Writing (WRIT)

Turn the page on literary theory and start reading as a writer. Students unpack the classics—and more—in terms of technique such as narrative flow, cadence, transitions and tone. Through exercises and short imitative pieces, students learn how to mine texts for the very nuts and bolts of writing.

Poets spark imagination and emotion through aesthetic word choice, figurative language and careful construction of linguistic rhythm. Through meticulous analysis of form and content, students uncover the structural and rhetorical devices employed by master poets.

All storytellers, from novelists to screenwriters, require a solid foundation in fiction writing. In this course, students read a range of fiction works and master the fundamentals of writing fiction across multiple genres, including key components of character development, plot, setting, and theme.

From lyric essays to powerful memoirs, from food writing to travel stories, creative nonfiction is a versatile art form that traverses a multitude of subjects. Students develop their own styles and voices, moving beyond the boundaries of traditional nonfiction genres to present truthful stories of people, places, and events.

Students read, discuss and analyze classic and contemporary short stories and learn a range of narrative strategies for creating plausible characters and conflict. Students produce manuscripts for group readings and workshop discussion and revise their work for the portfolio and for possible submission to publications within and beyond the university.

Writers contribute to the entertainment industry across a diverse range of platforms. From social media content to online movie reviews, students learn the storytelling techniques professional writers use to connect arts and entertainment organizations with their audiences.

Promotional writing takes many forms–from 140 characters tweeted to followers to billion-dollar marketing campaigns. Promotional writing involves telling a story in a particular way to reach a certain audience and achieve a goal. Students hone their communication skills to better promote themselves and their work by learning about effective promotional strategies and creating a promotional plan of their own.

Contemporary writers create interactive story experiences that extend across platforms, and allow audiences to engage with content in new ways. Through application of multi-platform storytelling theories and methods, students immerse audiences in participatory and interactive worlds within various creative industries.

In today’s crowded marketplace, businesses use stories to craft brand identities, develop relationships with consumers, and find creative solutions to complex problems. Students explore how storytelling is used in corporate and business communication, as well as the many ways writers contribute to the problem-solving process in the professional world.

Repetition, precision, rhythm, compression and imagism are the structural and artistic elements that form the foundation of poetry. Through critical examination of contemporary poetry, students develop an insistent attention to language, syntax and sound, elevating the quality of their work and building a sophisticated portfolio of original poetry.

This course invites students to consider how the elements of story work in a novel, with a special emphasis on how writers create dynamic characters and move those characters through the action of the story. Students produce manuscripts for group readings.

This course offers an intense focus for students interested in publishing their work and covers elements of nonfiction writing such as tone, unity and thematic development. Students produce manuscripts for group critiques.

All creative writing projects require research to inform and imbue the work with depth, context, texture, authenticity, and plausibility. In this course, students explore the tools and methods of story research and examine the ways in which research is used to elevate and amplify storytelling.

From Simon Winchester’s “The Professor and the Madman” to Erik Larson's "The Devil in the White City," students explore critical elements within the long forms of fiction and nonfiction. They master time and place as character, the symphonic quality of structure, and the notion that research must be fluid in order to follow the dictates of narrative. They also learn how to position their own writing within the publishing marketplace.

From religious texts to fairy tales, students explore the central elements of story writing. Using imitative techniques, they master narrative drive, character development, cadence and other essential components of story writing. They are then able to use these techniques to enhance any kind of writing in any field of study.

The idea of "place" encompasses the physical and/or natural environment as well as the environment of culture. Students create descriptive work suitable for publication in venues that focus on exploration of place.

Fashion writing combines an understanding of the principles and practice of journalism with an ability to identify trends and newsmakers in the fashion industry. Students study the basics of good journalistic writing through readings and exercises, and learn how to look at and think about fashion from the perspective of a writer. The course culminates in each student producing a publication-worthy, fashion-themed story.

From video essays to data journalism, effective storytellers find ways to engage with audiences on significant and critical issues. Using a range of investigative and storytelling techniques, students explore trends and challenges in contemporary journalism. They learn to share their narratives across a range of video and other digital platforms for a variety of organizations.

Contemporary writing must include the art of criticism in all fields studied at SCAD. In this course, students develop a keen eye, learn to put critical thought into words, and write reviews suitable for publication.

From finding an agent to pitching a literary piece, freelance writers must possess promotional skills and business acumen. In this course, students identify freelance opportunities and develop communication and presentation skills to promote their writing. Armed with a polished portfolio, students curate original work for industries—from editorial and publishing houses to marketing and entertainment.

When storytelling meets emerging media, writers are limited only by their imaginations. In this course, students use a variety of digital platforms and evolving technologies to bring non-linear, interactive stories, and multimedia stories to the screen. Students create stories for a wide range of audiences and discover the possibilities available to writers in the field of emerging media.

From W.S. Merwin to Louise Glück, successful contemporary poets captivate audiences with a distinctive poetic vision and voice. Building on a proficiency and knowledge of complex poetic forms, students refine manuscripts based on an emulation and reinterpretation of the poetic artistry of contemporary poets. Students gain valuable insight into their own work through intensive critique and revision as they prepare for professional opportunities.

Primarily for writing minors, this course helps students polish their work for publication, providing advanced training in techniques of fiction writing through workshops and revisions. Students produce work for a public forum.

Advanced writing students hone their creative nonfiction writing skills by drafting, critiquing and revising work for their portfolios and possible publication. This course draws from and builds upon the knowledge and skills gained in previous courses, paying particular attention to the mastery of form and the cultivation of style.

The basics of good interviewing, reporting and writing remain essential to the craft of writing for magazines. Students learn to generate story ideas, identify angles, interview sources and write personality profiles, feature articles and shorter front- and back-of-book magazine pieces. Students hone skills in freelance pitching, self-promotion and marketing.

Large corporations, technology start-ups and financial institutions all need writers, but they need writers with a specialized skill set. From contract work to technical writing and training, this course prepares students for work in the corporate world.

Writers of literary journalism use fiction-writing techniques to tell nonfiction stories. Students review the history of this popular genre by reading the work of its most accomplished writers. Students research their topics, conduct successful interviews and structure the information they have gathered into compelling narratives.

Students reimagine the roles of characterization and setting as they explore opportunities to publish their work. Students read seminal primary and secondary texts from the 20th and 21st centuries in order to grapple with issues such as the writer/subject dichotomy, the relationship between truth and memory, and the crucial question: What makes a life worth writing about?

Students read classic and contemporary works of literary humor and write their own humor pieces, such as stories, essays, lists and letters. By sharing their work in a highly collaborative writers' room environment, students learn how writers get laughs on the way to getting at something even better: the truth.

From vampires and zombies to gunfights and swooning heroines, this course explores a range of contemporary literature that falls outside the traditional academic scope. Students engage in critical readings of major writers from horror, fantasy, romance, mystery, thriller, science fiction and other often-marginalized genres. When appropriate, students examine how those stories have been retold or reevaluated in other media, such as film, art, photography, online media or television. Students also write their own works of genre fiction.

From online fiction to documentary podcasts, serials are a popular and versatile form of storytelling. Through exploration of a variety of genres, students produce serialized novels, podcasts, or episodes for streaming services. By practicing the form across genres, students become agile, multi-disciplined storytellers for a dynamic mass media market.

Internships offer students valuable opportunities to work in a professional environment and gain firsthand experience to help them prepare for careers. In an approved internship setting, a student typically spends one quarter working with an on-site professional supervisor and a faculty internship supervisor to achieve specific goals and objectives related to the program of study.

Successfully pitching original work requires writers to thoughtfully synthesize market opportunities and professional goals. In this course, students polish and curate original writing as publication-ready pieces suitable for individual career goals and aspirations. Leveraging their personal writing identity and professional digital presence, students appropriately approach and pitch to editors and other writing professionals.

Students examine the development of new media; explore its theoretical, social and practical implications; and examine new media through and relative to the writing process in order to understand and communicate ideas using new media and technology.

By learning techniques in storytelling, characterization, scene-building and point of view, students develop their fiction-writing skills. Students learn from being exposed to the work of major fiction writers as well as from engaging in constructive critiques of each other's fiction in workshops.

In this course, students work on their essays or chapters of a nonfiction work. Their efforts are developed towards mastery of their own writing style. Students also present and discuss their works in the classroom environment.

Studying authors such as Joan Didion and Graham Greene, students tackle the central elements of writing about place, including narrative drive, focused intention and research techniques. By exploring literary journalism, memoir, fiction and travel writing, students learn to bring a location to life, thereby making place a character in their prose.

Students in this course continue to work on their essays or chapters and themes from Nonfiction I. Activities include furthering previous works in nonfiction as a way to develop mastery in their own idiom. This course enables students to work toward a book-length, publishable manuscript; a collection of essays; or a thesis.

This course approaches persuasive writing as an essential complement to visual forms such as advertising design. It also explores the deconstruction of written expression associated with advertising, design and promotion embodied in copywriting for visually creative scenarios.

Fashion writing combines traditional journalistic skills with the ability to spot trends and interview newsmakers in the fashion industry. Writers with the right skills and sensibilities have numerous publication opportunities in traditional print as well as emerging media. This course imparts the basics of good journalistic writing along with enabling students to look at and think about fashion from the perspective of a writer. Students develop a publication-worthy, fashion-themed story, as well as query letters for article placement.

In this course, students delve into the meaning of George Saunders' maxim that "Humor is what happens when we're told the truth quicker and more directly than we're used to." Students study how today's funniest writers create humor by mining our anxieties and a rich vein of proven literary techniques. Students then apply those techniques to write funny short works of their own.

Students in this course learn the skills necessary to communicate effectively, professionally and persuasively to a wide variety of workplace audiences. Students gain experience creating various workplace documents including proposals, reports and procedures as well as typical forms of business correspondence such as letters and memos. Collaboration, communicating ethically and communicating with international audiences also are stressed.

Graduate work in starting one’s first novel or work of nonfiction provides intensive focus on the first chapter—the foundation of all large works—and how to get started on one’s graduate thesis material.

Students explore the history, current status and importance of responsible journalism in today's society and identify industry trends and opportunities. Through lectures, presentations, workshops and discussions, students learn the skills of news reporting and editing, while exploring ethical issues involved in covering news.

Reviewing is one of the surest ways for a writer to enter the marketplace successfully. This course introduces students to the three fundamental aspects of any publishable review—summary, analysis and opinion—and examines each within various genres (film, music, design, etc.). Students learn how to both refine the application and discover the malleability of these elements. Students are encouraged to submit their best work for print and online publication throughout the quarter.

Editors depend upon freelancers to provide topical content that is informative, entertaining and suitable for their print and online publications. Students in this course learn how to generate their own freelance article ideas, conduct interviews, target publications, pitch editors, and research and craft various types of articles for paid publication. From queries to contracts and clippings, students learn the art, ethics and business of freelance writing.

Graduate work in this course includes writing query letters and formal book proposals, submitting work to outside editors and working in an editorial setting in the classroom. Workshops are conducted as editorial meetings with agendas, focus and critique.

Promotional writing takes many forms—from 140 characters tweeted to followers to billion-dollar marketing campaigns. Promotional writing involves telling a story in a particular way to reach a certain audience and achieve a goal. Students are immersed into the study and practice of promotional writing, which involves developing and managing strategic relationships with internal and external stakeholders by researching and planning promotion plans and measuring promotion effectiveness.

Students in this course undertake a field assignment under the supervision of a faculty member.

Students in this course undertake a teaching assignment under the supervision of a faculty member.

Students enrolled in the M.F.A. program in writing are required to complete a thesis demonstrating knowledge of forms and the history of their discipline, as well as professional writing skills. Students work with their faculty adviser throughout the process of thesis completion.