The BA in creative writing offers wonderful opportunities for emerging writers as they prepare for careers in a variety of fields.

Students have the chance to study with nationally celebrated professional authors and editors and to play a valued role in a vital community of writers and readers. The distribution of course requirements provides students with a solid background in literary studies, an introduction to creative writing in a number of genres, an advanced focus in a particular genre and an opportunity to choose from dozens of complementary minors to tailor the major to the student’s particular interests and needs.

The program is devoted to providing students with the best possible foundation for careers both in and out of the creative writing field. The program’s students are editors, lawyers, writers, teachers, professors and advertising and marketing executives – and many choose to go on to graduate school in creative writing or literature. Students will have many opportunities to volunteer in the community and discover just how much their particular talents are valued in the world while making a significant contribution to it.

Degree Plan

Students majoring in creative writing must complete 30 to 36 credits of writing courses and 9 credits in literature courses. An internship in an appropriate setting can be used as a writing elective.

Major Requirements (39-45 credits plus 3 cognate credits)

6 credits from the Major may be applied towards Gen Ed.

6 credits from the Minor may be applied towards Gen Ed.

Required Major Courses (24 Credits)

  • CREW 1001 Introduction to Creative Writing
  • CREW 2002 Creative Writing: Fiction
  • CREW 2003 Creative Writing: Poetry
  • CREW 2016 Creative Writing: Personal essay
  • CREWH 2255 Creative Writing: Playwriting and Dramatic Structure OR
  • FILM 2250 Screenwriting I
  • CREW 3020 Reading As Writers (by spring of junior year) [to be completed end of third year]
  • CREW 4001 Senior Writing Project I (by fall of senior year) [must be taken fall of senior year]
  • CREW 4002 Senior Writing Project II (by spring of senior year) [must be taken spring of senior year]

Required Electives (6-12 credits)

Students must take an advanced (3000-level) course in at least two of the four genres; students must have completed the 2000-level course before enrolling in the 3000-level course.

Students may elect other CREW 3000-level courses.

  • CREW 2016 CNF: What’s Your Real Story
  • CREW 3010 Special Topics: Invented Worlds — Speculative and Fantastic Fiction
  • CREW 3011 Advanced Fiction Writing
  • CREW 3012 Advanced Poetry Writing
  • CREW 3013 Advanced Dramatic Writing
  • CREW 3023 Special Topics: Telling the Truth

Additional Electives:

  • CREW 4498 Internship in Creative Writing

Literature Electives (9 Credits)

Select one of the following:

  • LITS 2001 World Literature I
  • LITS 2002 World Literature II
  • LITS 2003 World Literature III

Select 6 additional credits in LITS at the 2000 to 4000 level. Wroxton ENGL courses may be applied to these electives

Special Information

Students have the chance to work as interns at The Literary Review, one of the most prestigious literary magazines in the country heading into its 61st year of publishing important writers from around the world. FDU’s online student magazine, Sphere, offers students the chance to work in all aspects of publishing as they collaborate to create the world’s first international student literary journal while making friends and contacts here and around the world.

Course Descriptions

  • CREW1001 In this course, students will read and discuss contemporary literature in at least three of the four major creative writing genres: fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and drama. And, in a workshop setting, students will also write in those genres, allowing them the opportunity to discover and explore areas for future study.

  • CREW2002 Study and practice of writing fiction. The workshop places the focus on student writing. Additional reading provides the context for discussion of craft and form.

  • CREW2003 Study and practice of writing poetry. The workshop places the focus on student writing. Additional reading provides the context for discussion of craft and form.

  • CREW2016 This is a writing workshop on literary, or Creative Nonfiction-which means we use stories from real life, and craft them into literary pieces similar to a short story, using our own experiences as raw material. Memoirs and collections of personal essays are examples of this genre, and we will read examples of these as well as write our own pieces for workshop. This is a required course for all creative writing majors and minors. Non Creative Writing majors and minors are also welcomed.

  • CREW3010 In this workshop students will examine various forms of speculative and fantastic fictions and generate a collection of interconnected stories set in a singular world of their own making.

  • CREW3011 An advanced workshop in the craft and form of writing fiction.

  • CREW3012 An advanced workshop in the craft and form of poetry writing.

  • CREW3013 Using techniques learned in THEA 2255 (Playwriting and Dramatic Structure) and/or FILM 2250 (Screenwriting), students write and revise a 1 hour stageplay or screenplay.

  • CREW3020 An examination of craft and form in literary masterworks, both classic and contemporary, from the practitioner?s perspective. Texts will be analyzed to answer the questions: ?How does it work??, ?What narrative techniques or approaches to characterization does the writer employ??, ?What are the works? stylistic elements??, ?How can these elements be employed in new fiction?? Students will be expected to engage in discussions, write three analytical papers, and using as a model one of the texts studied, generate a short work of fiction. Prerequisite Course: Any CREW 2000 level course

  • CREW3023 Creative nonfiction walks the line between truth and fiction; in this class we will write literary nonfiction essays that craft a narrative from that most unreliable source: your own subjective memory. We will embrace the unreliability of our own narrations and close road texts that shed light on how to build a character from what Joan Didion calls: "The Implacable 1."

  • CREW4001 In Senior Writing Project I- the capstone two-semester course for all Creative Writing majors- students will develop and write a significant literary work in their chosen genre: fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, or dramatic writing. Working closely with the class and individually with their mentor, students in Senior Writing project I, will research (when relevant) and complete a draft of their entire thesis.

  • CREW4002 Senior Writing Project II will further develop the work of Senior Writing Project I, as students re-write, revise, and edit their thesis into a final potentially publishable form.

  • CREW4498 Practical experience working in a business, government, or a non-profit setting or in publication field, applying academic knowledge: academic component includes weekly journals and semester evaluative paper and frequent interaction with department mentor.

  • FILM2250 Students leanr the basics of screenplay structure, character development, dialogue, rising and falling action, conflict and resolution by writing scripts and reading and analyzing successful screenplays. Students complete short scripts that may be used in other classes as shooting assignments.

  • LITS2001 Reading and analysis of representative world literary texts; emphasis on narrative and dramatic texts and on common themes and motifs.

  • LITS2002 Reading and analysis of representative world literary texts; emphasis on dramatic, narrative, and poetic texts and on common themes and motifs.

  • LITS2003 LIT Survey III : Approaches to World Literature Reading and analysis of representative world literary texts; emphasis on narrative and dramatic texts and on common themes and motifs.