Creative Writing
Minor
Budding writers find the creative writing community at Washington College inviting and full of opportunities to practice their craft. The minor in creative writing offers a carefully planned curriculum designed to foster the young writer's creative expression—guidance that is significantly enhanced by exposure to the voices and visions of some of the finest poets and fiction writers in the country. Each year, thanks to the endowment of the Sophie Kerr Fund, the College brings to campus a succession of distinguished writers, editors, and literary scholars. Jane Smiley, Billy Collins, Joyce Carol Oates, William Kennedy, Heather McHugh, Li-Young Lee, Robert Creeley, Charles Baxter, Eamon Grennan, Jayne Ann Philips, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Tim O'Brien are just some of the writers and literary scholars who have come to campus in the last decade to teach, lecture, and conduct writing workshops.
The Sophie Kerr Fund also supports the justly famous Sophie Kerr Prize (at $67,000 in 2008 the largest undergraduate literary prize in the country), as well various student publications that spring from the imaginations of students who find a welcoming and creative environment in the Rose O'Neill Literary House.
The minor in creative writing can be achieved through the successful completion of five courses—one of the two designated 100- or 200-level courses (Freshman Creative Writing or Intermediate Creative Writing) and then any combination of four of the 300-400 level courses indicated below. The appropriate selection of courses would fall under the following rubrics:
ENG 103. Freshman Creative Writing
A workshop introducing the incoming freshman writer to the forms of creative writing—specifically, poetry and fiction—as practiced by the students themselves using classic and contemporary literature as models for their own efforts.
ENG 204. Intermediate Creative Writing
This course is for students interested in pursuing a minor in creative writing, or for those considering doing so. This workshop will help students hone their craft in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. It may be considered a helpful continuation of the Freshman Creative Writing course for those who feel they would benefit from more work on fundamentals and additional workshop experience before going on to the Advanced Workshops. Registration for this course will be limited and students will be ranked: first eligible would be sophomores or juniors who were not able to take Freshman Creative Writing.
ENG 326. Contemporary American Literature: (Living Writers)
This course focuses on the study of American poetry and American fiction from 1945 to the present. (The course focuses on poetry one year, novels and short fiction the next, and proceeds in tandem.) Emphasis includes an examination of the work of major American poets or fiction writers of the last half-century. The course is structured in a way similar to a traditional offering in literature with this difference: some of the writers whose work is studied in class will at some time during the semester come to campus to visit the class, discuss their work with participants, and give a public reading.
ENG/DRA 351. Playwriting I
A course involved in the analysis and practical application of techniques and styles employed in writing for the stage. This course is currently offered by the Washington College Drama Department (see p. 109), and is cross-listed under English Department offerings.
ENG 411. Advanced Creative Writing Workshop: Fiction
A course with focus and intent as currently described for English 411 (see p. 135). Prerequisite: Freshman Creative Writing or Intermediate Creative Writing.
ENG 412. Advanced Creative Writing Workshop: Poetry
A course with focus and intent and prerequisite requirements as currently noted for English 412 (see p. 135). Prerequisite: Freshman Creative Writing or Intermediate Creative Writing.
ENG 413. Creative Nonfiction (Writing Workshop)
A workshop for students interested in developing their skills in a kind of writing which combines elements of journalism, such as the article, with elements of the literary, such as the personal essay (see p. 135). Prerequisite: Freshman Creative Writing, Intermediate Creative Writing, or permission of the professor.
ENG/DRA 451. Playwriting II
An advanced workshop in writing for the stage. This course is offered by the Drama Department (see p. 136). Prerequisite: Playwriting I
