Summer Enrollment is Open! Courses begin June 23, 2025.
Setting and Description
WRITING X 462.2
Focus on the critical skills of setting and description in this reading- and exercise-based workshop designed to improve your technique in fiction and nonfiction
What you can learn.
- Learn how setting and description can support larger themes and ideas in your work
- Practice giving attention to details that help you craft a rich and vivid world
- Read and discuss examples of effective, evocative writing
- Complete exercises that help you master descriptive writing techniques
About this course:
Setting and description are foundational to a story and can support larger themes well—if done thoughtfully with fresh and vivid language, attention to detail, implication and perspective. They can, in effect, give one's characters a home or space to work within, as well as open up possibilities for deepening and expanding the scope of any story. In this reading and exercise-based class, we explore and practice descriptive writing and its power in establishing setting and mood while enlivening action and supporting symbolic relationships in fiction and creative nonfiction. Each week, we read sample fiction and creative nonfiction to identify how the content is influenced by the description of setting, action, events and objects. By the end of class, you have improved skills in writing descriptively to enrich and enliven your work.Contact Us
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