English CWNM. Nonfiction Writing for Magazines

Instructor: Maggie Doherty
Monday, 3:00-5:45pm | Location: TBD
Enrollment: Limited to 12 students

This course will focus on the genres of nonfiction writing commonly published in magazines: the feature, the profile, the personal essay, and longform arts criticism. We will read and discuss examples of such pieces from magazines large (Harper’s, The New Yorker) and small (n+1, The Drift); our examples will be drawn from the last several years. We will discuss both the process of writing such pieces—research, reporting, drafting, editing—and the techniques required to write informative, engaging, elegant nonfiction. In addition to short writing exercises performed in class and outside of class, each student will write one long piece in the genre of their choosing over the course of the semester, workshopping the piece twice, at different stages of completion. Although some attention will be paid to pitching and placing work in magazines, the focus of the course will be on the writing process itself.

Supplemental Application Information: Please submit 750-1250 words (roughly 3-5 pages) of creative or journalistic writing; nonfiction of some kind is preferred, but fiction is acceptable. (Please no poetry, however.) Additionally, please include a brief letter (1-2 pages, double-spaced) introducing yourself as a writer. What draws you to writing? What draws you to nonfiction in particular? How does writing fit into your life? What are your goals as a writer, and how do you think our course might help you meet them?

Apply via Submittable (deadline: 11:59pm EDT on Sunday, November 10)