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Approach
Today’s job market continues to place a premium
on individuals with excellent oral and written communication skills
as well as the
ability to exercise creative, imaginative problem
solving. As one of the largest creative writing programs in the country,
the Fiction
Writing department seeks to prepare students
not only for independent work as writers of publishable fiction, creative
nonfiction, and playwriting,
but also for a wide variety of professions such
as journalism, theater, management, advertising, teaching, and law.
We try to give students
several skills to discover the power of their
own voice and develop the critical-thinking skills crucial to success
in any endeavor.
Curriculum
Core classes use the Story Workshop® approach, a dynamic, process-based
method of teaching that draws fully upon the students’ diverse
backgrounds and experiences by emphasizing permission for, and development
of, each student’s unique voice and story content. Classes are
small. Students are taught to tap into their
imagination and potential for creative problem solving as they explore
the interrelated processes
of reading, listening, perceiving, experiencing,
oral telling, critical thinking, and writing-all in an intimate setting
that stresses close
individual attention and positive feedback from
faculty. Specialty writing courses include everything from genre fiction
and publishing
to creative nonfiction courses and courses related
to freelance writing applications and teaching.
Working Faculty
Our award-winning faculty comprises working writers,
including scriptwriters, journalists, and playwrights.
The department distinguishes itself in the diversity of experience
it offers students
and in its enthusiastic efforts to encourage
students to discover their own voices in writing about what interests
them most. There’s
an old saying that creative writing can’t be taught. We believe
it can. Everyone has the capacity to tell a
story and learn how to do it better and better, regardless of the
level of experience
with which they enter the program.
Professional Opportunity
Students have numerous opportunities to publish
their work through several of Columbia College
Chicago’s award-winning
publications. Hair Trigger, for example, the department’s
annual anthology, has won first-place prizes
from three different national student publication competitions.
The department also sponsors
two other nationally distributed publications:
Spec-Lit, a science fiction journal, and F Magazine, a journal devoted
primarily to
novels in progress. All of these publications
empower students to find their own voices while giving them a vehicle
through which
to showcase their work to a wider audience.
They also allow students to extend their learning beyond the classroom
and prepare for successful
competition in the current job market.
During its acclaimed Story Week Festival of Writers, and periodically
throughout the year, the department features well known visiting writers,
editors, and scholars who read from their work, meet with groups of
students, and give intensive manuscript conferences to individual
students.
In addition, our Internship program gives students the opportunity
to expand their professional skills before they graduate, placing
them with numerous publishing house s in Chicago, as well as newspapers,
magazines, and other publications.
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