Acerca de este curso: Everything comes together in the Capstone. You will draft a complete story, narrative essay, or memoir of 8–15 pages. With the advice of your peer readers, you will revise, rewrite, and complete it. The skills you’ve learned of plotting, setting, physical description, characterization, and stylistic clarity and innovation will culminate in an original work of art all your own. We’ll discuss the steps that professional writers take to bring their work into the public world. Along the way you’ll learn the patient habits of revision that make up the writer’s life.
Creada por: Wesleyan University
Enseñado por: Salvatore Scibona, Frank B. Weeks Visiting Professor of English
| Información básica | Curso 5 de 5 en Escritura creativa Specialization |
| Compromiso | 7 weeks of study, 3-5 hours/week |
| Idioma | English |
| Cómo aprobar | Aprueba todas las tareas calificadas para completar el curso. |
| Calificaciones del usuario |
Programa
SEMANA 1
Introduction to the Capstone and Gathering Materials
This week we lay out the agenda of the Capstone—seven weeks of structured work in which you’ll proceed from your accumulated notes and exercises to a finished piece: Your Story. We discuss the upcoming sequence of critiques of your fellow students’s work and you assemble the materials for your first draft.
3 videos, 2 lecturas
- Reading: Specialization Survey
- Reading: Specialization Promo Codes
- Vídeo: The Elements of Story
- Vídeo: Gathering Materials
SEMANA 2
Composition Strategies
Having gathered all your scraps, notes, research, exercises into one place, you now get moving on the first draft. Through interviews with Jaimy Gordon and Amy Bloom, we discuss composition strategies—the different ways different writers have approached the blank page and how they get moving toward a coherent whole.
5 videos
- Vídeo: Interview with Amy Bloom, pt. 1
- Vídeo: Interview with Amy Bloom, pt. 2
- Vídeo: Interview with Jaimy Gordon
- Vídeo: Working on a First Draft
SEMANA 3
Finishing the First Draft
Compose, compose, compose. This week is devoted completely to pushing through that crucial deadline: finishing your first draft by the end of the week. As you compose, you’ll get some advice from successful Wesleyan alumni writers who have gone from where you are to published books out there in the world.
6 videos
- Vídeo: Una LaMarche
- Vídeo: Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Vídeo: Ayelet Waldman
- Vídeo: Becky Albertalli
- Vídeo: First Draft
Calificado: First Draft
SEMANA 4
Peer Review
Now that you’ve finished your first draft, it’s time to get ready for the first big peer review. This week we’ll talk about how to give good critique, and we’ll present a sample story and sample workshop. At the end of the week, you’ll write critiques of three of your fellow students’ work while they are busy critiquing yours.
4 videos, 1 lectura
- Reading: Manuscript for Workshop Demonstration
- Vídeo: Workshop Demonstration, pt. 1
- Vídeo: Workshop Demonstration, pt. 2
- Vídeo: Three Peer Reviews
SEMANA 5
Using Critique and Sanding
Some of the critiques you’ve received will seem immediately right, some more challenging, some may seem averse to your goals. This week we discuss the “Dear Workshop” Letter: a way of settling your thoughts and making decisions about what to do with all that sometimes conflicting advice as you proceed toward the final draft. We also take a moment to do a shorter critique focused more closely on the word-level decisions that you and your fellow-writers have made. You’ll perform a “sanding revision” on a single page of three of your fellow writers’ stories—you’ll report to the writer all the places her language or punctuation could use clarifying, and, just as important, where they’re already working at their best.
6 videos, 1 lectura
- Vídeo: What is a Debriefing?
- Vídeo: Debriefing Example: What The Conversation Looks Like
- Reading: Manuscript for Sanding Demonstration
- Vídeo: What Is Sanding?
- Vídeo: Sanding Demonstration
- Vídeo: Milestone for This Week: Sanding Submission
Calificado: Sanding
SEMANA 6
Rewriting and Publication
If the theme of Week Three was Compose, compose, compose, this week’s theme is Revise, rewrite; revise, rewrite. We’ll discuss different ways of reading and approaching your draft to catch the action and the language and the characterization from different angles. Through a conversation with Brando Skyhorse, we’ll also take a moment to discuss what to do after the class if you hope some day soon to publish your work.
5 videos
- Vídeo: Introduction to Publication
- Vídeo: Brando Skyhorse on Publishing, pt. 1
- Vídeo: Brando Skyhorse on Publishing, pt. 2
- Vídeo: Making Progress
SEMANA 7
Where to Go From Here?
By the end of this week, you will finish the final version of your story. We’ll discuss ways of continuing the creative momentum that’s brought you this far—whether through writers’ groups or conferences, or just through a daily writing practice. Once you turn in the final version of your piece, you’ll perform final critiques of the stories of three of your fellow writers and will likewise receive their evaluations of your work. Congratulations: you will have completed the Specialization.
4 videos, 1 lectura
- Vídeo: Interview with Anne Greene about Conferences
- Reading: Online Writing Workshops
- Vídeo: Final Draft
- Vídeo: Congratulations!
Calificado: Final Draft
Preguntas Frecuentes
Cómo funciona
Coursework
Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.
Help from Your Peers
Connect with thousands of other learners and debate ideas, discuss course material, and get help mastering concepts.
Certificates
Earn official recognition for your work, and share your success with friends, colleagues, and employers.
Creadores
Wesleyan University
At Wesleyan, distinguished scholar-teachers work closely with students, taking advantage of fluidity among disciplines to explore the world with a variety of tools. The university seeks to build a diverse, energetic community of students, faculty, and staff who think critically and creatively and who value independence of mind and generosity of spirit.
Tarifa
| Comprar curso | |
|---|---|
| Accede a los materiales del curso | Disponible |
| Accede a los materiales con calificación | Disponible |
| Recibe una calificación final | Disponible |
| Obtén un Certificado de curso para compartir | Disponible |
Calificaciones y revisiones
Fantastic experience. I found myself reviewing a story by a well-regarded author. I learned a lot from reviewing the writing of others. That alone is worth the five stars. The commentary I got back was not that thorough, but when people took it seriously it was quite helpful and encouraging.
Excellent!
I loved it. It was a great opportunity to learn how to write a story.
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Overall, I found this course to be VERY ENJOYABLE. My ONLY concern was that the PDF requirement was not stressed at the very beginning of the course. Because I have only an old refurbished computer that does not have top of the line features, making PDF files did not always work as planned. OpenOffice and Adobe Acrobat sometimes easily converted to PDF for submissions, but sometimes did NOT. That made it difficult for some reviewers to open. Had I known earlier, I would have bought a new computer and avoided some frustrating submission difficulties. I really appreciate the effort some people had to go through to open my odd submissions. They gave me some valuable tips in their critiques that I might have missed out on had they not persisted. SO: Suggest at the outset that writers using paleolithic equipment like mine, check to see if their computers can generate PDF files. It will eliminate a lot of cussing later on.
Other than THAT, I had a great time, learned a lot, and HIGHLY recommend the program. Wonderful teachers!
~Jack Hayes