Fall 2026 Creative Writing Topics
INTRO COURSES
CWL 190.S01 #90812 SBC: HUM
Intro to Contemporary Lit: The Flaneûr and the Collage Mode with Eskor Johnson
M/W 9:30 AM - 10:50 PM
This class is aimed at revealing how literature is a part of everyday life and can enhance the way we see and experience the world. Our readings, discussions, and assignments will use tangible source material from our every day in order to build the bridge between what we encounter around us and what we find on the page. These include but are not limited to: love poems, restaurant menus, wine reviews, long walks, photography, eavesdropping, and journaling. We will use poetry as a launching point to explore discovery and surprise within language, and then transition into examples from fiction that follow the collage mode of stitching parts of prose into a cohesive whole.
Readings will include Louise Gluck, Robert Haas, Teju Cole, Renata Adler, Maggie Nelson, Jorge Luis Borges, and William Shakespeare. Students will complete a series of short experimental assignments, as well as a lengthier prose piece to be workshopped by their peers.
Prerequisite or Corequisite: WRT 102
CWL 190.S02 #93865 SBC: HUM
Intro to Contemporary Lit: Hybrid Writing with Stephen Aubrey
TU/TH 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM
What happens when a work of literature refuses to fit neatly into a single genre? In this course, we will examine a diverse selection of contemporary works that blur and combine genres, moving fluidly between poetry, creative nonfiction, drama, and theory to create hybrid texts that expand the possibilities of literary forms. Reading across genres, students will analyze how structure, voice, and genre conventions shape meaning within a text and gain a deeper understanding of how writers can experiment with form to respond to the cultural and artistic questions of the present.
Prerequisite or Corequisite: WRT 102
CWL 202 Intro to Creative Writing SBC: ARTS
CWL 202.S01 #90813M/W 9:30 AM - 10:50 AM
CWL 202.S02 #90814M/W 3:30 PM - 4:50 PM
CWL 202.S03 #90815M/W 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM
CWL 202.S04 #90816 M/W 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM
CWL 202.S05 #90817M/W 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM
CWL 202.S06 #90818M/W 3:30 PM - 4:50 PM
CWL 202.S07 #90862M/W 5:00 PM - 6:20 PM
CWL 202.S08 #90819TU/TH 9:30 AM - 10:50 AM
CWL 202.S09 #90820TU/TH 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM
CWL 202.S10 #90821TU/TH 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM
CWL 202.S11 #90822TU/TH 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM
CWL 202.S12 #90823TU/TH 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM
CWL 202.S13 #90825 TU/TH 3:30 PM - 4:50 PM
CWL 202.S14 #93544 TU/TH 9:30 AM - 10:50 AM
CWL 202.S15 #90842TU/TH 5:00 PM - 6:20 PM
CWL 202.S16 #92287TU/TH 12:30 PM - 1:50 PM
CWL 202.S17 #92288TU/TH 12:30 PM - 1:50 PM
CWL 202.S18 #93036TU/TH 9:30 AM - 10:50 AM
CWL 202.S19 #93037TU/TH 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM
CWL 202.S20 #95360 M/W 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM
CWL 202.S21 #95362 M/W 11:00 PM - 12:20 PM
CWL 202.S22 #93543M/W 3:30 PM - 4:50 PM
CWL 202.S23 #93359 TU/TH 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM
WRITING WORKSHOPS (CWL 300-325)
If you’ve taken CWL 202, you can enroll in any of these 3-credit, 300-level poetry, fiction, scriptwriting, science writing, publishing and creative nonfiction workshops. Creative writing workshops in multiple genres are intended to introduce students to tools and terminology of the fine art of creative writing.
CWL 300 CREATIVE NON-FICTION
CWL 300.S01 #93035 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Creative Nonfiction: Experimental Memoir with Molly Gaudry
M/W 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM
In this creative nonfiction workshop, we will take our inspiration from contemporary memoirs that make use of a variety of experimental forms and hybrid genres, such as Jackson Bliss’s choose-your-own-adventure memoir Dream Pop Origami; Naomi Cohn’s themed abecedarian The Braille Encyclopedia; and Renee Gladman’s My Lesbian Novel, a metafictional and possibly autofictional hermit crab memoir(?), in which “the narrator is Renee Gladman, an artist and writer who has produced the same acclaimed body of experimental art and prose as real-life Renee Gladman.” Perhaps surprisingly, this Experimental Memoir course aims to be productive not only for nonfiction writers, but for fiction writers and poets as well—particularly those who are drawn to flashes, vignettes, prose poems, and other concise forms. NB: In Fall 2022 and Spring 2025, this course was offered as “Hybrid Memoir” and cannot be retaken for credit.
CWL 300.S02 #90824 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Creative Nonfiction: Speculative Nonfiction with Molly Gaudry
M/W 9:30 AM - 10:50 AM
What if, while out for a run one night, you decide to just keep running and leave your problems behind? How would you feel crossing from one state into the next, and then from one country into another, and then another? What if, after struggling for years, you finally receive a job offer that changes everything, and when walking through an empty house for sale you can actually envision the rest of your life in it, complete with a wife and daughter you don’t yet have? What if you’re trying to get work done on the train but when you drop your pencil it rolls under the young woman sleeping next to you—do you reach for it or do you freeze and imagine how reaching toward this stranger will go terribly wrong? Such are the speculations at the center of just three of the deeply personal essays we’ll read and discuss this semester—essays that begin with facts and lived experiences but make their way toward speculation, imagination, and potentiality. Of course, you’ll also write and workshop your own creative “what if” essays in order to question, to wonder, and to let your mind run wild with purpose and possibility—skills that, I believe, can serve you in the future whenever you may want or need to imagine your own life differently.
CWL 300.S03 #90867 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Creative Nonfiction: Creative Nonfiction Revision with Robert Crace
TU/TH 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM
The topic of revision has many negative associations. Sure, revising can be a slog, and we might pull at a thread and rip out the magic we love in our drafts. But what if we took a step back and played some games? Let’s suspend this idea that revision is a linear progression of polishing raw work into palatable presentations. What if our revision approach was more exploratory, where the only goal is to learn more about our stories? Let’s practice using this exploratory approach to revision so that we can remain creatively engaged through the stress of tampering with our work.
Creative Nonfiction poses specific revision challenges. For instance, when writing about our own lives or the lives of others, we can forget about contextual information because we’ve lived through the experience or are so close to it. We can miss artful avenues that exist in the performance of the story because of our lived ties to the experience. All reasons to be even more creative when revising Creative Nonfiction, while utilizing community in a safe space.
We will practice and develop revision exercises that serve our work. Exercises like: Write a scene where a character in the story surprises everyone, including the author; Write a scene that won’t make it into your story; Explore a literal or figurative cataclysmic option… But the most ambitious exercise designed to demystify revision will be writing prompts based on ‘problem’ stories from other classmates. What is it like to revise another’s piece? What do you learn when the stakes of authorship are removed? Can you apply those lessons to your own writing? What do you learn about your story when you see it go through the creative filter of other students?
We may always be prone to that linear, polish approach when revising, but the goal of this class is to practice incorporating more imagination in revision—so that we get the most of what might be the writing medium’s most distinctive superpower.
CWL 305 FICTION
CWL 305.S01 #90826 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Fiction: Dystopian World-Building with Kaylie Jones
W 3:30 PM - 6:20 PM
It is often very difficult to write about “hot-button” topics without offending one
side or
another in our myriad cultural, religious, and racial divides. Especially today, there
are
many taboo subjects that publishers won’t touch with a ten-foot pole. This is where
Dystopian Fiction can play an important role, as a way to write about subjects that
plague our world, but within a futuristic, or completely invented, landscape.
This class will primarily be a writing workshop, though we will be discussing the
opening
pages of several classics of the genre, which will be supplied by your professor.
I hope to create a comfortable and safe environment in this class, so that you will
all feel
free to let your imaginations run wild while you attempt to create your dystopian
worlds. You will be graded on your efforts, especially on your ability to accept critique
and suggestions for revision. Your class participation will be of the utmost importance,
as well as your attendance.
CWL 305.S02 #90827 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Fiction: Larger-Than-Life Characters with Dawnie Walton
TU/TH 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM
In this course, before workshopping your own stories and characters, we'll investigate together the crafting and management of memorable, near-mythological figures in literature. How do such characters enter a story? What markers do authors give them, to burn them into our hearts and minds (and sometimes even our nightmares)? And when these characters are secondary or part of an ensemble, how do they contribute to a narrative without completely overwhelming it? Among the characters we will analyze in this course: Pilate from Toni Morrison's SONG OF SOLOMON, Lila from sections of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novel series, and Randle McMurphy and Nurse Ratched from Ken Kesey’s ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. We’ll also take notes from character-building in other forms: in narrative nonfiction, we’ll read the classic celebrity profile “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” to glean how writers capture real-life swaggering personalities, and we will watch portions of THE WIRE and other shows and films featuring breakout characters to understand how a fantastic scene can establish and hone them.
CWL 305.S03 #90828 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Fiction: Blurring Genres - Fiction and Nonfiction with Robert Lopez
M 3:30 PM - 6:20 PM
The difference between fiction and nonfiction can be slippery and often beside the point. In this course we will read and write work that borrows from personal experience to create impactful short fiction or nonfiction essays or any creative combination of both. We'll read writers such as Eula Biss, Juliet Escoria, Lucia Berlin, Justin Torres, Kiese Laymon, Jesse Ball, and others.
CWL 305.S05 #90834 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Fiction: Fiction Gym with Marlon James
T 3:30 PM - 6:20 PM
Study of the genre through readings, discussion and regular submission of original work. Course explores methods for expressing the human condition made available through fiction, with examples from the tradition that illustrate point of view, character development, dialogue, plot, setting, theme, motif, and other elements. Areas of study include Short Story, Novella, The Popular Novel, Graphic Novels and Writing Funny.
CWL 305.S06 #90863 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Fiction: Workshopping the Workshop with Robert Crace
TU/TH 9:30 AM - 10:50 AM
The traditional creative writing workshop can sometimes feel like an examination room: everyone sits in a circle and we diagnose what ‘works’ and what doesn’t. Useful? Sometimes. But what if we shook things up?
In this class, we’ll experiment with different ways of workshopping fiction so that feedback becomes a creative practice in its own right. Instead of relying only on discussion-based critique, we’ll try alternative workshop structures designed to spark discovery. We might place a character in the “hot seat” and ask them questions as if they were real. We might rewrite a scene from another character’s perspective, deconstruct the language of a passage to see how it breathes, or isolate one craft element—voice, structure, pacing—and explore it through targeted prompts. The sky is the limit. How inventive can we get? Can you invent a form of workshop that best serves your work?
These experiments are designed to help writers rediscover curiosity about their work, especially when a project feels stuck, overworked, or resistant to revision. By approaching workshop as a space for imagination rather than diagnosis, we can uncover new directions for stories and new ways of understanding our own creative process.
Along the way, students will develop a skill that extends beyond the creative writing classroom: learning how to curate their own feedback. When you know how to ask better questions about your work, the workshop becomes less about judgment and more about discovery—and that habit of discovery can carry into every stage of a writer’s life.
CWL 305.S07 #90868 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Fiction: Anatomy of a Scene with Eskor David Johnson
M/W 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM
Scenes are a fundamental element of fiction, the parts of our stories where something is actually happening. But what makes a good scene? Do they always need conflict? How many characters can we handle on the page at once? What should the “goal” of a scene be?
In this course we will begin addressing these questions, and approach writing with an emphasis on movement and action. We will try our hand at the various forms human interaction can assume, both in real life and on the page, including argument, agreement, romance, eavesdropping, and miscommunication. In our discussions we will borrow from the vocabulary of filmmaking—such as blocking, zoom in/out, pacing—and look at their counterparts in written storytelling.
Readings will include Andre Dubus, J. D. Salinger, Ralph Ellison, Esther Yi, Adam Johnson, Kristin Roupenian, Molly Giles,Kate Braverman, James Salter and Danielle Evans.
CWL 305.S08 #91824 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Fiction: Fiction Gym - The Mechanics with Christian McLean
TU/TH 12:30 PM - 1:50 PM
Athletes don’t just show up for games--they practice. In fact, they practice ten times more than they play. They do drills to build the muscles and stamina needed to respond to any situation during the game. That is the premise of this course.
For some reason, writers think we can just open a blank page and produce a masterpiece without warm-ups or drills. When we do that, we fall back on habit: we write every story in the same tense or from the same point of view because it’s what we know.
Through a variety of exercises, we are going to become well-rounded writers. We won’t just rely on our inherent skills; we will strengthen our weaknesses. We’ll do metaphorical laps and push-ups. We’ll do fiction burpees and mountain climbers. By the end, we’ll be clean, mean, writing machines.
CWL 310 POETRY
CWL 310.S01 #90833 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Poetry: Haibun, Sonnet, Ghazal with Christine Kitano
M/W 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM
In this class we’ll study three traditional forms from around the world–the haibun, the sonnet, and the ghazal–with an ear toward thinking about how to translate these forms into contemporary free verse poetry. The first half of the semester will provide a deep study of formal traditions; the second half of the semester will provide a deep study of contemporary free verse and an examination of how it both builds on and breaks free of formal traditions. We’ll read some history, some criticism, and lots of poetry. Class assignments will be both critical and creative.
CWL 310.S02 #90830 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Poetry: The Image Through Poetry with LB Thompson
TU/TH 9:30 AM - 10:50 AM
The images we encounter in poems resonate with emotional expression. Using our powers of sensory observation we will compose outward-facing poems describing our world, and inward-facing poems offering images representing interiority of character. We will explore the echoes and shadows of received and unique forms as we read and write together as individuals and collaborators. Our work will be anchored in close readings of a wide range of poetic styles on the following themes: mirroring, portraiture, negative space and subtext, framing artifacts, brevity, fables & other narratives, intertextuality, and counterpoint. Techniques and strategies we will explore include: drawing, viewing visual art, artists’ books and broadsides, and collaborative writing.
Prerequisite: CWL 202
CWL 310.S03 #90832 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Poetry: Striking Sparks (Necessary 20th-Century Poems and Their Poets) with Derek McKown
M/W 9:30 AM - 10:50 AM
Maya Angelou is widely credited with saying, “You can’t really know where you are
going until you know where you have been.” And while this truism doesn’t originate
with Ms. Angelou, these words of a popular 20th-century American poet should resonate
for students of poetry in the 21st-century. This course will highlight poems of the
20th-century that helped carry us to where we are now, and might head next. Though
a reading-heavy course, we will also write poems prompted by the ideas and techniques
of those necessary poems of the previous century.
CWL 315 FORMS OF SCRIPTWRITING
CWL 315.S01 #91852 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Scriptwriting: The Art of the One-Act with Stephen Aubrey
TU/TH 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM
This course explores the craft, possibilities, and power of the one-act play, a form that has long functioned as a space for experimentation and theatrical innovation. Compact yet expansive, the one-act challenges playwrights to build character, conflict, and dramatic momentum within a limited frame, often producing work that is bold, concentrated, and formally inventive. In this course, we will study a wide range of short plays in order to understand how playwrights create compelling characters, tension, and theatricality within a limited span of time. By the end of the semester, each student will complete a polished one-act play and gain a deeper understanding of how dramatic storytelling works on the page and in performance.
CWL 320 INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTS
CWL 320.S01 #90831 SBC: EXP+, WRTD
Book Publishing Practicum with Alison Fairbrother
M/W 3:30 PM - 4:50 PM
A one-two punch for students interested in learning the basics of the publishing world, as both writers and editors. Students will engage in one round of workshop, learn about the various roles needed to bring a book from inception to the marketplace, and dive into the editorial side of creating an anthology. This is an ideal course for students who crave a strong foundational understanding of the publishing industry when they apply for internship opportunities or submit their work for publication.
The following course CWL 320.S60 will take place on the Stony Brook Manhattan campus located at 535 Eighth Avenue:
CWL 320.S60 #90829 SBC: HFA+, WRTD
Forms of Fiction: WritingNYC with Karen Bender
MANHATTAN CAMPUS
F 12:00 PM - 2:50 PM
In this class on Stony Brook's Manhattan campus, students will develop material inspired by the most written about city in the world. Students will read some short stories, essays, and novel excerpts and poems set in New York City, including work by John Cheever, Junot Diaz, James Baldwin, Toni Cade Bambara, Alexander Chee, Bernard Malamud, Colson Whitehead, Edwidge Danticat, Walt Whitman, and others, learning about how writers wrote about NYC-and we will go on some field trips to experience the city and discuss how to write about the city now. We will learn about elements that create great writing about setting. Students will generate material and write one short story during the semester, and the second half of class will involve workshops of this material. A lab in reading, writing and learning about New York.
CWL 325 SCIENCE WRITING
CWL 325.S01 #90845 SBC: STAS, WRTD
Forms of Science Writing: The Animal “I Am” with LB Thompson
M/W 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM
In this course, we will read pieces in a variety of genres exploring what it means to be an animal who is capable, as philosopher Jacques Derrida asserts, of saying “I am.” We will also consider research strategies for creative pieces composed as individuals and collaborators with strong underpinnings in the sciences. Some of the themes and techniques we will study together include perception, illness, ecology, cabinets of curiosity, and using natural forms to shape narrative or verse.
Reading intensive.
Prerequisite: CWL 202
CWL 330-340 “READ LIKE A WRITER” COURSES
CWL 335.01 #90869 SBC: HFA+, USA
Topics in American Lit for Writers: Children's Litwith Emma Walton Hamilton
Online/Asynchronous
**This course may not be repeated**
Most of us can think of the book that changed our lives—the one that turned our world upside down, showed us we weren’t alone, made us a reader. For many of us, that book was one we read as a child or a teenager. Childhood and young adulthood are unique transitional stages of development with major physical, intellectual and emotional changes. They are times of tension, of questions, of defining ourselves in relationship to the world around us. By addressing these issues head on, children’s literature is uniquely valuable and relevant to the lives of its readers.
The Topics in American Literature: Children's Lit course is a survey of the four principal forms that comprise contemporary children’s literature: picture book, chapter book, middle grade and young adult (YA). The focus is on children’s and young adult literature as meaningful and respected genres within the publishing industry and in the library, educational, and book-selling community, and the craft elements, standards, and objectives of each form. Topics covered for each form include basic history, current events, craft elements, and industry standards. Coursework includes readings for each form, engagement with the posted course material posted each week, book presentations, quizzes, and weekly posts in the online discussion forum.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Despite being delivered in asynchronous online format, this is a rigorous course of study with a substantial workload. Students looking for an easy A or who are merely interested in fulfilling a requirement are strongly encouraged to choose a different course. In addition, the course is self-directed and requires excellent time management skills. Please study this syllabus carefully and plan accordingly.
Prerequisite: 1 HUM course
CWL 335.02 #95452 SBC: HFA+, GLO
Postmodern Satire with Dawnie Walton
TU/TH 2:00 PM - 3:20 PM
It’s a grand, gleeful literary tradition — the skewering of institutions with nothing more than a sharp wit and a sharper pen. In this course, we’ll close-read fiction that mirrors and critiques, through humor and/or exaggeration, aspects of 21st-century American life and culture, including capitalism, technology, politics, dating and sex, the workplace, media, religion, racial and gender identity, and more. Expect to study work by Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Ling Ma, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Isle McElroy, Deesha Philyaw, and other contemporary writers who blur the lines between satire and speculative, dystopian, surreal, and domestic fiction. Occasionally, we’ll augment what we read by watching TV episodes, movies, and viral videos that broaden our understanding of satire and the elements of storytelling craft that anchor it, particularly characterization, dialogue, and world-building.
FLM 215 SCRIPTWRITING FOR FILM & TVW 220 ADVANCED TV WRITING
Creative Writing students interested in Scriptwriting (CWL 315) can also enroll in FLM 215 Scriptwriting for Film and TV if they’ve completed CWL 202. To get permission to enroll and count this towards the creative writing major or minor, contact Chryso Tsoumpelis (chrysovalantou.tsoumpelis@stonybrook.edu).
FLM 215 Forms of Scriptwriting
FLM 215.01 #90843
SBC: HFA+
W 3:30 PM - 6:20 PM with TBA
Study and practice of scriptwriting for film and television through readings, screenings, discussions and regular submission of original work. FALL 2026 215.01 will focus on WRITING FOR TELEVISION.
FLM 215.02 #91872
SBC: HFA+
TH 11:00 AM - 1:50 PM with Tim O’Connor
This section of Film 215 will focus on the initial, crucial phases of writing a feature length screenplay— from idea generation through the drafting of a treatment and initial script pages. We'll explore how to generate story ideas, nurture them through research, expand them through exercise and then craft them into a working structure. A significant portion of the semester will be dedicated to workshopping student work, and we’ll dive into what it means to live the life of a writer.
TVW 221 THE WRITER’S ROOM SBC: HFA+, WRTD
TVW 221.01 #90866 W 2:00 PM - 4:50 PM with Dave Chan
In The Writers Room course, we will "break" Season 1 of a television series and each of its episodes. We will develop character and story arcs over the course of the season as well as ABC stories in each episode. Television is the "little big screen" and though it follows the same principles of traditional storytelling, there are nuances that make this medium entirely unique. After successful completion of this course, you will understand the process of breaking episodes of a season, character/story arcs, and write one episode.
Creative writing majors may enroll in TVW 220 if you’ve completed FLM 215 or CWL 315, which will satisfy a workshop requirement. Contact Chryso Tsoumpelis (chrysovalantou.tsoumpelis@stonybrook.edu) for permission and to apply this towards the creative writing major or minor.
