Online and Remote Learning

This is the final component of the Certificate in Creative Writing. Working with an SCS instructor for a maximum of five months, you'll revise and polish a work in your chosen genre: poetry, drama, screenplay, children's picture book, fiction or non-fiction. The supervisor will take you through two detailed revisions. The final manuscript will be evaluated by a certificate panel (the program head, your supervisor and a prominent writer who knows your genre). You must complete it within five years of taking your first Creative Writing course, after you have completed all other requirements. Once you have a complete draft, you may register at any time of year. Once you register, you will receive an email confirmation with further details and instructions. Get detailed feedback on your project from an SCS supervisor. Work through two rounds of revisions. Emerge with a significant portion of a polished manuscript. Build on your strengths in your genre. Prepare for evaluation by a certificate panel.

Designed for those who have completed 1664 Creative Writing: Introduction, this course is a more intensive fiction workshop to help you further develop your voice, often with the same instructor and students as in 1664 Creative Writing: Introduction. You'll complete longer and broader exercises and assignments, either short stories or novel excerpts, and use the feedback to polish your writing. The group will analyze published fiction to understand how their writers constructed them. Learn how to establish and maintain a regular writing practice. Understand what makes a compelling novel or short story. Get instructor and peer feedback on your creative work-in-progress. Emerge with a draft of a short story or chapter of a novel.

This advanced prose workshop is for the writer of fiction, creative non-fiction or memoir who wants an in-depth workshop experience with both their classmates and an instructor. During the eight week course, students will receive feedback on two pieces of writing of up to 1500 words each, as well as participate in lessons, discussions, exercises and providing feedback to classmates on their work. Prerequisite: At least one creative writing course at SCS. Editorial feedback to revise two pieces (up to 1500 words each) of prose - fiction, creative non-fiction, or memoir. Identify and refine the shape, sound, feel and arc of the story you are writing. Develop your skills of revision to find and amplify the resonance of your work.

Available for all genres, this e-mail based course will help writers who require feedback on artistic craftsmanship and who need guidance on shaping and polishing a manuscript-in-progress. Students may register at any time. Once assigned a mentor from the Creative Writing program, students have up to 12 weeks, including time for rewrites, to work on up to a maximum of 25,000 words of prose, 40 pages of poetry, or 90 pages of a drama or screenplay. To enroll in Online Mentor, you must submit a first draft of the manuscript you wish to workshop to scs.writing@utoronto.ca, along with the name of your mentor-of-choice from the list of Creative Writing program instructors. Mentorship from a prominent writer who knows your genre. Editorial feedback on up to 25,000 words of a manuscript, 40 pages of poetry, or 90 pages of a drama or screenplay. Emerge with a keener sense of where to go next.

If you want to earn a Certificate in Creative Writing through the poetry stream, this course is the first step. You'll examine poetic form, metre, imagery and language and the relationship between form and content. You'll emerge with a few completed and polished poems of your own. Write formal or free verse. Explore how to use language and metaphor for maximum aesthetic impact. Each session will include time for discussion of famous poems and of your own work. Understand the structure and content of formal and free verse. Grasp the dynamics and aesthetics of poetic composition. Discuss and critique celebrated poems. Workshop your poetry and build a portfolio of poems. Discover a community of writers working in your genre.

This is the second step in the Certificate in Creative Writing poetry stream. Working in a friendly and supportive workshop setting, you'll gain a deeper understanding of modern poetic forms and emerge with a small portfolio of polished work. Develop your poetic voice and style.Express and demonstrate your artistic interests and abilities.Get constructive instructor and peer feedback on your work. Build your portfolio of poems.

Creative non-fiction tells factual stories in a literary style. If this is the stream you're entering in pursuit of a Certificate in Creative Writing, this course is the first step. You'll cover the basics of literary technique and emerge with completed work samples. Explore what you want and need to say, and find an immediate, noteworthy, compelling and provocative way to express it. The course will also introduce you to a community of writers working in your genre. Understand the genre of creative or narrative non-fiction. Use storytelling techniques in your work.Produce short pieces of creative non-fiction.

This intensive course gives you a deeper understanding of creative non-fiction so you can refine a work-in-progress and develop new material. Whether you're writing a memoir, personal essay, travel story or biography, you'll benefit from constructive criticism and evaluation. Revise your work with the help of the instructor and your peers. Advance your writing and revision techniques. Workshop your own work-in-progress. Critique your work and that of others. Incorporate constructive peer criticism into your work.

This is a required course for the Certificate in Creative Writing, because reading is key to your development as a writer. The course emphasizes the importance of this and teaches you to begin reading like a writer. You'll examine the techniques used in great works of literature and how you can incorporate them into your writing. You'll explore approaches to style through description, dialogue, character, transitions, image patterns, rhythm and sound. Understand stylistic techniques used by great authors.Apply them to your own writing.Appreciate the significance of description, dialogue, character, rhythm and sound.

If you're in the novel stream of the Certificate in Creative Writing, this workshop is the second step. You'll gain a deeper understanding of the novel form and have the beginning of your novel critiqued by your instructor and your peers. Each class will focus on excerpts from one or two works-in-progress. Each class will also discuss at least one significant aspect of the novel-writing process, such as beginnings, endings, language, setting and characters. Get constructive criticism that can help improve your work-in-progress. Understand the structure and method of novel writing. Revise and polish sections of your novel based on feedback.