ENGL 2026 - Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction

Credits: 3
Hours/Week: Lecture 3Lab None
Course Description: This creative writing class intended for all students focuses on the writing and close reading of creative nonfiction. This evolving genre uses the literary techniques often found in fiction and poetry to tell true stories about real people and events. Texts may include memoir, nonfiction shorts, the personal essay, and other blended forms. Because creative writing involves both creativity and scholarship, coursework includes critical analysis of student and published writing; forming aesthetic judgments about creative nonfiction; writing and revising creative nonfiction; form and technique in creative nonfiction; and responding to the creative work of classmates in a writing community. This course does not fulfill the Literature requirement for the Associate of Arts degree at Century College.
MnTC Goals
6 Humanities/Fine Arts

Prerequisite(s): Assessment score placement in ENGL 1021 or completion of ENGL 0090 with a grade of C or higher. Assessment score placement in RDNG 1000 or completion of RDNG 0900 or RDNG 0950 with a grade of C or higher.
Corequisite(s): None
Recommendation: Completion of ENGL 1021 and ENGL 1027. Basic word processing and computer skills.

Major Content

Contemporary aesthetics in creative nonfiction¿including current blended and hybrid forms
Published creative nonfiction as models for student writing
- selected readings may include Cheryl Strayed, David Foster Wallace, Anne Lamott, Maxine Hong Kingston, Philip Lopate, Joan Didion, David Sedaris, Brenda Miller, Lee Gutkind, and others
- observation and discussion of writers¿ choices
- written reflection on using learned techniques in original work
Forms, styles, and techniques in creative nonfiction
Overview of and practice with the creative process in creative nonfiction
- discovering and generating material o writing drafts of creative nonfiction
- practice with a variety of creative nonfiction styles¿including current blended and hybrid forms
- providing written and/or oral feedback in writing groups and a workshop environment
- revising creative nonfiction
Qualities of effective writing communities o guidelines for writing groups and/or writing workshops
- criteria for evaluating original creative nonfiction in progress
- how to accept and offer thoughtful oral and written feedback within established writing groups and/or writing workshops
Techniques for writing, revising, and presenting a variety of creative nonfiction styles and forms
Criteria for evaluating published work and/or performance of an author of contemporary creative nonfiction

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course students will be able to:

analyze a wide variety of creative nonfiction work representing a range of styles and subgenres.
apply principles of contemporary aesthetics to original creative nonfiction.
articulate informed personal judgments about published creative nonfiction.
critique published creative nonfiction as models for their own writing.
engage in the creative process through writing and revising creative nonfiction.
evaluate published work and/or performance of an author of contemporary creative nonfiction.
exchange constructive feedback about original creative nonfiction within a writing community.

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ENGL 2026 - Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction