Nina Coomes

This class serves as an entry into the historical, theoretical and practical concerns of creative writing as an art form in itself and as a vital element of interdisciplinary projects. We explore the possibilities of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays and hybrid practices as writing for the page, as well as for performance, sound, installation, and image-based pieces. Students are assigned reading and writing exercises, and discuss each other's writing in workshop or small critique sessions.

True re-vision is an active process of 'seeing again,' of discovering what each draft reveals to its author. As memoirist and poet Patricia Hampl notes, it?s a matter of paying attention to ?what it wants, not what I want?. With this in mind, students writing across the genres will have an opportunity to explore and integrate a variety of re-vision methods that encourage multiple permutations of at least two different workshop submissions. In addition to responding to each other?s work, students will be asked to present on their revision method as demonstrated in a piece completed for this class. To prepare a solid foundation, we will examine annotated drafts of a single work by selected published writers. Readings to come from Robert Olen Butler, Elizabeth Bishop, Pam Houston, Susan Neville, Pablo Medina, among others.