A theoretical and practical introduction to the human phenomenon of storytelling, what stories are, their central role in culture from ancient times to the present day, and how storytellers seek and communicate meaning. Particular attention will be paid to the significance of story in the JudeoChristian tradition and story’s role within the Christian faith. Students will generate numerous story ideas, and with the help of their classmates and the instructor will evaluate those ideas in terms of audience appeal, theme and meaning.

This course builds on student understanding of screen storytelling established in Story, Genre and Structure and Writing and Pitching a Script. Students will develop an original feature-length screen story from multiple ideas through idea evaluation and selection, character creation and development, story structure, treatment, pitch and beat sheet. At the end of the course, students will register their work with the WGA (a $20 fee). Students will consider more advanced screenwriting concepts presented in the text and will apply those principles to their developing stories.

This course stands as the culmination of the sequence of courses in the freshman year that covered grammar, logic and rhetoric. The course examines the role of the artist, the nature and purpose of art, of beauty, and of a life of art-making, and considers whether and how the quality of art can be evaluated in light of a Catholic understanding of art and artists. The course further considers the significance of these ideas to human endeavors such as work and business that are not typically viewed as artistic.

This course will emphasize the use of correct grammar, usage, spelling, punctuation, and mechanics. Students will be required to apply these skills to writing assignments.

This course will develop critical skills by examining writing across a range of genres including the novel, short fiction, poetry, and illustrated works. Students will study the aspects of fiction and the elements of poetry. They will also consider different writing practices. Thus, in addition to improving analytical skills, the students will explore some of the writing practices that authors have undertaken in order to create.

Writing allows us to explore alternative realities and this course examines the literary devices and purposes of a range of genres including fictional travel writing, poetry, drama, speculative novels and fantasy stories. We are especially interested in the purpose behind the creation of alternative worlds – to satirize contemporary society, to imagine new possibilities, to experiment with form and so on.

In this course students will read literature and nonfiction creative writing such as short stories, personal and environmental essays, travel writing, and memoir. They will pay particular attention to the representation of place and the engagement with culture. Students will examine from a writer’s perspective the use of aspects of creative writing such as point of view and narrative technique, language and tone, pacing and plot, and so on.