Course Overview
- Title:
- Write Your Heart Out: The Craft of the Personal Essay (January 2010)
- Type:
- Online Group Seminar
- Cost:
- $395.00
- Time Estimate:
- The content of this course unfolds over several weeks. There are few scheduled meeting times, except for several live discussions, so you'll be able to learn on a schedule that works for you. The minimum time commitment each week is three to four hours.
About Online Group Seminars
In an online group seminar, you will gather with other participants in a virtual space, logging in from anywhere, day or night, over the course of several weeks. A faculty member guides the group through new material, moderates discussions and provides individual feedback.
- Jan 25 to Feb 20, 2010
Discover powerful stories from your life and tell them in ways that will resonate with the public, whether in print or online. You'll watch as your list of story ideas grows with each assignment and with every idea your online seminar colleagues share with you. Learn to recognize the essential parts of powerful essays, then try out those ideas in your own storytelling. You'll get lots of suggestions along the way and one-on-one coaching on your final essay. When you're done, you'll have a story you'll be proud to see published in print or online.
What Will I Learn:
- To cultivate quality story ideas from your life experiences by studying universal story archetypes
- To shed the shackles of storytelling conventions and insecurity
- To break down personal essays to their DNA so you can quickly start telling your stories
- To use the essential tools of effective writing
- To recognize the types of personal stories editors want to publish
Who should take this course:
Writers, columnists, educators, public speakers -- anyone with a personal story to tell.
Keith Woods
Keith Woods is vice president of diversity in news and operations at National Public Radio in Washington, D.C. He previously was dean of faculty at The Poynter Institute and a former sportswriter, news reporter, city editor, editorial writer and columnist at the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Technical Requirements:
No special software is needed. However, we strongly recommend you have a high-speed or broadband connection. This course also will require Flash Player 8 or higher. (Get the latest version of Flash here.) For Mac users, we recommend accessing this course with Firefox or Safari 2.x or higher.