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Academic writing at a university level can be a daunting task. Whether it\u2019s forming a strong thesis statement, organizing evidence to support a claim, or learning proper MLA format, constructing an academic essay remains an integral part of a college curriculum. Writing pushes students to communicate and argue effectively, but also to develop their own voice. \u00a0For students who aspire to write creatively, the University of Michigan\u2019s English department is proud to offer the creative writing minor and the creative writing sub-concentration.<\/p>\n
The minor is not be mistaken for the sub-concentration. A crucial difference is that the minor is available to undergraduate students studying outside of the English department, whereas the creative writing sub-concentration is a year-long program specific to English majors that requires a senior thesis. \u201cIf you are going to do English, you can take a lot of creative writing classes and just count them [towards the major] and that\u2019s fine,\u201d said Cody Walker, the Director of the Undergraduate Program in Creative Writing. \u201cIf [English majors] really want to take it to another level, you can apply to the creative writing sub-concentration.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was only less than a decade ago that the creative writing minor emerged in the English department. Walker, who has been running it for the past three years, revealed how the minor was \u201cdesigned to be separate from the English major\u201d. Students interested in the creative writing minor should begin with enrolling in English 223, a course that typically explores prose and poetry, as well as being a starting ground to practice one\u2019s critiquing skills through in-class workshops. Once students have completed this prerequisite, they may declare the creative writing minor. Students can then advance to English 323\/423 for fiction writing OR English 324\/424 for poetry writing, and continue growing their writing portfolios. These 300-400 level courses, however, do involve submitting samples of the student\u2019s work to the instructor to be granted approval into the course. An additional nine English credits \u2014 be it literature or language courses \u2014 also fall under the minor\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n
Within the past year, the English department has introduced creative nonfiction as a third avenue for those pursuing or interested in the creative writing minor. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a journalism major here at U of M, [but] a lot of people interested in longform journalism…come to us,\u201d said Walker. Outside of journalism, creative nonfiction also includes memoir, art of the essay, and reviewing, to name a few.<\/p>\n
The creative writing sub-concentration stretches further back to the \u201890s, according to Walker, who took over the directorship after Keith Taylor retired in 2018. \u201cI loved the program, I was eager to raise my hand when it was time to find a new director,\u201d said Walker.<\/p>\n
English majors interested in the sub-concentration program are to apply in the winter semester of their junior year, after they\u2019ve taken or are currently enrolled in English 323\/324. The sub-concentration accepts a limited number of applicants every year, with applications being reviewed early on in the winter semester. A panel of three judges, of which Walker is a part, reviews each student\u2019s submitted writing sample. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for a couple of different things,\u201d Walker divulged, when asked about the panel\u2019s judging process. \u201cIs this somebody [who\u2019s] interested in language, who cares about words…about the way the words knock against each other?\u201d Walker differentiated this from a story or poetry piece feeling \u201cresolved\u201d or \u201ccompleted\u201d in the judges\u2019 eyes. \u201cThat\u2019s great if that happens,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I think more important is, does the writing feel alive?\u201d<\/p>\n
English majors accepted into the sub-concentration program first meet their cohort in April of their junior year to \u201clay down the groundwork\u201d for their final undergraduate year. \u201cThe heavy lifting happens in the winter semester [of their senior year],\u201d explained Walker. In the early weeks of program, however, Walker devotes much time establishing a tight-knit community among the cohort. \u201cIt\u2019s just so obvious to me that a class goes well when everybody\u2019s on board and everybody is supporting each other,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In the fall, the sub-concentration cohort meets weekly as a group and individually with a first reader \u2014 Walker \u2014 and bi-weekly with a second reader, who is a faculty member on UM\u2019s campus. Second readers tend to hail from the English department, but as Walker said, \u201cIt could be anyone on campus who seems like they\u2019d be a helpful reader.\u201d From there, in January when English 428 begins, the cohort meets once a week for workshop on their thesis project. Theses end up being \u201cclose to book-length\u201d as Walker described; for poetry students this means a range of 45 to 55 polished pages of work, while for fiction writers the range is kicked up to 70 to 100 pages, whether that is a novella or a compilation of short stories or anthologies.<\/p>\n
The work and draft overhauls that go into creating a final thesis is where having a support network becomes a crucial component. Writing is a vulnerable process for many, though, and the aspect of sharing one\u2019s work in a workshop can be intimidating, regardless of how green or well-practiced a student is with writing. \u201cIt\u2019s up to the instructor to create a space where people are going to feel comfortable,\u201d supplemented Walker, \u201cand I know we have really wonderful faculty who prioritize that.\u201d Walker has mostly taught poetry workshop courses with the occasional fiction workshop at Michigan, but the standard of students being respectful and civil towards each other firmly stands. In terms of establishing a community within the class \u2014 regardless of if it’s poetry, fiction, or the sub-concentration workshop \u2014 Walker warmly said, \u201cIt\u2019s really not that hard to do.\u201d Workshops aren\u2019t the \u201cPollyannaish experience\u201d of endless praise, as Walker put it, but he continued by saying, \u201cEven if you\u2019ve been through a round of criticism, people are essentially on your side. It\u2019s in the service of wanting you to get to the place that you yourself want to get to as a writer, so we\u2019re all in this together.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of the semester, the creative writing sub-concentration group has the opportunity to share their work publicly by doing readings at Ann Arbor\u2019s Literati Bookstore. There are also readings at Angell Hall with the English Lit honors group. Creative writing minors are not to feel left out, however. In April, there is the Hopwood Reading to give the minors sense of community as well meet those in the cohort.<\/p>\n
Additionally, since becoming director of the sub-concentration program, Walker has began a partnership with Ann Arbor\u2019s Wolverine Press<\/a> to create broadside posters, where students of the cohort compile their work into one piece. This year the process has been expanded, as the cohort will actually go to Wolverine Press and do the ink-work themselves. \u201cThe more we can make connections with folks outside of Angell Hall, the better,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n As of 2020, the deadline for English juniors to apply to the creative writing sub-concentration<\/a> is Friday, February<\/strong> 7th<\/strong>. Students further interested in this program or who have questions about the creative-writing minor<\/a> may contact Cody Walker<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wolverine Press’s<\/a> broadside poster in association with the 2019 creative writing cohort.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Academic writing at a university level can be a daunting task. Whether it\u2019s forming a strong thesis statement, organizing evidence to support a claim, or learning proper MLA format, constructing an academic essay remains an integral part of a college curriculum. Writing pushes students to communicate and argue effectively, but also to develop their own Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[65,72,52,66,68,59],"class_list":["post-787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-on-campus","tag-creativewriting","tag-creativewritingminor","tag-english","tag-englishmajor","tag-subconcentration","tag-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/170"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":833,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions\/833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/01\/82950510_131530684646505_9077591153087348736_n-768x1024.jpg\")