Foundation Courses and Special Workshops

Foundation Courses

Highly recommended for all students, these essential courses provide the foundation for any writing path. Taught by professional writers and published authors, these intense workshops will heighten your skills regardless of your chosen genre.

The Secrets of Writing Well: The Ultimate Guide
Words are the essential tools for every creative writer; understanding how they work differentiates great writers. Discover the emotional and sensual impact correct usage can have. Every thing you learn in writing begins here. Start with a solid foundation, and learn from the expert who literally "wrote the book" on writing. No prerequisites.

Improve Your Grammar!
Focusing on the careful review of English grammar so necessary to personal, professional, and creative writing, this course emphasizes contemporary usage, sentence structure, and punctuation. No prerequisites.

*Creative Writing Introduction
Explore your inner poet, screenwriter, travel author, short story writer in this course that teaches the basics of the craft. No prerequisites, but "Writing Well" and "Improve Your Grammar!" are highly recommended.

Ignite Your Creativity

Recommended for all writers, regardless of genre. Explore a more creative lifestyle, learn a variety of highly effective skills designed to ignite passion and capture new ideas. Learn to release the inner artist, dare to leap, and to recognize even the smallest possibilities. Then, explore your inspirations and the self-respect that naturally comes from this catharsis! No prerequisites.

Ignite Your Creativity: The Sequel!

After you’ve ignited your creativity, what then? How do you keep your creative motor running? In this workshop, students will create a new work from their own individual experiences. No more thinking about work, no more talking about work –the work begins here and now!

Workshops

Heighten your “writing time” with a variety of workshops emphasizing different genres and aspects of the craft, taught by guest authors and staff.

An Introduction to Screenwriting

Rex McGee, a protégé of the legendary Billy Wilder, will guide you through the art and the craft of the motion picture screenplay – and the ups and downs in the life of a professional screenwriter. Learn how to battle the blank page, fight procrastination, finish that first draft and believe in yourself. McGee has written more than 30 screenplays, and he battles the blank page every day.

Writing: The Mind Game: SPECIAL EVENT

Visiting lecturer Vicki Pettersson leads a discussion on the process that every first-time author faces: How do you get over yourself long enough to sustain an idea and keep out of your own way long enough to write that idea into a finished book? Discuss goal-setting, making time and how first-time authors can learn to stop making excuses and beat the mind games that stand in the way of publication. No prerequisites.

Description That Works

“It was a dark and stormy night. …” Do your sentences sometimes feel bloated with adjectives and adverbs? Learn essential techniques for writing dynamic description that will not only help you establish setting, but mood, perspective, characters and plot – effectively and eloquently! No prerequisites.

The Creative Process: SPECIAL EVENT

Award-winning literary writer and Iowa Summer Writing Festival leader BK Loren directs an interactive workshop on the Creative Process in two sections. Section A, which consists of a morning lecture, is open to the public. Section B combines both the morning lecture and an intensive afternoon workshop for students interested in a manuscript review. Please note that registration and attendance at the morning lecture is a prerequisite for attending the afternoon workshop.

Genre Workshop: Mystery

Whodunit. Thriller. Crime noir. Suspense. Learn the elements of mystery writing and how they apply in this increasingly complex and rapidly expanding fiction category. Class will discuss these elements specific to the genre: scene of the crime; two-ink method of murder writing; how to arc a character through a series.

Genre Workshop: Conflict and Dialogue

What we love about romance – conflict! Learn how to create vibrant and powerful character relationships through themes and plot. While this workshop will look specifically at the male/ female dynamic, these tools are essential for any story with conflict, that is, all stories.

Children’s Books 101: Story Structure Workshop

Just as artists study anatomy, writers need to study story structure. In this read-write-revise workshop you will look at the “bones” of the six children’s book formats: board books, picture books, easy readers, chapter books, middle grade, and young adult. On the last day of the workshop you will write “the letter” (query or cover) to send with your manuscript. Designed primarily for the children’s book, this course is open to all students, regardless of genre.

Travel Writing: Bring Your Adventure to Life!

From Herodotus to Condé Nast, travel writing has gripped our imagination. The story of a trip isn’t only an external journey, but it is also about personal transformation – on any scale. Bring your tale of experience and learn to apply vivacity, subtext, texture, and depth, thus discovering the great adventure within. Whether for publication or personal pleasure, by the end of this course you’ll have the road map to write your odyssey. No prerequisites.

How to Get an Agent for Your Novel: A Writer's Perspective

Writing the book is just part of the battle. In this course you will acquire the skills necessary to secure representation by a legitimate literary agent for your completed novel. Using proven techniques presented in a logical, step-by-step manner, you will learn ways to avoid scam agents, how to write a query letter, proven methods for developing people to contact as well as tips and tricks in dealing with agents including what to do when asked for an exclusive and how to respond to an offer. No prerequisites.

Click below to view current course offerings. Not all courses are offered every term.

Register now to secure your place, and get an "early registration" discount!

*Formula For Success:

The SMU Writer’s Seminar in New York serves as a culmination of the SMU Continuing Studies Creative Writing Program, and as such, carries several prerequisites. These prerequisites help our students move from course to course within the program along pre-determined “paths” that contribute to their success and help to ensure that students gain certain skills before moving on to the next level. In addition, following these prerequisites helps to ensure the highest level of quality for the SMU Writer’s Seminar in New York applicants.

However, we do understand that students come to the SMU Program with a wide range of writing experiences, from true novice to seasoned wordsmith. Given this range of experience, we allow students with extensive and demonstrable experience in academic writing classes an opportunity to "place out" of the introductory course, "Creative Writing Introduction."

For complete program information, including program “paths,” course dates and times, and New York Seminar prerequisites, please visit www.smu.edu/creativewriting. For information about the petition process to place out of the introductory course, please send an email to youngkin@smu.edu.