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  • Creative Writing Workshop

Creative Writing Workshop — USC Pre-College

[Photo] Four young women sit around a gray outdoor table, smiling and writing in open notebooks. Water bottles and phones rest on the table amid gray patio furniture.

Become a Summer Trojan and earn college credit.

This class is for anyone with a creative spirit and an interest in writing, reading and finding inspiration amid the art and culture of LA! Each week, we’ll tackle a new genre — poetry, creative nonfiction, flash fiction and fiction, respectively — while taking field trips to literary destinations around the city. Join us for an unforgettable summer of writing!

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No prior creative writing experience is required.

Throughout this course, we’ll experiment with four creative writing genres: poetry, creative nonfiction, flash fiction and short stories. We’ll also read the works of successful writers, learn various literary techniques and develop our writing voices through constructive feedback.

Class excursions may include forays into the hidden corners of the USC campus, as well as trips to local art museums, libraries and bookstores; this upcoming summer, for example, we’ll have our first visit to the newly opened Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

Let’s write!

Topics of Study

  • Poetry
  • Creative nonfiction
  • Flash fiction
  • Short story
  • Literary techniques of accomplished authors

Learning Highlights

  • Build a toolkit of narrative techniques, the elements of writing as a craft
  • Engage with published material from the perspective of writing techniques
  • Develop a sense of audience awareness when writing
  • Grow collaborative communication skills through weekly workshops and instructor conferences
  • Draft and revise four written pieces

Requirements

  • Participants must bring their own laptops
WeekFocusKey TopicsAssignments and Activities
1PoetryVoice; imagery; metaphorExperiment with the form and structure of various genres of poetry.
2Creative NonfictionTone; tensionLearn strategies for writing about one’s life and experience with style.
3Flash FictionPoint of view; dialogue; settingIntroduction to the basics of writing vivid, imaginative fiction via short-form stories (fewer than 1,000 words).
4Short StoryConflict; characters; structureDeeper dives into writing fiction, this time with an emphasis on longer-form stories.

I truly learned to better my creative writing through this course and enjoyed my one-on-one meetings.

— USC Summer Programs participant
[Photo] A student seated at a classroom table holds up a handwritten sheet of paper while speaking as classmates listen, with open laptops and reusable water bottles on the table. The handwritten page appears to read “United States” in large letters.
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