We’ll discuss how to best use essential literary elements such as detail, dialogue, structure, and description, as well as how to collect information through interviews, research, and other methods. But research can be a crucial tool in filling in detail, clarifying doubts, or adding a new perspective to a personal essay. During this week we will consider some first steps in the revision process: making sure that the essay has a strong narrative and/or structure, eliminating superfluous material, balancing emotional themes with narrative content, and more. One of the exciting parts about creative nonfiction is the leeway it gives writers to explore emotional truths, but this should never come at the expense of facts. Readers respond to stories, not lists of facts. You will write an essay that uses the skills from the first three weeks and submit it to the instructor, and may also submit work to their classmates for Peer Critiques. Check out our FAQ page or contact the Director of Education, Sharla Yates at yates[at]creativenonfiction.org. In this class we’ll take a close look at the writing and research skills needed to write a personal essay, and refine them over the course of 10 weeks. We’ll discuss which types of details make the most impact on a reader, how to create descriptions that are accurate and evocative, and other skills. Finally, I think it’s important to be vigilant about how emotionally honest you are prepared to be in your creative non-fiction project. This week we will jump into the writing process with a close look at the powers of detail and description in writing. Week 6: Point of View Creative nonfiction is regarded by some readers as a more engaging form of nonfiction. Personal essays usually have a conversational tone that creates a connection with the reader. We tend to think of personal essays as being written exclusively in the first person, but taking on a different point of view can be a way to bring fresh insight to a personal encounter. Many people think of memoir as a type of writing that doesn’t require any research—one simply writes down one’s memories, and everything is taken care of. In this week we’ll discuss different points of view and how they can best be used to accomplish various writing goals. How much can you embellish before your nonfiction becomes fiction? During this week we’ll examine some writing techniques that make it possible to include research information without having it sound forced. How do you handle conflicting reports of the same event? Creative nonfiction is a broad term and encompasses many different forms of writing. You will complete a short writing assignment to share with the class. You will write an essay that uses the skills from Weeks 5 and 6, and submit it to the instructor. Week 3: From Caricature to Human Being / Group Review A personal essay is a short work of autobiographical nonfiction characterized by a sense of intimacy and a conversational manner. If you have a story to tell, if you’re fairly confessional and believe that truth is stranger than fiction, then the creative nonfiction, personal essay writing class is for you. A personal essay is a piece of writing that serves to describe an important lesson gathered from a writer’s life experiences. You will complete three essays, and will also be given optional shorter exercises that can later be developed into longer works. How can we best identify our individual weaknesses as writers and address them? ‘There’s nothing you can’t do with it. We’ll also discuss some practicalities, such as how to create a personal writing schedule and how to choose an essay topic for the class. This resource focuses on the three basic forms of creative nonfiction: the personal essay, the memoir essay, and the literary journalism essay. Personal essays that deal with ongoing events or long spans of time can be particularly challenging because it’s difficult to know which episodes are most essential to the story. Week 9: Experimenting with Structure / Group Review Personal essays are often written with a straightforward narrative structure: a story is told, starting at the beginning and working toward the end. This type of essay … When trying to translate a true story into a creative nonfiction personal essay or longer book-length piece, it’s important to follow some general guidelines. Research can add authenticity and specificity to your personal essay, but gracefully incorporating factual information into a personal story is a skill all its own. Creative nonfiction and personal essay are powerhouses in the story-telling genre. You will have an optional writing exercise. In addition, we’ll consider those instances where it pays to spend extra time on a particular scene, and how both expansion and compression fit into the larger narrative structure of an essay. A short section on the lyric essay is also discussed. Write authentic, well-crafted personal essays in this creative nonfiction course. Week 4: Revision #1 A type of creative nonfiction, the personal essay is ‘all over the map,’ according to Annie Dillard. Questions? Also called a personal statement. You will have an optional writing exercise. Week 7: Compression and Expansion Week 5: Researching Your Memories But experimenting with the chronology of events in an essay, or taking on an unusual form that reflects the essay’s main themes, can be a powerful tool for catching and holding the reader’s interest, or affecting the reader’s perception of the events being described. You will have an optional writing exercise. Week 2: Detail and Description Showing your personal essay to a novelist would be like asking a news reporter for advice on a poem. Here are some of the defining characteristics of creative nonfiction: Emphasis on building a narrative. Avoidance of overly technical terms. Week 10: Revision #2 Week 8: Incorporating Information During this week we’ll consider how best to handle this dilemma, and also look at ways to compress several events—or several characters—into one. We will discuss specific techniques for producing more powerful and graceful prose, as well as ways to edit a piece of writing to fit a particular length requirement. In this class we’ll take a close look at the writing and research skills needed to write a personal essay, and refine them over the course of 10 weeks. There will be substantial time spent on revision, that magical process that takes a pleasant anecdote and turns it into a breathtaking essay. You will have an optional writing exercise. How can we improve an essay sentence by sentence, or even word by word? You don’t actually have to write creative non-fiction. In this first week we’ll consider some of the questions that commonly arise while writing personal essays: What should you do when you can’t remember certain details from your past? Week 1: The Ground Rules of Memoir (and when to break them) 607 College Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232      Phone: 412-404-2975      Email: information@creativenonfiction.org      © 2012, Purchase a subscription to Creative Nonfiction, discussions of assigned readings and other general writing topics with peers and the instructor, written lectures and a selection of readings, opportunities to submit a full-length essay for instructor and/or peer review (up to 2,500 words and typically in weeks 3, 6, and 9), optional video conferences that are open to all students in Week 2 (and which will be available afterwards as a recording for those who cannot participate). You may complete an optional revision exercise. During this final week we’ll consider revision on the micro level. The Personal Essay In this week we’ll discuss methods for finding information about events that are long past, interviewing friends and family who may have a different perspective, and other related topics. Human emotions and interactions are at the heart of all personal essays, so there are few skills as important as being able to make the people in a personal essay seem real, unique, and worthy of the reader’s interest or compassion. You will write an essay using the skills from Weeks 7, 8, and 9 and submit it to the instructor (and, if desired, for Peer Critiques). 7. In this class we’ll explore several possibilities for structure. To create a better classroom experience for all, you are expected to participate weekly in class discussions to receive instructor feedback on your work. The essay often describes a significant event from a first-person perspective, and can be done in various writing styles, like a formal essay or as creative nonfiction. Aside from the live conference, there is no need to be online at any particular time of day. We will discuss how to use dialogue, character description, and other techniques to pursue this goal. Writing the Personal Essay Complete Syllabus.