximately 30 pages of a novel by summer's end. Prerequisites: students should bring approximately 15 pages of their fiction to the first class or submit it to gleasonc@wit.edu before the class begins; admission is based on this submission. (4 credits)
CREA S-108r Advanced Creative Nonfiction (32836)
Class times: Tuesdays, Thursdays, noon-3 pm.
Course tuition: undergraduate and graduate credit $2,700.
Harvard College students see additional information.
Limited enrollment.
In this course we read and write in a variety of narrative nonfiction genres. Students write, workshop, and revise two pieces over the course of the term. We also study the work of writers such as Vivian Gornick, John McPhee, and Joan Didion. Class discussion focuses on developing a range of narrative effects using fictional techniques, factual information, and observed reality. Students should have some previous workshop experience and should bring a 500-word writing sample to the first class. (4 credits)
CREA S-120r Advanced Screenwriting (32693)
Class times: Mondays, Wednesdays, noon-3 pm. Required sections to be arranged.
Course tuition: undergraduate and graduate credit $2,700.
Harvard College students see additional information.
Limited enrollment.
In this course, students each adapt a short fiction to a film script, from outline through treatment and drafts to shooting script. To this end, students examine the components of writing for a short feature film (structure, scene, and dialogue), as well as focusing more specifically on screen adaptations from literary sources (short stories, newspaper and magazine articles). In addition to writing, students analyze and present one of six films and the novel or short story upon which it is based. Prerequisites: some experience writing fiction or for the screen. (4 credits)
CREA S-175 Legal Writing
Section 1 (30138)
Class times: Mondays, Wednesdays, 6:30-9:30 pm.
Course tuition: undergraduate and graduate credit $2,700.
Harvard College students see additional information.
Limited enrollment.
Section 2 (30140)
Class times: Tuesdays, Thursdays, 3:15-6:15 pm.
Course tuition: undergraduate and graduate credit $2,700.
Harvard College students see additional information.
Limited enrollment.
This course is designed for law students, students considering law school, or writers who wish to improve their analytical writing. It is based on the assumption that good legal writing communicates well-considered ideas clearly, concisely, and accurately. Students use the elements of good writing to construct legal arguments, to argue from precedent and principle, and to use facts effectively. They draft a variety of basic legal documents that may include a case brief, a complaint, an answer, an opinion letter, a legal memorandum, and a statute. Course materials may be based on contemporary social issues drawing on the areas of constitutional due process, criminal law, domestic relations law, and the right to privacy. (4 credits)
CREA S-180 Effective Business Communication (30141)
Class times: Mondays, Wednesdays, 3:15-6:15 pm.
Course tuition: undergraduate and graduate credit $2,700.
Harvard College students see additional information.
Limited enrollment.
This course offers a practical approach to written and oral business communications. It emphasizes effective content, structure, tone, and visual format in letters, memos, and reports and stresses organization, persuasiveness, and technique in short oral presentations. Each student is responsible for developing a written project upon which an oral presentation is based. (4 credits)
