F140 Short Story Workshop - Linear
Begin: Feb.08.2012
To write a short story, we only need to a place to start and a direction in which to move. Students will write a short story from start to finish with writing exercises that cover the planning stage, character shaping and the construction of the short story in five basic steps.
Booked spaces: 19
Free spaces: 11

F190 Writing Boosters - Recipe #16
Begin: Feb.08.2012
The Recipes are formulas to help you think and use creative solutions to problems involving writing with characters, plot, theme or tone, setting, and points of view. Be creative and be daring. Read the instructions for each recipe and try them all. Even if the final product is not something you can use for a story or novel, hopefully you will discover something new you can create. These are not limited to any one type of writing. Use these with romance, suspense, literary, or even with Science Fiction
Booked spaces: 5
Free spaces: 25

N128 Writing from the Heart
Begin: Feb.08.2012
This course will deal with writing memoir, personal experience, and advice. We'll be using humor, honesty and sincerity. The forms we will follow will be essay, sketches and columns. We will learn how to turn our nostalgia and life experience into creative, provocative and stirring articles. Style will be discussed along with marketing your completed piece.
Booked spaces: 9
Free spaces: 21

P124 Pleasures of Reading Poetry
Begin: Feb.08.2012
For this course, I'm making the assumption that there's something that appeals to you about poetry. That you want to understand it better, whether it's for your reading pleasure or to increase your skills as a poet. I will be emphasizing reading the works of established poets to get a better understanding of what works and why it works. A quote from poet and author, Jeff Mock: "As poets, we read poetry to be entertained, experience the pleasures of its music, catch our breath at its drama and meditate on its reflections. We also read poetry to learn the craft." I have provided you with clickable URL links to a poet's biography and an example of one of his works. You'll be expected to read and comment on the poet and one of his poems. There will be 4-5 poems for you to read each week. Some you'll be asked to analyze. One of the purposes of these assignments is so that as you enter the poet's world, you'll be able to analyze a poem with skill.
Booked spaces: 4
Free spaces: 26

MFA214 Describing and Withholding
Begin: Feb.09.2012
One of the most pressing problems in writing has to do with how much information to share in the process of narration. How much do you need to tell the reader to reel him in? How much material should you withhold and why? These questions have to do with the issue of seduction. Aside from their characters, stories have two principal persona--the storyteller and the story hearer--who are engaged in a complicated and very personal relationship. The storyteller's primary job in narration is to exercise power over the story hearer, to make him want to listen. To succeed at controlling the hearer, a storyteller speaker must achieve authority and produce involvement. The challenge is: how do you achieve authority to let the story hearer know that you know what you are saying? At the same time, how do you produce involvement? You don't want it gives so much information that the story hearer becomes alienated or overwhelmed. All writers struggle at some point with the problem of balance between authority and involvement, seduction and revelation. Specifically, beginning writers wonder how much description to employ, and more advanced writers ask how much plot is too much or too little.
Booked spaces: 8
Free spaces: 22

F112 Character Development
Begin: Feb.15.2012
This course will guide the student toward a better understanding of what makes our characters tick. Lessons cover Character Shaping, Improvisations, Unity of Opposites and Motivation. Required Resources (texts, etc.): The Art of Dramatic Writing , by Lajos Egri, available at Writers' Village Bookstore or through your local bookstore. Kindle Version: The Art of Dramatic Writing You can download free Kindle reading software from Amazon if you don't have a Kindle.
Booked spaces: 9
Free spaces: 21

B101 WVU Orientation, facilitated by Melissa Anne
Begin: Feb.15.2012
Welcome to our writing community! This introductory workshop is designed to help members obtain a basic understanding of the concepts of Writers' Village University.
Booked spaces: 1
Free spaces: 29

F194 Writing Boosters - Characters
Begin: Feb.15.2012
The Writing Booster Workshops have been developed to assist writers in tapping their creativity. If you're suffering with writer's block, desiring to explore and find new topics to write about or simply looking for some writing exercises to get the creative juices flowing and stretch yourself as a writer, these workshops will provide the material.
Booked spaces: 4
Free spaces: 26

MFA 215 Inflection, Tone and Pitch
Begin: Feb.16.2012
You get involved in a story when, among other reasons, you get attached to a set of narrated events, or when the tone of the narrative has so many signs of emphasis that it rouses itself to life and disbelief is suspended. The story starts to believe in itself. You also acquired a sensation that somebody has believed the story. That's called conviction, and it may be pleasant or unpleasant.
Booked spaces: 3
Free spaces: 27

N120 News Writing Part 1
Begin: Feb.22.2012
The focus is on writing crisp, clear, concise and informative news stories, however, writers will find the skills useful in all forms of writing. Many of our finest writers began as journalists. Ernest Hemingway's work, for example, demonstrates objective journalistic qualities. This course won't necessarily produce a new generation of Hemingways, but it will help students write more effectively and with sharper focus. Required Resources (texts, etc.): Associated Press Guide to News Writing: The Resource for Professional Journalists
Booked spaces: 1
Free spaces: 29

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