Writing Your World

The best nonfiction is vivid, informative, and gripping. It can startle readers with new perspectives on society, reveal mysteries in medicine, bring life and character to history, and build suspense into feats of engineering. In memoirs, biographies, and investigations, nonfiction writers challenge readers to understand others, to engage with new and stimulating ideas, and to broaden their views of the world. This writing workshop will develop your understanding of nonfiction writing strategies and help you blend facts with figurative language to create vibrant, memorable nonfiction. In daily exercises, and your classmates will generate ideas and record observations, experiment with literary devices, acquire techniques for organizing ideas, create meaningful transitions, and learn how to begin and end your works effectively. Along the way, you will develop the close-reading, critical-thinking, writing, and revision skills that are important for success in high school and college-level coursework across the disciplines. Typical Class Size: 16-18 Course Overview Learning Objectives: Read and engage with authors and texts that define the genre of creative nonfiction through memoirs, biographies, and other forms of personal writing Cultivate and strengthen your creative writing skills as you draft, edit, and revise your nonfiction essays Understand the essential role of figurative language and literary devices in the structure of creative writing, and use them while employing rhetorical strategies to write vivid and engaging nonfiction Collaborate with peers in a writing workshop founded on the principles of mutual respect, collegiality, the pursuit of excellence in the craft of writing, and constructive critique