English 361CP - Advanced Creative Writing Topics: 'On the Art of Character, and the Character Profile'

"Anything becomes interesting if you look at it long enough," Flaubert once wrote, and to this we might add anyone-as every individual holds a universe of complexity and context. In this class, we will read and discuss texts across genres closely following a single character or individual; writers will take on a semester-long challenge interviewing and profiling people they know, as well as individuals they don't know, investigating and building a portfolio of work about and around them. We will focus on technique and craft: How does one conduct an interview? How does one create a compelling, nuanced profile? How do we identify the extraordinary in the familiar? And we will focus on ethics: Is this story mine to tell? What are my biases as a writer? Whose gaze is present on the page and in media? The art of the profile has political currency, the possibility to shift collective imagination and attention. Mary Oliver wrote, "Attention is the beginning of devotion," and our attention as listeners, as witnesses, is more urgent than ever. All genres welcome.

Prereq: ENGL-201 or equivalent.