Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0220 - The Good Story

How do narratives function? What are the basic elements that combine to create a "good story"? This course will address these and other questions in an effort to provide students interested in reading and writing short fiction, film and theatrical scripts with the fundamental skills necessary for analyzing and creating successful narratives. Close readings will seek to reveal how writers are able to grip an audience's attention by building narrative questions, how plots are structured both within scenes and across an entire work, how resonant dialogue can effectively manage to impart information and create subtext, and how characters relate to plot. Classes will combine textual analysis, writing instruction, and peer review.A 100-level writing-intensive course is recommended but not required.

Arts, Design, and Media Writing and Research Independent Work In this course, students are expected to spend 6-8 hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time.