Writing the Creative Nonfiction Book (1ST SECTION CLOSED, SEE 2ND SECTION BELOW)

(EGL 321 W)

Due to popular demand, a second section of this course has been added. Please click here for more information.

So you’ve written the opening pages of a memoir. Or you’ve been mulling over ideas for a book of creative nonfiction and a concept has clicked into focus. Congratulations. You’re over the biggest hurdle—getting started—and now you’re on to the most fulfilling but trickiest part. Working toward a full draft of your nonfiction book can be incredibly rewarding. But maintaining momentum requires keeping your eye on the book’s “big picture” and giving yourself freedom to experiment with the “small picture”—then staying flexible as your discoveries inform an evolving plan.

In this course, we will keep you writing toward a full draft. We will also look at how three very different creative nonfiction books work on the big-picture and small-picture levels. Weekly writing assignments will help you discover and strengthen the style, tone, and structure of your creative nonfiction book. Each student will complete a new chapter for workshop response. Whether you’re just starting or you’re feeling muddled in the middle, this course will give you the tools to finish a solid full draft.

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Rachel Howard, Author

Rachel Howard is the author of the memoir, The Lost Night: A Daughter’s Search for the Truth of Her Father’s Murder, one of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Best Books of 2005. Her personal essays have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and O, The Oprah Magazine. Her advice is quoted extensively in The Autobiographer’s Handbook: The 826 National Guide to Writing Your Memoir. She received an MFA in fiction writing from Warren Wilson College.