This course is for students who want to practice and explore the vast and varied history, craft, and techniques of queer and transgender creative writing. Through reading and discussion, students will contextualize their own writing in a vital lineage and in the contemporary moment. We will read, analyze, reflect, generate, write, edit, and revise throughout the semester. We will create a polished body of creative works by honing those stylistic and craft techniques general to the field and specific to queer and transgender writers. Peer editors and group critiques will provide regular feedback, which will aid in the refinement of each writer’s own work and improve their capacity for supporting a creative work from germinating idea to final draft. Each class will rely extensively on the creative writing workshop model, and will survey the rich variety of genres, styles, forms, and philosophical approaches that QT literature takes.

Students will use the capstone as an opportunity to design a project that integrates the knowledge they have gained throughout their English program with experience in the professional track. Students will work with faculty to develop, manage, and execute a project that will culminate in the creation of an academic research paper, analysis of text using digital methods, construction of an argument across media, demonstration of theoretical and/or aesthetic language use in digital form, portfolio of previously written coursework that is revised with reflective introduction, or creative work in text or digital form . Students will work with course instructor and/or faculty mentor on project design, creation and reflection . Students will present their project in a venue appropriate to their specific work.

This course is designed for writers, storytellers, game developers, and creative minds who aspire to build rich and immersive worlds that captivate and inspire audiences. This advanced course builds upon the fundamentals of worldbuilding, focusing on the creation of original fictional worlds. This class delves deeper into the art and science of creating fictional realms, cultures, histories, and the natural world, including: ecosystems and geography; history and mythology; systems of governance and political organization; cultural and social dynamics and conflicts; technology and magic systems; and storytelling in different forms of media set in a fictional world. By the end of this course, students will be prepared to craft immersive, dynamic, and thought-provoking worlds that provide a lasting impact in the realms of storytelling and creative endeavors in different forms of media.

A program of study executed by an individual student with assistance and guidance by an instructor, outside a regular classroom setting. Guidelines for designing and gaining approval for an independent study are provided in College of Liberal Arts Policy I.D.

This course is for students who want to practice and explore the vast and varied history, craft, and techniques of queer and transgender creative writing. Through reading and discussion, students will contextualize their own writing in a vital lineage and in the contemporary moment. We will read, analyze, reflect, generate, write, edit, and revise throughout the semester. We will create a polished body of creative works by honing those stylistic and craft techniques general to the field and specific to queer and transgender writers. Peer editors and group critiques will provide regular feedback, which will aid in the refinement of each writer’s own work and improve their capacity for supporting a creative work from germinating idea to final draft. Each class will rely extensively on the creative writing workshop model, and will survey the rich variety of genres, styles, forms, and philosophical approaches that QT literature takes.