Freelance Writing

Semester and Year	FA 2011
Course Number	WRTNG-UG1105
Section	001
Instructor	Lizzie Skurnick
Days	Mon
Time	6:20 PM - 9:00 PM
Units	4.0
Level	U
Foundation Requirement

Description

Successful freelancers know that their days are spent cultivating and shaping story ideas, tracking down sources, parsing one story idea into three, and pitching, pitching, pitching. But where does one begin? How can new writers break in if they don’t have any clips to show an editor? In this seminar, we will interrogate the art and business of freelance writing: what it takes to create a story, as well as what it takes to sell it. Writing assignments will include a variety of story types, including reviews, profiles, service stories, and personal essays, along with the all-important pitch letter. We will look to the masters of the craft (Susan Orlean, Michiko Kakutani, James Surowiecki, Katharine Boo, Elizabeth Kolbert, James Wood, Alex Ross, and more), and we will also discover reading in the real world of the newspapers and magazines students plan to solicit.

Course Type

Advanced Writing Courses (WRTNG-UG)