Creative Writing Courses

PRWR 6450: The Genres of Creative Writing (Prerequisite to ALL Creative Writing courses)

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director.

Introduces students to the basic principles and building blocks of creative writing. As such, it is required of all students whose concentration or whose support area is creative writing, making it a prerequisite to all creative writing courses offered in the MAPW Program. This course will be especially valuable to students whose concentration is not creative writing but who have selected it as their support area. The course focuses on the theory behind creative writing as well as the practice of it, making it a combination of seminar and workshop. Students must pass it with at least a B in order to enroll in PRWR 6460: Fiction Writing, PRWR 6470: Poetry Writing, PRWR 6480: Play Writing, PRWR 6490: Screen and Television Writing, and PRWR 6520: Creative Nonfiction.

Students with appropriate expertise in creative writing may petition the director of the MAPW Program, Jim Elledge at 678-797-2039 or via e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for a waiver of this course.

PRWR 6100: Readings for Writers (Repeatable)

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director; PRWR 6450 or permission of instructor.

The study of writers describing their ways of writing and/or how others' writing has influenced writers. This course studies the works listed as influential and then examines the application of such influence in later texts. Readings will vary, but will include literature, drama, poetry, essays, journalism, and scientific and professional texts.

PRWR 6455: The Genres of Creative Writing (Prerequisite to ALL Creative Writing courses)

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director.

The Genres of Creative Writing introduces students to the basic principles and building blocks of creative writing. As such, it is required  of all students whose concentration or  whose support area or whose elective is creative writing, making it a prerequisite to all creative writing courses offered in the MAPW Program. This course will be especially valuable to students whose concentration is not creative writing but who have selected it as their support area. Students with appropriate expertise in creative writing may petition the director of the MAPW Program for a waiver of this course and enroll in the next one. The course focuses on the theory behind creative writing as well as the practice of it, making it a combination of seminar and workshop. Students must pass it with at least a B in order to enroll in PRWR 6460: Fiction Writing, PRWR 6470: Poetry Writing, PRWR 6480: Play Writing, PRWR 6490: Screen and Television Writing, and PRWR 6520: Creative Nonfiction. NOTE: Students earn 3 semester hours for this course, which will be included in the hours toward graduation. Students admitted into the Program with a concentration in creative writing do not have to enroll in The Genres of Creative Writing.

Students will earn 3 semester hours for this course, which will be included in their hours toward graduation. Students who have been admitted into the creative writing concentration will not be required to take it. However, even creative writing students who intend to focus on, for example, fiction may find The Genres of Creative Writing helpful to them when they begin taking creative writing courses other than fiction.

Students with appropriate expertise in creative writing may petition the director of the MAPW Program, Jim Elledge at 678-797-2039 or via e-mail to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for a waiver of this course.

PRWR 6460: Fiction Writing

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director.

Workshop course in the writing of fiction. Short stories and novellas may be studied. Small-group critique, one-to-one conferences, and peer revision techniques may be used.

PRWR 6470: Poetry Writing

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director.

Workshop course in the writing of poetry. Study of traditional, free verse, haiku, and experimental forms by means of small-group critique, one-to-one conferences, and peer revision.

PRWR 6480: Play Writing

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director.

Workshop course in the writing of drama. Study and practice in writing monologues and dialogues, presenting stage directions, and the production of one-act and multi-act dramatic works.

PRWR 6490: Screen and Television Writing

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director.

Workshop course in writing for cinema, radio, and television. Study and practice in effective screenplay writing techniques, on-air report writing, on-screen news writing, and the principles of script writing, evaluation, and promotion will be examined.

PRWR 6520: Creative Nonfiction

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director.

Readings from and writing in creative or literary nonfiction, including the personal essay, biography, travel writing, the research essay, and the nonfiction novel. Attention to the history and development of the genre and its subdivisions and to the markets for its manuscripts.

PRWR 6800: Careers in the Literary Arts

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director.

The first half of the course will survey components that make up the literature field and introduce the student to the management concerns in selected components. The survey will inform the student about professional and organization infrastructures that support the literary arts in the United States and give the student theoretical and practical knowledge concerning arts management. The second half of the course will focus on the writer's personal management. Grantsmanship and fellowship writing as well as submissions-and-publications procedures, literary promotions, and time management will be discussed.

PRWR 7460: Advanced Fiction Writing

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director, and PRWR 6460.

This is an advanced course in the writing of fiction. Short stories and novellas may be studied. Small-group critique, one-on-one conferences, and peer revision techniques may be used. May be repeated with permission of the program director.

PRWR 7470: Advanced Poetry Writing

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director, and PRWR 6470.

This is an advanced course in the writing of poetry. Various types of poems, from free verse to formal verse and prose poems, may be studied. Small-group critique, one-oon-one conferences, and peer revision techniques may be used. May be repeated with permission of the program director.

PRWR 7480: Advanced Play Writing

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director, and PRWR 6480.

This is an advanced course in the writing of plays. One-act and full-length plays may be studied. Small-group critique, one-on-one conferences, and peer revision techniques may be use. May be repeated with permission of the program director.

PRWR 7490: Advanced Screen and Television Writing

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director, and PRWR 6490.

This is an advanced course in the writing of scripts. Scripts for both film and TV may be studied. Small-group critique, one-on-one conferences, and peer revision techniques may be used. May be repeated with permission of the program director.

PRWR 7520: Advanced Creative Nonfiction Writing

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director, and PRWR 6520.

This is an advanced course in the writing of creative nonfiction. Memoirs, autobiographies, biographies, poetic essays, and other types of creative nonfiction may be studied. small-group critique, one-on-one conferences, and peer revision techniques may be used. May be repeated with permission of the program director.

PRWR 7600: MAPW Practical Internship (Up to six hours may be used to satisfy MAPW degree requirements)

1-6. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program and permission of Graduate Program Director and/or faculty supervisor.

Guided and supervised practical experience in one concentration of the MAPW Program.

PRWR 7900: Special Topics (Repeatable)

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director.

Exploration of a specifically designed topic.

PRWR 7950: MAPW Directed Study (Repeatable once)

3-0-3. Prerequisite: Admission to the MAPW program, or permission of the Graduate Program Director, PRWR 6000, and a graduate course in the field of the directed study.

An intensive, advanced investigation of selected topics deriving from individual course of study. The content will be determined jointly by the instructor, the student, and the student's advisor. The proposed course of study must be submitted to the Graduate Director by a deadline published each term for MAPW Committee approval.