Creative Writing: The Craft of Style

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Creative Writing: The Craft of Style

This course is part of Creative Writing Specialization

Instructor: Salvatore Scibona

72,662 already enrolled

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4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

1,208 reviews

1 week to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

97%

Most learners liked this course

4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

1,208 reviews

1 week to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

97%

Most learners liked this course

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Taught in English

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This course is part of the Creative Writing Specialization

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There are 4 modules in this course

Your style is as unique and distinctive as your face, your voice, except that you can choose it, you can can work on it, enhance it. In this course we will introduce aspiring writers to the art of putting pressure on written language. We will study the use of metaphor and imagery, and demonstrate how clarity, grace, and inventiveness in word choice are imperative to a story’s success. Writers will emerge with the revision skills essential to all writers of good stories and good prose.

Here in the first module we focus on putting pressure on your words so that they mean what you intend. We balance abstraction with the need to make good sense. And we discuss the first and last stylistic difficulty of any prose writer, being clear.

What's included

9 videos2 readings1 peer review1 discussion prompt

9 videosTotal 56 minutes

Introduction to Style8 minutes
Introduction to Meaning, Sense, and Clarity7 minutes
The Pyramid of Language7 minutes
Scatteration4 minutes
Shop Talk with Amity Gaige15 minutes
Excellent Word Choice at Work, pt. 14 minutes
Excellent Word Choice at Work, pt. 23 minutes
Assignment Overview6 minutes
Feedback Expectations for the Specialization2 minutes

2 readingsTotal 20 minutes

A Note on Assignments10 minutes
Promo Codes10 minutes

1 peer reviewTotal 120 minutes

Sensuous Description120 minutes

1 discussion promptTotal 10 minutes

Fill in the Blank10 minutes

In the second module we look at the various parts of speech and how two of them—nouns and verbs—are the building blocks of good style and good narratives. By relying on nouns, we make the people, places, and things of the narrative world vivid. By relying on verbs we keep the story alive and in motion.

What's included

6 videos1 peer review1 discussion prompt

6 videosTotal 32 minutes

Introduction to Writing with Nouns and Verbs7 minutes
Nouns and Verbs at Work, pt. 13 minutes
Nouns and Verbs at Work, pt 2.5 minutes
Close Reading of "Lord of Misrule"4 minutes
A Conversation with Jaimy Gordon, Author of "Lord of Misrule"10 minutes
Assignment Overview3 minutes

1 peer reviewTotal 120 minutes

Very Short Narrative120 minutes

1 discussion promptTotal 10 minutes

Fill in the Blank10 minutes

In the third module, having practiced putting words in, we learn to take them out. And why: for humor, for clarity, for cleanliness, and for that fleet quality of wit that makes a style irresistible.

What's included

5 videos1 reading1 peer review

In the the final module of the course, we learn to balance the drive to get at ideas and feelings, with the need the story always has for concreteness, realness. We learn to express ideas in the form of physical things in a narrative world, to produce a style that speaks as much to the world of the senses as to the world of the mind.

What's included

6 videos1 peer review

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Instructor

Instructor ratings

(174 ratings)

Salvatore Scibona

Wesleyan University

4 Courses76,533 learners

Offered by

Wesleyan University

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Reviewed on Dec 17, 2018

Lessons were well done, good mix of teaching and illuminating discussion between accomplished writers. Exercises are creative and well thought out. Feedback from classmates is generally helpful.

Reviewed on Jun 30, 2020

Prof. Salvatore was very engaging and informative. I picked up many essential tools along the course which I can add to my arsenal and let it flow through my pen. Grateful.

Reviewed on Aug 30, 2020

This was the best and most useful to me of the four Wesleyan courses I've taken so far, all of which have been excellent and useful. This one really showed me a tool that I'd never understood.

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Frequently asked questions

To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.

When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.