Writing for the Screen I In this course we will examine the fundamental elements of dramatic narrative as they relate to visual storytelling. We will emphasize the process of generating original story material and learning the craft of screenwriting, including topics such as story, outline, scene structure, subtext, character objectives, formatting standards, and narrative strategies. Weekly writing assignments will emphasize visual storytelling techniques, tone and atmosphere, character relationships, and dialogue. Students will be required to complete two short screenplays. Required readings will inform and accompany close study of selected screenplays and films. (FMMC 0101 OR CRWR 0170 or approval of instructor)

Writing: Poetry, Fiction, NonFiction An introduction to the writing of poetry, short fiction, and nonfiction through analysis of writings by modern and contemporary poets and prose writers and regular discussion of student writing. Different instructors may choose to emphasize one literary form or another in a given semester. Workshops will focus on composition and revision, with particular attention to the basics of form and craft. This course is a prerequisite to CRWR 0380, CRWR 0385, CRWR 0370, and CRWR 0375. (This course is not a college writing course.)

Environmental Lit Workshop: Environmentalist Literature and Action Some would say we live in supremely disturbing times. A pandemic; the sixth extinction; fascism within democracies and militant nationalisms; climate apartheid, and a political economy based around the commodification and exploitation of people and the earth. In this course careful reading and analysis is paired with literary conversation and action. Course readings represent a wide array of environmental justice in differing genres. While we respond to assigned texts, we will simultaneously write our way toward an environmental literature of our own design.

The Structure of Poetry  This course is a workshop for beginning students in the field of creative writing. Students will read a selection of poems each week and write their own poems, producing a portfolio of their work at the end of the term. There will be an emphasis on revision. Students will be introduced to a range of forms as well, including prose poems, epistles, the tanka, the long poem, and the sonnet.

Slam Poetry: Artistry and Politics In this course, we will examine the artistry, politics, and history of slam poetry through a wide range of spoken word performances on video. In addition to writing short critiques, students will develop drafts for two new (3-minute) spoken word poems for performance, working in small groups and also individually with the professor over Zoom. Poets include the likes of Denice Frohman, Danez Smith, Portia O., Andrea Gibson, Rudy Francisco, Emi Mahmoud, Safia Elhillo, G. Yamazawa, Amir Safi, Rachel Rostad, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Yesika Salgado, Glori B., and Samantha Peterson, among others. Warning: some of the material in this course is explicit, emotionally intense, and disturbing. Weather permitting, some meetings may take place outside in person.  3 hrs. lect

Playwriting I: Beginning The purpose of the course is to gain a theoretical and practical understanding of writing for the stage. Students will read, watch, and analyze published plays, as well as work by their peers, but the focus throughout will remain on the writing and development of original work.

Poetry Games: Experimental Poetics and Avant-Garde Aesthetics Not all poetry is, as William Wordsworth put it, “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” Some poetry challenges the very nature of language, art, and subjectivity through various self-decentering forms of writing. In this course, we will study a century’s worth of avant-garde experimental poetry, from the Dadaists and Surrealists to the Oulipo group, the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets, and the conceptual and post-conceptual poetry movements of the 21st century, then create our own poetry using the same techniques and principles. The course is thus part survey and part writing workshop, with an emphasis on artistic process, linguistic theory, and the liberating power of constraints. Topics include: aleatory poetry, algorithmic poetry, blackout poetry, erasure poetry, concrete poetry, exquisite corpse, found poetry, homophonic translation, sound poetry, lipograms, S+7, etc.

Nonfiction across Genres In this seminar on contemporary nonfiction across genres, we will focus on notions of truth and how it is told in various subgenres. We will read, watch, and closely analyze archives, blogs, vlogs, journalism, narrative nonfiction, memoir, lyric nonfiction, haibun, graphic memoir, photo essays, film essays, podcasts, lists, and theory. We will ask why authors select the subgenres they do and investigate how artistic sense is made of worldly concerns. As there is a workshop component to this course, we will write, comment upon, and revise our own diverse works of nonfiction.

Decolonizing Creative Writing How might creative writing facilitate collective resistance to racial capitalism and transform us into more caring persons? In this course we will learn from reading and writing in solidarity with anti-capitalist and anti-racist literatures. Expect to read and write creative critiques of imperialism, nationalism, genocide, white settler colonialism, heteropatriarchy, social inequality, ecocide, and other injustices, and interrogate and upend the canon. We will expose ourselves to radical literature (in English and in translation), multimedia materials, photographic images, digital platforms, the built environment, legal cases, and more. Authors such as Arundhati Roy, Eduardo Galeano, Wu Ming-Yi, Svetlana Alexievich, Michiko Ishimure, Nuruddin Farah, Fiston Mujila, Pauline Alexis Gumbs, and Therese Hak Kyung Cha will help us to rethink the purpose of literature. (CRWR 170, CRWR 173, or CRWR 175)

Playwriting II: Advanced For students with experience writing short scripts or stories, this workshop will provide a support structure in which to write a full-length stage play. We will begin with extended free and guided writing exercises intended to help students write spontaneously and with commitment. Class discussions will explore scene construction, story structure, and the development of character arc. (ENAM 0170 or THEA/CRWR 0218 or FMMC/CRWR 0218; by approval) 2 1/

Writing for the Screen II Building on the skills acquired in Writing for the Screen I, students will complete the first drafts of their feature-length screenplay. Class discussion will focus on feature screenplay structure and theme development using feature films and screenplays. Each participant in the class will practice pitching, writing coverage, and outlining, culminating in a draft of a feature length script.

Advanced Fiction Workshop Study and practice in techniques of fiction writing through workshops and readings in short fiction and novels. Class discussions will be based on student manuscripts and published model works. Emphasis will be placed on composition and revision. (Approval required; please email a writing sample to cohen@middlebury.edu) (Formerly ENAM 0370) (Any 100-level CRWR course) (This course is not a college writing course) 3 hrs. sem

This course is an advanced workshop for students who have already done some work in poetry and are committed to the challenge of continued artistic development. Students will write a new poem each week, and revise at least eight of these for inclusion in a final chapbook project. Readings will include craft essays as well as several recent poetry collections by writers such as Hanif Abdurraqib and Natalie Diaz. Students must have completed (CRWR 0170 or CRWR 0175 and instructor approval).

Advanced Non-Fiction Workshop: Reading and Writing Memory and Landscape The human animal is shaped by place and memory of place. How can a writer best create what Nabokov called "bright blocks of perception" and evoke the power of formative landscapes? We will move between memoir, narrative non-fiction, and autobiographical fiction, reading Virginia Woolf, Nabokov, Jesmyn Ward, and Mary Oliver. We will contemplate the way memory works with Oliver Sacks and Robin Kimmerer. Students will generate critical and creative work based on their own experiences and adventures, with room for interdisciplinary/multi-genre output. (One intro CRWR course, or by instructor approval)

Poetry Games: Experimental Poetics and Avant-Garde Aesthetics Not all poetry is, as William Wordsworth put it, “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” Some poetry challenges the very nature of language, art, and subjectivity through various self-decentering forms of writing. In this course, we will study a century’s worth of avant-garde experimental poetry, from the Dadaists and Surrealists to the Oulipo group, the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets, and the conceptual and post-conceptual poetry movements of the 21st century, then create our own poetry using the same techniques and principles. The course is thus part survey and part writing workshop, with an emphasis on artistic process, linguistic theory, and the liberating power of constraints. Topics include: aleatory poetry, algorithmic poetry, blackout poetry, concrete poetry, erasure poetry, exquisite corpse, found poetry, homophonic translation, sound poetry, lipograms, S+7, etc.

The Poetry Chapbook In this course we will consider the form of the poetry chapbook. At around 15-30 pages (shorter than a full-length single-author collection of poetry), the chapbook is its own delightful form which often allows a poet to bring together a small set of poems that might share formal elements or might orbit a specific topic, theme, or narrative arc. Some chapbooks are more playful or experimental than the same poet’s full-length books. Some poets’ chapbooks become the seeds of future full-length books. In this course we will read and discuss an eclectic set of chapbooks by diverse contemporary poets, and we will work toward completing chapbooks of your own by the end of January, workshopping drafts along the way.  Margaret Ray is the author of GOOD GRIEF, THE GROUND (BOA Editions, 2023), which won the A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize and was a Lambda Literary Awards finalist. Her chapbook, SUPERSTITIONS OF THE MID-ATLANTIC was selected by Jericho Brown for the 2020 Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship Prize. She is a Middlebury alum./

Writing the Self  Memoir, reportage, criticism, essays: creative nonfiction holds it all. In this course we will read a range of nonfiction, from in-depth journalism to personal essays and memoir excerpts. We will use our own experiences to write in class and out, and we will share our work together. We’ll ask of our readings and ourselves, how does the “I” work? We’ll read diverse experiences and perspectives to ask how personal experience can enlighten – or detract from – larger themes or issues. Readings include nonfiction by Alexander Chee, Hilton Als, Kiese Laymon, Durga Chew-Bose, Leslie Jamison, Esme Weijung Wang, James Baldwin, and more.

The Art of Storytelling We will begin with an overview of oral storytelling traditions, from Native American to Western African to Irish. We will read excerpts from Arabian Nights, and we’ll dabble in psychology. Contemporary readings include work by Amy Tan, Tracy K. Smith, and Carmen Maria Machado. We’ll watch videos of stories told live for The Moth, and we’ll discuss our own family lore. A five-minute story can span decades or a few seconds —we’ll discuss timeline, along with stakes, scene-setting, and perspective. The class culminates in a Story Slam: students craft and perform true stories from their lives, without notes. Grades are based on participation, written analyses, creative writing assignments, and the final presentation.  Molly Johnsen holds an MA from the Bread Loaf School of English, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Syracuse University. She works as Academic Coordinator for the English Department at Middlebury./

When Truth Meets Craft: Practicing the Art of Literary Journalism For a while, journalism has been trending away from "just the facts" to a more overtly crafted form. Literary journalism both reflects an awareness of the impossibility of objectivity and acknowledges the power of story to enliven data. When does the reporter's experience illuminate our reading of nonfiction, and when does it detract? Conversely, how does a writer infuse a personal narrative with relevant facts, signaling to the reader the contextual dance between the two? In this course students will learn and practice essential elements of powerful first-person journalism. Readings to inform discussions on craft, voice, bias and method include Ted Conover's, "The First Person in Journalism Must be Earned," as well as essays by Sy Montgomery, Drew Lanham, Kathryn Schulz, and David Foster Wallace.  Helen Whybrow has a master's in journalism from Harvard and studied literature at Amherst College. As an editor for W.W. Norton, Milkweed and Orion Magazine she has helped dozens of nonfiction writers hone their craft over the past./

Short and Experimental Fictions In this course, we will read and write stories that challenge the boundaries of fiction. We will parse what is gained (and lost) when we elide convention, study how language can be the engine of a story, and experiment with form. We’ll explore literary techniques including compression, fragmentation, the long sentence, and collage, and read writers like Diane Williams, Lydia Davis, Garielle Lutz, Roberto Bolaño, Steven Dunn, Richard Chiem, Jennifer Egan, Sterling HolyWhiteMountain, and Carmen Maria Machado. We will also workshop, try out different approaches to revision, and, at the conclusion of the term, we will host a reading where students can share work from their final portfolios.   Jackson Frons is a 2016 graduate of Middlebury College and holds an MFA in fiction from Syracuse University. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Racquet Magazine, Joyland, Hobart, and Washington Square Review, among others./

Alexander Draper

Claire Hodgdon

Dana Yeaton

David Miranda Hardy

Ioana Uricaru

Jackson Frons

Jay Parini

Karin Gottshall

Margaret Ray

Megan Mayhew-Bergman

Molly Johnsen

Natasha Ngaiza

Robert Cohen

Spring Ulmer

Timothy Billings

Read 67 reviews for Creative Writing courses at Middlebury College. Find the best Creative Writing professors and courses.  Discover your new major today!

(Fall 25) Professor Gottshall is very caring and all around a very helpful instructor. She articulates feedback on your writing in a direct and actionable way, and the writing could be about basically anything. I thought all the discussions, workshops, and activities we had class were lively and engaging, but never stressful.

This was an amazing course that really helped with improving my writing! MMB is a great instructor, and she is really effective at breaking down complicated questions of narrative and strategy into really helpful rules of thumb. The class had a lot of reading; I personally would have preferred a bit more writing/workshop assignments. Also, it was a night class, and the logistics (Canvas, etc) were a bit of a mess. Still, her great teaching more than made up for it, and I would definitely take a class with her again. 

Megan is a very knowledgable writer and gives good advice on honing the craft of writing fiction. However, most valuably she is a very practical writer in a way that few other professors at Midd are and knows a lot about the world of getting published. If you take this class as someone interested in being a writer, invest in office hours with Megan because that connection is probably the most valuable part.