Wesleyan University
Creative Writing: The Craft of Style
Wesleyan University

Creative Writing: The Craft of Style

This course is part of Creative Writing Specialization

Taught in English

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Salvatore Scibona

Instructor: Salvatore Scibona

63,273 already enrolled

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Course

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals

4.7

(1,131 reviews)

|

98%

7 hours (approximately)
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace

Details to know

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Course

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals

4.7

(1,131 reviews)

|

98%

7 hours (approximately)
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace

See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills

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Build your subject-matter expertise

This course is part of the Creative Writing Specialization
When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.
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  • Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
  • Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
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There are 4 modules in this course

Here in the first module we focus on putting pressure on your words so that they mean what you intend. We balance abstraction with the need to make good sense. And we discuss the first and last stylistic difficulty of any prose writer, being clear.

What's included

9 videos2 readings1 peer review1 discussion prompt

In the second module we look at the various parts of speech and how two of them—nouns and verbs—are the building blocks of good style and good narratives. By relying on nouns, we make the people, places, and things of the narrative world vivid. By relying on verbs we keep the story alive and in motion.

What's included

6 videos1 peer review1 discussion prompt

In the third module, having practiced putting words in, we learn to take them out. And why: for humor, for clarity, for cleanliness, and for that fleet quality of wit that makes a style irresistible.

What's included

5 videos1 reading1 peer review

In the the final module of the course, we learn to balance the drive to get at ideas and feelings, with the need the story always has for concreteness, realness. We learn to express ideas in the form of physical things in a narrative world, to produce a style that speaks as much to the world of the senses as to the world of the mind.

What's included

6 videos1 peer review

Instructor

Instructor ratings
4.9 (149 ratings)
Salvatore Scibona
Wesleyan University
4 Courses67,041 learners

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