Keija Parssinen

This course introduces students to the elements of fiction writing. While each section of the course varies in approach and structure, activities and assignments may include intensive reading, workshops, writing, short and flash fiction, and exercises emphasizing various aspects of fiction such as place, dialogue and character. Students should check the online schedule for specific descriptions of each section. This counts toward the emphasis in creative writing and the creative practice requirement for the major. Admission to this course is open, though students may not take it in the first semester of their first year. Seats are reserved for students in each class year. Offered every year.

Students in this workshop write imaginative nonfiction in any of its traditional forms: memoirs, reflections, polemics, chronicles, idylls, lampoons, monographs, pamphlets, profiles, reviews, prefaces, sketches, remarks, complaints — anything but the traditional college essay. As in other writing workshops, attention in class is paid above all to the writing itself, word by word, sentence by sentence. This counts toward the emphasis in creative writing and the creative practice requirement for the major. Admission is open, though students may not take this course in the first semester of their first year. Seats are reserved for students in each class year. Offered most years.

This workshop focuses on discussion of participants' fiction as well as on exercises and playful experimentation. Principally, we are concerned with how stories work at every level. As we consider narrative strategies and practical methods for developing individual styles, along with approaches to revising work, we also read, as writers, a variety of outside texts. This counts toward the creative writing emphasis and toward the creative practice requirement for the major. Prerequisite: ENGL 200, 202 or 204 (or an equivalent introductory workshop) and permission of instructor via application. Consult the department for information on the application process and deadlines.

Lori May defines literary citizenship as a "term for engaging in the community with the intent of giving as much as, if not more so, than we take. Our literary world is a social ecosystem that relies on others: readers, writers, editors, reviewers, publishers, booksellers and so on. The writing and publishing world is one made of relationships. Writing itself may be a somewhat solitary activity, but once the story or poem is ‘done,’ we rely on others to read, share and publish our work. Yet there are so many levels of participation from others in this community.” This upper-level seminar — focusing on creative writing and literary citizenship — is aimed at preparing students for the writing life beyond Kenyon College. Throughout the semester, guest speakers visit the class and speak of the paths they took in their writing careers. Students examine the business side of writing while maintaining artistic integrity and other responsibilities writers have other than the creation of texts; what it means to give back; what it means to be part of a world of artists; and what it means to be a literary citizen. This course counts toward the creative practice requirement for the major. Prerequisite: ENGL 200, 201, 202, 206, 291 (creative writing-focused special topics course) and permission of instructor.

Students in this workshop undertake an extended creative project in prose (30-40 pages), which counts as their Senior Capstone project for the English major with an emphasis in creative writing. Projects in fiction, nonfiction, science and nature writing, and hybrid narrative forms are welcome. Students have the opportunity to workshop this project over the course of the semester, and study critical and creative readings chosen by the instructor. Prerequisite: ENGL 300 or ENGL 302, , senior English majors only.

This seminar is required for English majors pursuing an emphasis in creative writing. The course involves critical work on a topic chosen by the instructor (such as "Reliable and Unreliable: Investigating Narrative Voice," "Beginnings and Endings," "The Little Magazine in America" and "Documentary Poetics") to provide context and structure for students' creative work. Students should check online listings for the specific focus of each section. Although not primarily a workshop, this seminar requires students to work on a substantial creative project (fiction, nonfiction or poetry). Senior English majors pursuing an emphasis in literature are required to take ENGL 410 instead. Students pursuing honors will take ENGL 497 rather than the senior seminar. Senior standing and English major.

Individual study in English is a privilege reserved for senior majors who want to pursue a course of reading or complete a writing project on a topic not regularly offered in the curriculum. Because individual study is one option in a rich and varied English curriculum, it is intended to supplement, not take the place of, coursework, and it cannot normally be used to fulfill requirements for the major. An IS earns the student 0.5 units of credit, although in special cases it may be designed to earn 0.25 units. To qualify to enroll in an individual study, a student must identify a member of the English department willing to direct the project. In consultation with that faculty member, the student must write a one- to two-page proposal that the department chair must approve before the IS can go forward. The chair’s approval is required to ensure that no single faculty member becomes overburdened by directing too many IS courses. In the proposal, the student should provide a preliminary bibliography (and/or set of specific problems, goals and tasks) for the course, outline a specific schedule of reading and/or writing assignments, and describe in some detail the methods of assessment (e.g., a short story to be submitted for evaluation biweekly; a 30-page research paper submitted at course’s end, with rough drafts due at given intervals). Students should also briefly describe any prior coursework that particularly qualifies them for their proposed individual studies. The department expects IS students to meet regularly with their instructors for at least one hour per week, or the equivalent, at the discretion of the instructor. The amount of work submitted for a grade in an IS should approximate at least that required, on average, in 400-level English courses. In the case of group individual studies, a single proposal may be submitted, assuming that all group members follow the same protocols. Because students must enroll for individual studies by the seventh class day of each semester, they should begin discussion of their proposed individual study well in advance, preferably the semester before, so that there is time to devise the proposal and seek departmental approval.