Creative Writing Courses Online

Learn 4 powerful "visual" approaches to telling your stories

Whether you're a CNF Outlier or a creative nonfiction novice, this course will show you how to produce new, unconventional personal narratives with four forms inspired by visual art.

Join a small cohort of 10 learners led by award-winning writer, Nicole Breit, for an eye-opening 6-week exploration of the panel essay (diptych and triptych), the visual essay, and the decentered hermit crab essay.

Students will read the work of diverse essayists writing on the far outer edges of CNF, whose essays marry image and text, story and structure.

By the end of the course, writers will have a deeper understanding of how to produce more dynamic and memorable work using the tools of textual and visual storytelling.

In this 6-week course learners will:

• Examine the characteristics of the two- and three-fold panel essay (i.e. diptych and triptych), visual essay (photo essay, concrete essay and pictorial essay), and the decentered hermit crab 
• Develop new craft skills including rumination and "perhapsing", striking the balance of showing and telling, and effective collage techniques when merging image and text
• Get in-depth insight into these four new forms in Q and As with innovative CNF writers: Katharine Haake, Monet Patrice Thomas, Erica Trabold, and Christine Wilks
• Discover techniques used to tap creativity in 4 slideshow presentations; topics include mindfulness practice for writers; an audio guided meditation; a mini-lesson on concrete essays; and the evolution of a decentered hermit crab essay--from first sketch to final product
• Understand the ebbs and flows of the creative process--and how being stuck can be a gift
• Ask questions, discuss readings, and share learning discoveries in our private discussion forum
• Complete pre-writing exercises designed to spark ideas for a first draft of each assignment
• Practice each form in four assignments to be submitted for instructor feedback; one revised piece will be submitted in week 6 for final recommendations and suggested next steps
• Learn about relevant markets for publishing the panel essay, visual essay, and decentered/interactive creative non-fiction

Learner support:

The instructor will be available for virtual "office hours" Tuesdays from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm PST and Fridays from 10:30 am to noon pm PST. At these times, students can expect the instructor to be available for "live" discussions in our Disqus group and/or prompt email response.

Outside office hours learners can expect to receive a response to their emails within 24-48 hours.

Course dates and fee

Next session: June 18 to July 30, 2018

Fee: $349 USD

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