INTRODUCTION

Welcome to ENGL 275: Introduction to Creative Writing!

This book will walk you through the first 8-weeks of the course. It will contain several writing prompts, poems to read, ideas and instructions, and a whole lot more. Think of this as your GPS through the course: a voice will lead you step-by-step through the process of writing several poems and responding to your peers. Unlike a GPS, however, this book doesn’t quite know where we are going. Sure, there are plenty of stops along the way, but the ultimate destination is up to you, the writer.

This course is designed to develop both the imaginative and technical resources of those students interested in creative writing. The course includes writing in two of the following genres: poetry, short stories, and/or drama, as well as critiquing peer and professional writers’ works. Prerequisite: ENGL 125.

This introductory course promises to help you use your writing to better understand and communicate the experience of being alive. For the first half of the class–and the focus of this book–we will use both several assignments to imaginatively communicate what is joyful and sad and infuriating and funny and moving and transformative and, best of all, mysterious about being human. To inspire and instruct us, we will read a selection of poets from varied ages, backgrounds and perspectives, and discuss (with curiosity and zeal) how they exercise their craft.

We will read and write a lot for this class. Ideally, you will write daily. You will read (and re-read) several dozen poems, as well as articles about the craft of writing.

Most crucial to our class will be the regular time we spend “workshopping” each other’s work—providing sensitive constructive criticism in class toward thoughtful revision and improvements.

Let’s begin!