CNF 63 W — Getting Started in Creative Nonfiction: A Ticket to the Truth
Quarter: Summer
Instructor(s): Liza Monroy
Date(s): Jul 22—Aug 23
Class Recording Available: Yes
Tuition: $390
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Refund Deadline: Jul 25
Unit(s): 1
Enrollment Limit: 150
Status: Registration opens May 20, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Summer
Unit(s): 1
Duration: 5 weeks
Date(s): Jul 22—Aug 23
Tuition: $390
Refund Deadline: Jul 25
Instructor(s): Liza Monroy
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Enrollment Limit: 150
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens May 20, 8:30 am (PT)
To write is to sell a ticket to escape, not from the truth, but into it.—Alexander Chee
Do you have so many great stories to tell that people say, “Wow, you should really write this down!” Well, you should! Have trouble getting these great stories down on paper? That’s where this course comes in. You will work on a series of writing exercises precisely designed to get you writing your own creative nonfiction. Each week, you will do three writing exercises (250 to 500 words) using nonfiction prompts provided by the instructor. These short writing exercises can become the building blocks for either longer essays or chapters of a longer project. From writing great scenes to building innovative structures and trying radical revisions, you will work on multiple skills in a short amount of time. Alongside these writing prompts, we will read essays by such writers as Joan Didion, CJ Hauser, and Roxane Gay as inspiration. You will receive feedback from other students in small-group workshops, and you will be able to select one short piece a week for instructor feedback. Weekly lessons and discussions on craft, as well as readings of the best contemporary nonfiction being published today, will inspire and deepen your knowledge. Throughout this course, you will find a supportive writing community, innovative prompts, engaging example essays, and daily accountability.
Do you have so many great stories to tell that people say, “Wow, you should really write this down!” Well, you should! Have trouble getting these great stories down on paper? That’s where this course comes in. You will work on a series of writing exercises precisely designed to get you writing your own creative nonfiction. Each week, you will do three writing exercises (250 to 500 words) using nonfiction prompts provided by the instructor. These short writing exercises can become the building blocks for either longer essays or chapters of a longer project. From writing great scenes to building innovative structures and trying radical revisions, you will work on multiple skills in a short amount of time. Alongside these writing prompts, we will read essays by such writers as Joan Didion, CJ Hauser, and Roxane Gay as inspiration. You will receive feedback from other students in small-group workshops, and you will be able to select one short piece a week for instructor feedback. Weekly lessons and discussions on craft, as well as readings of the best contemporary nonfiction being published today, will inspire and deepen your knowledge. Throughout this course, you will find a supportive writing community, innovative prompts, engaging example essays, and daily accountability.
This course is appropriate for both newer writers and those who want to further develop their practice. Because of the high enrollment capacity, the majority of feedback on work will come from fellow classmates. For students who have previously taken the course, the structure is the same but the content is new. Past students are encouraged to join.
LIZA MONROY
Author
Liza Monroy is the author of the novel Mexican High, the memoir The Marriage Act, the essay collection Seeing As Your Shoes Are Soon to Be on Fire, and the forthcoming novel The Distractions. Her essays and journalism have appeared in The New York Times "Modern Love" column, The New York Times Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, O, the Oprah Magazine, Marie Claire, Longreads, Newsweek, Self, and Jezebel, among others, and they have been widely anthologized. She received an MFA in nonfiction from Columbia School of the Arts and has also taught writing at Columbia and UC Santa Cruz. Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.