Major in Writing (Creative Writing)

The English Major in Writing, an undergraduate major within the English Department at Northwestern University, teaches the writing of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. By asking students to examine poems and prose works with the eye of a writer, and by encouraging students to apprentice themselves, as energetically as possible, to the best literary models, the Writing Faculty hope to help promising artists in their craft, as well as to educate future editors, publishers, literary agents, teachers, and discerning readers. Some features of this unique and rigorous undergraduate program include the intensive writing course-sequence, the honors seminar and tutorial, and the opportunity for students to work with a number of superb visiting writers in addition to the faculty.

INITIAL COURSES
All students interested in the Writing Major must take two introductory writing courses, one in poetry (206) and one in either fiction (207) or creative nonfiction (208), before applying to the program.1, 2 On the 200-level, no prior knowledge of the genre is required. Admission to the next stage, the year-long 300-level advanced course sequences, is competitive. Admission is granted primarily on the basis of manscript quality and promise. An applicant may be admitted to study as a major, a minor, or a sequence-only student. No preference in admission is currently given to those who apply to the major, though there are later opportunities only open to majors (work with certain visiting writers, for example).

1No writing course may be taken pass/fail or audited.

2 The School of Continuing Studies also offers courses under the numbers 206, 207, and 208. These courses DO NOT count toward the English Major in Writing.

THE SEQUENCES

Theory and Practice of Poetry (393), Fiction (394), and Creative Nonfiction (395).
These sequences ask students to pursue a rigorous program that includes close reading of literary texts, explication and critical writing, imitation and modeling, and original creative work. Departing from Northwestern’s typical quarter system, the sequences are arranged in two consecutive semesters. They begin in the fall semester with specialized courses in the fundamental technical and rhetorical bases of each genre. Poetry students study the uses of metaphor and mode, and the theory of prosody (including both the major form of poetry in English—accentual-syllabic verse—and the minor forms -accentual, syllabic, and free verse). Fiction students consider the tenets of realism and its alternatives, and practice different approaches to style, characterization, structure and point of view. Creative nonfiction students focus on essay forms, logical method, authorial tone, and techniques of discourse and description. In all genres, imitations and models of great writers are assigned. The second semester in each genre, with a second instructor, is devoted to intensive writing of a longer original work—a poem of at least 120 lines or an essay/ novella of 50 to 70 pages.

OTHER REQUIRED COURSES

In addition to the sequences, MAJOR students must take “The Situation of Writing” (392), which investigates the writer’s relation to the culture, both currently and historically, AND a “Third-Genre Intro Course,” either 207 or 208, whichever has not been completed prior to admission to the major. “The Situation of Writing,” which is typically offered in the fall quarter, addresses such questions as the relation of criticism to imaginative literature, the rise and fall of specific literary genres, the effect of the university on the production and consumption of literary works, the state of the publishing industry, and international literary contexts. The ”Third-Genre Intro” requirement ensures that writing majors will have had experience reading and writing in all three major non-dramatic modes of imaginative writing. MAJORS and MINORS must take six and two, respectively, 300-level literature courses in the English Department. These courses must be “pure literature”; that is, courses in which the bulk of the reading is literature and not criticism or theory. MAJORS must also take two non-literature courses related to one another, taught in other department(s). These courses, in areas such as history, art, classics, and gender studies, broaden the student’s background for the study of literature. These must be approved by the major advisor.

MAJOR HONORS IN CREATIVE WRITING
The path to honors in the creative writing major involves two courses: the Honors Seminar (398) and the Honors Tutorial (399). In the honors seminar, taken in the fall of the senior year, students who have been selected propose, research, and begin drafting a significant writing project. In the tutorial, taken in the winter, the student works individually with a faculty member on the project. The project may be a combination of older work, which the student revises, and new work, or all new work. The tutorial term also involves an analytic component, so that the student gains further expertise in the close reading of writers immediately pertinent to the project. The project is reviewed by a committee of Writing Faculty, who decide whether to forward it to Weinberg College for Honors. Translation projects in prose and poetry are now also possible for the Honors Tutorial.

OTHER PROGRAM FEATURES
Several members of the staff of the Writing Major are or have been editors of literary quarterlies, small presses, or established publishing houses. Thus instruction in the theory and practice of fiction, poetry, and the essay is augmented by the faculty’s considerable knowledge of publishing, editing, and book preparation. Furthermore, all of the Writing Major faculty are currently publishing their own work in journals and in book form.

Contributing to the lively atmosphere for undergraduate writers at Northwestern are several publishing and academic initiatives: The University-wide Center for the Writing Arts also hosts visitors for entire terms. Writing by students at Northwestern is recognized by the award-winning student literary magazine, Helicon, and by the annual spring competition for English Department Prizes.

Another attractive feature of the English Major in Writing is the Writers-in-Residence Program. Each year we bring to campus at least one writer in each genre for one week of writing classes and advanced seminars, a public reading, and individual conferences with advanced writing students.

RECOMMENDED SCHEDULE FOR PROSPECTIVE WRITING MAJORS
In the Freshman Year:
ENGLISH 210-1,2 English Literary Traditions OR

ENGLISH 270-1,2 American Literary Traditions
(while not required, these are excellent background courses for writing students, and also serve as prerequisites for the English literature major)

In the Sophomore Year:
Fall, ENGLISH 206 Reading and Writing Poetry;
Winter, ENGLISH 207 Reading and Writing Fiction OR

ENGLISH 208 Reading & Writing Creative Nonfiction
Spring (early May), application to the Program, then conference with new faculty advisor.

ADMISSION
Students may apply for admission to the Writing Major through the English Office, University Hall 215, in the spring of each year.

REVIEW OF THE JUNIOR YEAR
The work of all Writing Majors is reviewed during each semester of the 300-level sequences.