Getting Started in Creative Writing (Online Course)

(EGL 278 W)

Do you have the passion to write? Do you want to share your story or capture observations about life in prose or poetry? Or perhaps you have been writing for awhile and now you feel ready to share your work with others. If these cases speak to you, honor that voice and consider pursuing your passion. This online course will offer all participants a supportive and safe environment to get started in creative writing and share work. We will explore various means of artistic expression, from creative nonfiction and poetry to short stories and dramatic scenes. You will have a chance to try several different writing exercises to find your own voice and discover which genre is right for you at this time. The course will consist of brief reading assignments, writing activities designed to build confidence and develop your craft, and the collegial review of work in progress through online postings in a virtual-workshop format. We will begin with four weeks of exercises and then experiment with writing in major genres: fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and drama. If this is the time for you to take the plunge into creative writing, honor that voice and join this writing community.

Please note: This is an online course.
For more information on additional online courses, please visit http://continuingstudies.stanford.edu/onlinewriting/.

Alyssa J. O'Brien, Lecturer, Stanford Introductory Studies

Alyssa O’Brien has co-authored seven books on writing and taught courses in creative writing, visual and cultural rhetoric, and oral communication. For the past three years, she has directed the Cross-Cultural Rhetoric Project, using technology to connect students across the world. O’Brien writes poetry and creative nonfiction, participates in two writers’ groups, and has been a faculty leader at the Stanford Sierra Camp Alumni Creative Writing retreat. She received the Phi Beta Kappa award for Outstanding Teaching in 2006.

Preview the textbooks for this course:

Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft, Janet Burroway - ISBN 10: 032135740X

Portable MFA in Creative Writing (New York Writers Workshop), The New York Writer's Workshop - ISBN 10 1582973504