Creative Nonfiction

Creative Nonfiction, previously known as Crafting the Essay, is a Writing course in the CTY program with no prerequisites. Its course code is WRT3, and it is offered at Baltimore, Lancaster, Los Angeles, and Saratoga Springs. It was previously available at Carlisle.

Course Description

Students in this course explore the literary devices and story-telling skills of creative writers and apply them to the crafting of fact-based narrative.

Beginning with memoir and personal essays and moving to essays about the world around them, students learn to tell true stories using the traditional tools of fiction and poetry, with particular attention to evocative imagery and the beauty of language. By reading the work of accomplished creative nonfiction writers such as David Foster Wallace, James Baldwin, and Joan Didion, students learn about the interplay of personal experience and journalistic reporting and consider how a writer’s voice and experiences shape a text. Students assess the freedoms and constraints of creative nonfiction by reading and discussing the work of writers who experiment with the boundaries of the genre.

In addition to daily reading and writing exercises, students complete several major writing projects. They experiment with literary elements, techniques for organizing essays, creating meaningful transitions, and beginning and ending their works effectively. Students leave the course with a clearer sense of audience and their own authorial voices, as well as a deeper understanding of the strategies and practices of strong nonfiction writing.

Class History

Taught by Ross Markonish in Lancaster from 2003-2006.

Taught by Eric Song in SAR.06.

Taught by Tim Ross in CAR.06.

Taught by Dona in JHU.06.1.

Taught by Veronica Guttierez and Danielle Roderick in LMU.07.

Taught by Chris McVey, who was absolutely brilliant, in SAR.09.

Crafting was taught by Angela Balcita in JHU.06. Angela taught the course through four different types of essays: Memoir, Personal Essay, Place Essay, and Lyric Essay. The students all wrote through pen names. The class examined many genres of essays, from deMontaigne to medical memoirs.

In 08 and 09 at LMU, the class was taught by Danielle Roderick and TAed by Granger Abuhoff. (In 09 they taught/TAed the B class). Danielle was wonderful as always, and Granger was... well, Granger. Any alum of the class now know far too many Granger jokes.

At CAR.10, Crafting the Essay was taught by Michael Horton, with TA Jessica

• • • In the NEW CTY course list, Crafting the Essay is gone :( It's been replaced by another course..

Another course, Creative Nonfiction, took its place at LMU.11. It was, for a short while, renamed Crafting the Essay, but the name returned to Creative Nonfiction for unknown reasons. Taught by Veronica Guttierez (CN a) and Danielle Roderick (CN b).

Creative Nonfiction A was taught by Willie McLafferty and TA'd by Adam Rudebusch at JHU.12.1.

Creative Non-Fiction was taught by the brilliant Laurence Ross and TA'd by Tides Author Betsy Cornwell at SAR.13.

Creative Nonfiction B at LOS.14.1 was taught by Kim Woltmann and TA'd by Mariah Young. The class wrote a memoir essay, a descriptive essay about a location/object, and a hermit crab essay about a relationship. The final anthology essay was a revision/amalgamation of the previous ones. There were 6 boys and 5 girls in the class, except one of the boys got sick and had to leave camp. This was regarded as a complete tragedy and resulted in the building of a shrine in the middle of the classroom.

Creative Nonfiction B at JHU 14.1 was taught by Jessica Young and TA'd by Lindsey Puvel. The class focused on writing memoirs, descriptive essays and on conceptual/thematic approaches to writing. Many drafts of many essays and poems were written, and at the end of the course, Lindsey let the boys do what will never be spoken of (because she would never ever ever let us jump into the fountain).

Creative Nonfiction at Skidmore 14.1 was taught by Laurence Ross. The class analyzed music videos by Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, and Adam Lambert in addition to writing and analyzing personal essays. The class grew very close over the course of the session, and was generally a good class, save for the unfortunate incident half way through the session.