This course satisfies the University of Texas at Arlington core curriculum requirement in Creative Arts.

The primary goal of this course is to help deepen our appreciation of the craft of creative writing in its various forms. Unlike literature courses, wherein one may study a finished work thematically or historically as an artifact, students in this course will learn to appreciate contemporary poetry, short fiction, and creative non-fiction essays by learning to closely read written works as writers read them. To that end, this course introduces students to genres of creative writing through modes that are specific to each genre and common to all of them (e.g. meter, rhyme, sound, character, setting, exposition, voice). Writers' questions and concerns are often very different from other scholars' questions. Students will take the works apart and study how received techniques and traditions are put into conversation to help creative writers compose and revise in their chosen genres. The primary goal is to appreciate the work of writing, not only the effect of a finished artifact.

This course is the first course (after 1301 or 1375) to be taken by students interested in minoring in creative writing. This course introduces students to the world of contemporary creative writing, particularly the discrete consideration of the genres of literary prose fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry. This introduction is accomplished through discussions, readings, writing assignments, and small-group workshops. All students compose original works of creative non-fiction, prose fiction and poetry, culminating in three final, polished portfolios (one poetry portfolio of at least 4 poems, one fiction portfolio containing a final, polished short story of 8-12 pages and one creative non-fiction portfolio containing a final, polished essay of 8-12 pages). 

This advanced workshop course centers around the writing of original, creative, fictional short stories.  Prior to the commencement of this course, all students must have taken 2375 (Genres of Creative Writing) since the course assumes basic knowledge of literary devices. In this course, students look in more particular detail at the building blocks of a literary short story that they learned about in 2375.  Students write 3 stories (8-14 pages in length) during the course of the semester and workshops will be either full-class or small-group. 

This advanced workshop course centers around the writing of original and engaging poems.  Prior to the commencement of this course, all students must have taken 2375 (Genres of Creative Writing) since the course assumes basic knowledge of literary devices. In this course, students look in more particular detail at the many formal approaches to the production of poems that they learned about in 2375 by engaging with contemporary practices in and conversations about poetry. In addition to any smaller assignments and/or exams, students produce a final portfolio of at least six poems with evidence of substantial revisions of each.

This advanced workshop course centers around the writing of original, creative, nonfiction essays.  Prior to the commencement of this course, all students must have taken 2375 (Genres of Creative Writing) since the course assumes basic knowledge of literary devices. In this course, students look in more particular detail at the building blocks of a literary nonfiction essay that they learned about in 2375.  Students write three major essays that span the genre (so, making sure the students learn research and interviewing skills) and full-class workshops.  The suggested essay types for this course are the personal essay, researched personal essay, and a profile essay.

This advanced workshop class revolves in topic but should always include workshopping of student work. Topics offered recently have included autofiction, inventive modeling nonfiction, and experimental fiction. Prior to the commencement of this course, all students must have taken 2375 (Genres of Creative Writing) since the course assumes basic knowledge of literary devices.

This course is intended for Creative Writing Minors who are at the end of their required course work. No new poems, stories or essays will be produced for this course. Each writer will be expected to already have a healthy body of work before taking this course (30-50 pages of prose OR 15-21 pages of poetry). This work is further workshopped and edited during the course of the semester in small workshop groups, culminating in a final, polished thesis due at the end of the semester. In addition to this thesis, each writer also participates in a public reading of their work. The third project is a research project that results in a class presentation on a current literary journal.

We sometimes imagine that the writer’s life is a solitary one but, hopefully, this course will show us the reality that writers wanting to put their work into the public must rely on a group to help that goal to become a reality. This course will introduce students to the professional and practical aspects of the writing life, such as, publication, graduate school, time management, daily writing practice, etc. These topics will be covered throughout the semester via workshops, presentations, class discussions, and individual conferences with the instructor. 

Students will learn the principles of storytelling and will apply these principles to the craft of screenwriting. As part of this process students will learn to evaluate and improve their own and other's original stories, characters, dramatic conflict, dialogue and descriptions. All screenplays must use proper screenwriting formatting and all creative projects must demonstrate the use of content introduced in class.

Many aspiring novelists write with the hope that inspiration will come. The result is time wasted on a flabby novel with no clear shape and a sagging pace. On the other hand, story structure gives your novel a skeleton; it forms the bones of your story. And just as adding flesh and clothing to a body makes that body more unique, so does any creative addition the writer makes to his or her basic structure. This course teaches you how to build that skeleton, from a solid premise line to building the moral argument of your novel. You ensure that your novel has a beginning, a middle and an end and you learn how reversals and reveals, as well as character wants and needs, can drive your story to a satisfying conclusion. Exercises focus on structural elements such as character ghosts, story world, and more, and by the end of the course, you have in-hand a complete outline for a novel structured in three acts (each act having 9 chapters for a total of 27 chapters). THREE of these chapters (3,000 words each, one from each act of your novel) will be written out and workshopped by your group members.