Creative Writing: Reporting the Facts: Non-fiction
- Course Description
- Learning Objectives
- Who should take this course
- Professional Training Certificate Elective Course For:
- Textbook
- Instructor
- Instructor Biography
This is a course for aspiring journalists or non-fiction writers with work underway or soon to begin. It covers the essential techniques of story selection, reporting, narrative progression, character development, descriptive writing, interviewing, and dialogue, with reference to works that underscore strong examples of each. Each week focuses on a different aspect of non-fiction with participants sharing their works-in-progress, as well as the hurdles faced. The course includes three basic components: a writing workshop (where students and instructor provide thoughtful criticism of one another’s work), close reading (where students read and analyze writing techniques by published writers and reporters), and non-fiction considerations and challenges such as writing visually. The course includes a considerable amount of assigned writing in an effort to make you a better and more confident writer and reporter. By the end of the course you will be able to understand and apply the techniques studied to improve your own writing. You will learn all the elements of the craft that will allow you to tell a better non-fictional story in short or long form.
1. Use essential creative writing techniques to make your writing vivid and engaging.
2. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your own writing.
3. Find your voice as a writer and reporter.
Those who aspire to write non-fiction or features. Whether you are a beginner just starting to write and report, or have been working for many years, this course will help you tell your story.
No required textbook (Handout will be provided by the instructor)
Dan Sloan
Dan Sloan is a veteran multimedia journalist, who wrote for Eurobiz Japan and other media after working at Reuters for 17 years. He is a frequent public speaker and commentator on current events, corporate communications and Japan for professional organizations and academic groups, a university instructor, and author of "Playing to Wiin: Nintendo and the Video Game Industry's Greatest Comeback." He is a former president of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan and a former Board Member.