Creative Writing

Fiction, Poetry, and Creative Nonfiction

Creative Writing Concentration

Be Creative

The Creative Writing concentration gives students the opportunity to strengthen their creative writing skills and infuses their analytic reading skills with imagination. Students take beginning, intermediate, and advanced courses in one or more of the following genres: fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.

Intermediate and advanced courses are primarily workshop classes in which students read and critique one another’s work. At the center of all creative writing courses is the study of craft.

Students in the Creative Writing concentration also take a wide variety of English and literature courses that prepare them to be writers by instructing them in literary traditions and styles. An internship program for all English majors offers Creative Writing students positions that may lead to employment. In addition, the Creative Writing program runs a vibrant reading series that gives students the chance to meet visiting writers.

To find out what classes you take in this concentration, take a look at the Creative Writing Advising Checksheet:

What Are Students Saying?

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Teal Vickrey

“I felt comfortable connecting with professors on a personal level which allowed me to feel comfortable when stretching my creative boundaries – because I did not fear being criticized or discouraged by professors. Their overall focus wasn’t to teach us one way of learning or one school of thought but to expand our horizons and allow us to discover the terrain on our own.”

~ Teal Vickrey, BA English: Creative Writing

“When I took my first creative writing class in the department, I knew it was my home. My favorite part of the English program was my professors. They were an amazing group of people and I wouldn’t be the same without their support, encouragement and critique.”

~Whitney Pratz, BA English with concentration in Creative Writing and an MFA: Creative Writing

Whitney Pratz
Justin Goodfellow

“I initially started out as a Business Major, but it was only in my English classes that I felt completely and wholly stimulated by everything I was engaged with. I think you have to devote yourself to that feeling when you are lucky enough to find it.”

~Justin Goodfellow, BA English: Creative Writing