ENG 401 - Creative Writing Seminar: Literary Journalism

Just the facts? Journalism. Presenting the facts in the form of a story, with an engaging plot, well developed characters, descriptive color, and inclusion of the author’s voice? Creative nonfiction. This creative writing seminar combines the essential elements of creative nonfiction with the fruits of journalistic research and reportage-in both the library and the field, through interviewing. 

Students will define appropriate projects almost immediately and set about researching them under the guidance of the instructor and other professionals. The research will culminate in a piece of reported creative nonfiction, prepared for publication, ranging from 6000 to 7000 words. Weekly meetings will be devoted to discussing a wide array of reading in the genre, presenting research to the class, and revising drafts in a workshop setting.  Readings will include works by such writers as Truman Capote, John McPhee, Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Orlean, Thomas Mallon, Atul Gawande, Francine Prose, and many others.

Prerequisites & Notes
Ideally, students who enroll will have taken a creative writing course at the 200 level or higher.