Advanced Creative Nonfiction

Semester and Year	SP 2011
Course Number	WRTNG-UG1301
Section	001
Instructor	Cris Beam
Days	Thu
Time	6:20 PM - 9:00 PM
Units	4.0
Level	U
Foundation Requirement

Notes/Restrictions

Prerequisite K30.1300 or V39.0850 or permission of instructor (beamc@earthlink.net).

Description

This is a course for students with some experience in reporting, researching and writing nonfiction, who want to experiment in literary, long-form journalism. Students will choose a small culture or community on which to focus throughout the semester. We’ll start by writing one profile of a member of this community, developing interviewing skills, and learning about voice and point of view. We’ll also write a reflective piece on interrogating the ways we explore this community without exploiting, exoticizing or oversimplifying our sources. Then students will move on to one major work of literary feature-writing—the bulk of the semester’s work—which will be written in sections and go through several revisions. Borrowing the best tools from fiction writing—like charac-ter development, a strong arc, and engaging scenes—these features will be rich in narra-tive and as complex as the communities they portray. Students will learn advanced re-porting techniques, story organization and editing skills, and debate the ethical issues inherent to truth-gathering. Readings will likely include Joseph Mitchell, Katherine Boo, Alex Kotlowitz, Leon Dash, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc and Peter Hessler.

Course Type

Advanced Writing Courses (WRTNG-UG)