Writing Studies Course Offerings – Fall 2021

We have a great lineup coming this fall!

ENG 646: Multimedia Writing

Professor Paula Levine

Mondays, 6:30-9:15 pm – online synchronous Zoom sessions

CRN: 41897

(Area II or III)

This course is an intensive writing workshop that focuses on writing for multiple media platforms, long-form writing, and building a writing portfolio. Students will be guided in exploring, discovering, and strengthening their voices and writing styles with the goal of enhancing and expanding their analytical and creative communication skills, and preparing them for real world jobs.

A writer’s work can be incredibly varied and provide a multitude of challenges and opportunities for creativity.  Writers may draft a script for a storyboard developed by a graphic artist.  They may also create the text for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram posts.  They might write copy for a news broadcast, or their own blog.

The goal of this course is to introduce the many facets of multimedia writing while encouraging each student to find their own method, approach, and voice within the structures of each multimedia platform.


ENG 620: Special Topics in Literature:  American Voices

Dr. Owen Gilman

Tuesdays, 6:30-9:15 pm – online synchronous Zoom sessions

CRN: 41896

(Area I)

From early American voices of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson to strong voices of today in Rita Dove and Joy Harjo, this course involves looking for and listening to writers who represent the American spirit of innovation and independence.  Hemingway is not Faulkner; Richard Wright is not Toni Morrison.  Yet they all reflect America deeply and provocatively.  Besides reflecting on a diverse set of writers (poets, novelists, essayists), students will also workshop a piece of writing that presents their own distinctive voice.


ENG 550: Practice of Writing

Dr. Kay Cosgrove

Wednesdays, 6:30-9:15 pm – online synchronous Zoom sessions

CRN: 41895

(Core Class)

This course is designed as an Introduction to the Writing Studies Program, and it allows students to explore a variety of genres while they explore career options within the writing/publishing world. Students will literally “walk in the shoes” of different writers, playing the role of columnist, reporter, editor, poet, and fiction writer. At the end of the course, students will reflect on these different roles and begin brainstorming a possible thesis project in one area.


ENG 676: Writing for Publication

Professor Gina Tomaine

Thursdays, 6:30-9:15 pm – online synchronous Zoom sessions

CRN: 41898

(Area III)

Successful freelance publishing begins with an awareness of what editors and their readers want. It demands knowledge of the manuscript market and familiarity with the requirements of specific publications: subject, length, organization, style. Unpublished writers can perfect their skills by analysis and imitation of authors who already write for the publications in which learners wish to appear. The course requires that assignments be composed—from the beginning—for specific publications and that completed work will be submitted for publication. Content can be fiction, nonfiction, or journalism and varies with the instructor.

 

Writing Studies Summer 2021 Course Offerings


Summer I: ENG 621: Horror in Literature and Film (Area I)
Dr. Paul Patterson
Online and Asynchronous
CRN: 20024

 

From the horrors of Hell in Dante’s Inferno to the meta-narrative of Joss Whedon’s and Drew Goddard’s The Cabin in the Woods, this course explores the production, reception, aesthetics, politics, and evolution of the horror genre in both fiction and literature. In this course we will explore the shifts in the genre’s paradigm as landmark films and books are considered and contextualized. We will read the literary works and films against the historical, political, and industrial settings in which they were produced. The course will move in chronological order through the films, beginning with the classic films of the 1930s and 40s. We will next examine Cold War politics and how it influenced the genre, then the apathy of the Clinton ’90s as reflected in such films as I Know What you Did Last Summer and Scream. We will conclude by considering the trauma of lost bodies in both Dante’s Inferno and such post-9/11 films as Speilberg’s War of the Worlds, George Romero’s The Land of the Dead, and the 2006 remake of The Omen. The literary works of Dante, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Colson Whitehead, and the films of Alfred Hitchcock, Roman Polanski, Brian DePalma, David Cronenberg, Joss Whedon, and Mary Harron, among others, will be studied.

 

Summer II: ENG 640: Experiments in Narrative (Area II)
Dr. Kay Cosgrove
Tuesdays & Thursdays 6:00 – 8:00 pm (online meetings via Zoom)
CRN: 20233

 

In this course, students will carefully study specific approaches to craft and technique in creative writing, from long form narrative to minimalist poetry. Through detailed critical reading, analysis, and diagramming, students will explore the scaffolding that underpins creative writing, with special attention to form and genre. By analyzing the craft techniques used by other creative writers, students will learn to apply such approaches to form and technique effectively in their own work.

Spring 2021 Writing Studies Course Offerings

Note: All spring courses will be online and meet synchronously via Zoom from 6:30-9:15 p.m. one evening per week.

 

ENG 673: Screenwriting Workshop (3 credits)

Monday Night – 6:30 – 9:15 p.m.

Professor Tom Coyne

CRN: 10500

 

In this class, we will learn how to present story in a specific, challenging, and rewarding format that may be unknown to you, but the fundamentals of good screenwriting are the same as all good creative writing — detail, dialogue, character, voice, precision, and imagination. We will develop and locate our most cinema-ready narratives, and learn how to tell them via camera and microphone. We will read screenplays, write screenplays, and discuss the craft and conventions of professional screenwriting. We will study three-act structure and the fundamentals of dramatic storytelling, and we will look at a number of professional screenplays to guide our discussion of form and craft. Each member of the workshop will develop his or her own screen project from an initial concept/pitch to a full-length, feature screenplay. The class will also look at the business of screenwriting and discuss the overall development of screen projects. No screenwriting experience required. (Area III)

 

ENG 641: Special Topics: Writing as Activism: Race, Class, Gender (3 credits)

Tuesday Night – 6:30 – 9:15 p.m.

Dr. Ann E. Green

CRN: 10507

 We wouldn’t have to have Black Lives Matter if we hadn’t had 300 years of Black Lives Don’t Matter.—Unknown Source

There are people who can give chunks of information, perhaps, but that was not what I was about.  The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot.  And then, just possibly hopefully, it goes home, or on.— Audre Lorde

Most of all, I have tried to understand the politics of they, why human beings fear and stigmatize the different while secretly dreading that they might be one of the different themselves.  Class, race, sexuality, gender—and all of the other categories by which we categorize and dismiss each other—need to be excavated from the inside.—Dorothy Allison.

We will write, read, and talk about writing as a form of activism and explore how race, class, gender, sexuality, and dis/ability affect the writer. We will read widely and wildly, you will write a great deal, and learning will hopefully be incited, like a riot. Learning about this material at this moment, in light of Black Lives Matter and transformative efforts by BIPOC to transform systemic racism, is important and powerful.  What we read and write about in this course will extend beyond the classroom, and this can sometimes shift the lens of your thinking in compelling ways.  As we look at the categories of race, class, gender, and sexuality as Dorothy Allison suggests, and unpack them from the inside, you may find your worldview changing, expanding or exploding.  This is all part of the process.

We will begin by exploring how writers use intersectionality in their writings by doing a close reading of When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and thinking about the rhetorical strategies she employs when telling a complex memoir about Black Lives Matter. We will then consider other writers’ influences on Khan-Cullors, in particular James Baldwin and Audre Lorde.  We will write creative responses to the texts we read, and we will share and workshop these in class and consider how race, class, gender, sexuality, and dis/ability have shaped our own stories or the fictional stories we tell.

For the final project, students will write a piece of memoir, a long profile piece or interview, an essay, a short story, a series of poems, a play, a podcast, or a multimodal experiment, or a piece of a novel and then write a critical reflection of their work in light of the other readings in the course and their literary foremothers. Students will also consider how different genres can be used in activist work and how different audiences respond to different kinds of writing. (Area II)

 

ENG 550 The Practice of Writing (3 credits)

Wednesday night – 6:30 – 9:15 p.m.

Professor Tenaya Darlington

 CRN: 10511

 

This course is designed as an Introduction to the Writing Studies Program, and it allows students to explore a variety of genres while they explore career options within the writing/publishing world. Students will literally “walk in the shoes” of different writers, playing the role of columnist, reporter, editor, poet, and fiction writer. At the end of the course, students will reflect on these different roles and begin brainstorming a possible thesis project in one area. (Core Course)

  

ENG 680 Writing the Grant Proposal / Writing for Nonprofits (3 credits)

Thursday nights – 6:30 – 9:15 p.m.

Professor Maureen Saraco

CRN: 10514

 

This course will teach you the basics of how to write for a nonprofit organization, and how to tailor your message and style to various audiences. Focusing primarily on grant writing, you will learn the basics of how to ask for money from organizations in writing and how to navigate the grant-making process from the initial research to the submission of the final proposal. You will also practice writing other important pieces for any nonprofit, like appeal letters, blog posts, social media outreach, performance reports, and more. Through hands-on practice with real Philadelphia-area nonprofits, you’ll learn how to write for the different audiences a nonprofit organization needs to reach. While this course is geared towards the writing skills suited to nonprofit organizations, many of these skills are also transferrable to writing at other kinds of professional organizations. (Area III)

Update on Fall 2020 Writing Studies Courses

Dear Students,

You are probably wondering about how we are handling fall courses in Writing Studies. Below, you’ll find a list of updates about our courses. In short, all three of our courses will be available online via Zoom during the hours they are scheduled. We are offering one course (Fiction Workshop) with an in-person or online option, in an effort to provide some on-campus connection. This course is designed to be flexible and can move fully online if needed.

Please see the information below regarding each course. Also, please know that we will make every effort possible to make the fall semester productive, interactive, and enjoyable for you.

Online only:

ENG 560: Rhetoric Then and Now (Core Course)

Mondays – 6:30 – 9:15 p.m., Dr. Melissa Goldthwaite

Online only:

ENG 614: Road to Revolution in the 1960’s

Tuesdays – 6:30 – 9:15 p.m., Dr. Owen Gilman

In-person or online (via Zoom):

ENG 670: Fiction Writing Workshop

Thursdays – 6:30 – 9:15 p.m., Professor Tenaya Darlington

Note: We will be in a large classroom with 6 feet between desks. Masks are required. Anyone who prefers to attend online via Zoom is welcome to do so as long as you can do so in real-time. If the class opts to move entirely online at any point, we will do so. My goal is to be flexible and meet the needs of everyone in the course.

Best wishes,

Tenaya Darlington and Writing Studies Faculty

 

On Writing for a Catholic Newspaper

SJU Writing Studies student Kevin Pitts talks with Pete Sanchez.

 

 

 

 

 

Peter “Pete” Sanchez (06’) is a Staff Writer and Social Media Coordinator at The Catholic Star Herald. In 2017 he launched the podcast Talking Catholic, which interviews Catholics leaders in the Diocese of Camden.

Since I’m interested in Catholicism and writing, I decided to talk to Pete about his work:

Kevin: You said you viewed telling other people’s stories as a “calling.” What did you mean?

Pete: I truly believe God has given everyone gifts, and I am thankful that he has given me the gift of being able to share other people’s stories through writing, about how God is working in their lives, be it in their parish, school, home, or community.  It’s a calling that I feel I should use this gift, to not only give God glory, but make known his goodness.  God has blessed me with the ability to write, and I have a responsibility to build up His kingdom here.

Kevin: The Talking Catholic podcast has a segment called “Talking Saints,” which simply tells stories from the lives of Catholic saints. Why do you do this?

Pete: My entire life, it seems, I’ve been inspired by the lives of the saints – Augustine, John Paul II, Teresa of Calcutta, to name a few. Their time here on Earth is a blueprint for how all of us should live out our daily lives. At the beginning of every show, my co-host, Laurie Power and I start off with a quote from Pope Francis: “To be a Saint is not a privilege for the few, but a vocation for everyone.”  We began this monthly program not just to show saints’ holiness, but their humanity and struggles; none of them were perfect.  God’s love and grace, however, transformed these men and women into models we can follow. They demonstrate that sainthood is possible for all of us.

Kevin: The Herald‘s intended audience is Catholics in the Diocese of Camden, which includes priests and laypeople of various ethnicities and levels of involvement. Writing for such a range of people, does your audience ever surprise you?

Pete: Honestly, I’m always surprised when I hear from my editor that one of my stories was picked up and shared by a national Catholic publication. It doesn’t happen often. On most days, I view my audience as the Catholic Community of South Jersey.  When I hear that one of my stories was read by someone in another state, it’s surprising and humbling. When it happens, it just reinforces the responsibility I have in my profession, as a Catholic who happens to be a journalist, to tell the truth.

Kevin: Is there a patron saint of newspapers for the Herald? Or have you chosen your own patron saint of newspapers, or writing in general?

Pete: In my office, I have artwork of Saint Francis de Sales, patron saint of writers and the Catholic press. In the 16th and 17th centuries, as a priest in Geneva, Switzerland, he would share the faith by writing it down and slipping it under people’s doors. I’m trying to do the same; get the Gospel message out to as many as possible.


You can find Pete’s work at the links below:

Home

Talking Saints