Creative Writing Certificate Program | Northwestern SPS - Northwestern School of Professional Studies

Intended for students with little or no formal training in the elements of writing poetry, this course combines both seminar and workshop methods and includes extensive reading of poetry. Students use analytical skills presented in the course to critique each others' drafts of poems written during the quarter. May not be audited or taken P/N. Advanced composition course or equivalent writing experience strongly recommended.

Intended for students with little or no formal training in the elements of writing fiction, this course emphasizes the processes and assumptions unique to fiction writing and the development of a personal voice. Students analyze technique and form in works of various authors. Writing assignments include at least two stories developed and revised in a workshop format. Lectures, workshops, and individual conferences. May not be audited or taken P/N. Advanced composition course or equivalent writing experience strongly recommended.

This course is for students who want to improve their writing skills and explore the fundamentals of creative nonfiction. Creative nonfiction borrows techniques from fiction—strong characters, captivating narration, and compelling scenes—and bears a certain allegiance to journalistic practices—a faithfulness to “the facts,” sharp descriptions, and dialogue that rings true. By learning the craft of creative nonfiction, you’ll discover how to interest, amuse, entertain, move, persuade, and instruct your readers.

In this course, students can take their writing to a new level. The focus will be on three forms of creative nonfiction: the personal essay, think pieces (which is most of the nonfiction you encounter on the internet), and the lyric essay. Students will learn how to read as writers, learning from the old masters and new voices, and will experiment with a new form and submit a written assignment each week. All classes will be conducted in seminar and workshop formats.

May not be audited or taken P/N. Advanced composition course and strong basic writing skills highly recommended.

For students who have taken courses in fiction writing or who have been writing fiction on their own, this intermediate-level course offers further practice and study in the development of short stories. Students write and submit drafts and revisions of stories and are assigned readings of short stories, which are discussed in class. Student writing is discussed in a workshop format and in individual conferences. May not be audited or taken P/N.

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 207 or comparable courses in creative writing with permission of instructor. Students who have not completed ENGLISH 207 should obtain instructor's consent and confirmation of appropriate writing experience. Please send an email to the professor with your writing background to request a permission number once registration for winter quarter has opened on November 18, 2024.

In this advanced-level course, we'll focus on taking a first-draft story through a multi-stage revision process, increasing the story's richness, urgency, and texture. Using prompts and other strategies, students will quickly draft and workshop a new story, then use expansion and layering techniques to deepen and further develop character, plot, and style, taking the story through a full, considered revision that will be workshopped a second time by the whole class. Reading and analyzing the structures and strategies of published stories will supplement your writing and our discussions.

For students who have completed at least one course in fiction writing, the course will provide further study of matters of technique and structure. The course builds on the premises, assignments, and goals of English 307-A, but students may enroll without having completed that course. May not be audited or taken P/N.

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 207 or 307-A or comparable courses in creative writing with permission of instructor. Students who have not completed ENGLISH 207 or 307-A should obtain instructor's consent and confirmation of appropriate writing experience. Please send an email to the professor with your writing background to request a permission number once registration for spring quarter has opened on February 17, 2025.

This workshop course is for students who have taken courses in creative nonfiction or who have been writing creative nonfiction on their own. Students apply their developing command of creative writing techniques and forms to frequent short writing exercises and essays. Class discussion of published essays and excerpts from longer works and student drafts may address such topics as voice, style, structure, the uses of research, and truth.

May not be audited or taken P/N. Prerequisite: ENGLISH 208 or permission of instructor. Students should have previous creative writing experience in an academic setting. Students who have not completed ENGLISH 208 should obtain instructor's consent and confirmation of appropriate writing experience. Please send an email to the professor with your writing background to request a permission number once registration for winter quarter has opened on November 11, 2024.

This advanced course is for students who have completed at least one course in nonfiction writing. We will emphasize close reading of contemporary nonfiction as well as careful writing and revision. Elizabeth Hardwick states that reading is the only way to learn how to write. We will lean into that assertion, studying the work of Sigrid Nunez, Laura Kipnis, Phillip Lopate, and other modern masters, using their essays as templates for creating new work. Weekly homework will include reading and writing assignments, and weekly meetings will include discussion, writing exercises, and in-depth workshopping of essays. The required book for this class is The Best American Essays, 2023, edited by Vivian Gornick. May not be audited or taken P/N.

Prerequisite: ENGLISH 208 or 308-A, or comparable courses in creative writing with permission of instructor. Students who have not completed ENGLISH 208 or 308-A should obtain instructor's consent and confirmation of appropriate writing experience. Please send an email to the professor with your writing background to request a permission number once registration for spring quarter has opened on on February 17, 2025.