Policies and Procedures for the Minor in Creative Writing

The Creative Writing Program, centered in the Department of English, offers four different levels of workshops - introductory, intermediate, advanced, and senior honors - which can lead to graduation with Honors in Creative Writing and/or a Minor in Creative Writing.   The minor requires 15 hours, a total of 5 courses which students need to begin by their sophomore year, at the rate of one Creative Writing class per semester. The minor may be completed by pursuing a fiction track, a poetry track, or via multiple genres.

Advancement to successive courses in either the fiction or poetry sequence is by recommendation of the student's previous instructor(s), and for both the Advanced workshops and year-long Senior Honors Seminars, by application. If possible, the student is assigned to a different instructor for each course. Should students not advance beyond the Intermediate level, they may choose to finish the minor with other classes offered in Creative Writing. Creative Writing minors receive priority in all Creative Writing classes and usually fill all seats.

The courses are:

Fiction

Poetry

Other Creative Writing classes

To receive a minor in Creative Writing, a student may take 15 hours in the fiction or poetry sequence, or take a collection of courses from fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and so on. The Creative Writing Program also gives credit toward the minor to several courses offered in other departments - such as AMST 499 Advanced Seminar in American Studies (contact CW program assistant to make sure this course will count toward your minor); COMM 131-Writing for the Stage and Screen; COMM 330-Drama/Fiction Writing; DRAM 231-Playwriting; and JOMC 256-Feature Writing. A student may seek permission from the Creative Writing Department to declare the minor once he or she has taken 2 courses and is on track to graduate with three more - without doubling up in any one semester. To receive a degree with Honors or Highest Honors in Creative Writing, students must maintain a 3.2 GPA and meet all other requirements to both enter and complete the Senior Honors Thesis (ENGL 693H and 694H). Students minoring in Creative Writing must also plan carefully when intending on studying abroad and keep in mind submission and deadline requirements for applying to successive courses.

Students completing the 5 courses for the minor may only take additional Creative Writing course by permission of the Director, providing that all other students still completing the minor are served first.

Students with unusual scheduling situations or requests need to speak directly with the Director of Creative Writing, Professor Bland Simpson, bsimpson@email.unc.edu, 962-4007, 231 Greenlaw Hall.

TRANSFER STUDENTS:

The requirement for taking a minor in creative writing is 5 courses or 15 semester hours.Students are limited to one creative writing course at a time. Most junior transfer students have 4 semesters remaining. Junior transfer students wanting to minor in Creative Writing will need to:

  1. have an introductory course already on their record that would transfer to Carolina as credit, i.e. an introductory course in fiction writing or poetry writing taken at the student's former college or university that is transferring in as credit for ENGL 130 or ENGL 131.
  2. OR take up an introductory course in UNC summer school prior to their first Fall term at Carolina and be promoted to the next level or to another CW class (on a space available basis);
  3. OR secure a seat in an Intro workshop (ENGL 130, Intro to Fiction Writing, or 131, Intro to Poetry Writing), if space is available by permission of instructor, during their first Fall semester at Carolina and then taking one of their five courses either in an additional semester or during summer school between their junior and senior year.

Permission to move forward with transfer credit for the Introductory course will require a review of the syllabus and work completed in the course by the Creative Writing Faculty, and is dependent on space availability, which cannot be guaranteed. Students must provide hard copies of syllabi and samples of coursework as early as possible in order to ensure time for review and to schedule a meeting with the Director.

Junior transfers who are able to minor in CW via option 3 above would not be eligible to apply for Advanced Fiction or Poetry (ENGL 35 or 35P) or the Senior Honors Seminars, and would need to complete the minor via the multi-genre approach. Students fitting options 1 and 2 would be eligible for those courses provided they are promoted to and there is space available in Intermediate Fiction (34) or Intermediate Poetry (34P) their first Fall semester.

Details of class requirements:

POETRY:

Collaborative minor: The Departments of Communication Studies, Creative Writing, and Dramatic Art have established a new program, Writing for the Screen and Stage. Students who have taken ENGL 23W or ENGL 29W(fiction), have a 2.4 GPA,and are rising Juniors are eligible to apply. All students must have a recommendation letter from their writing instructor. Interested students should go to the Writing for the Screen and Stage webpage. There is an application process to become a Minor. For more information, contact Professor David Sontag at sontag@email.unc.edu.

One all-important note: our small program exists solely for full-time, resident undergraduate students at the University -- our classes are always full and are in enormous demand from the undergraduate population. We simply cannot fulfill all the requests to register for courses, to audit officially, or "just to sit in," such as come to us regularly from graduate students, University staff members, and citizens from Chapel Hill and beyond. Please study the list below for other possibilities.

Creative Writing Courses Available Locally:

UNC-CH Friday Center for Continuing Education(919) 962-1134

Duke University Continuing Education(919) 684-6259

at the Carrboro ArtsCenter(919) 929-2787 x 101

A Statewide Resource:

North Carolina Writers Network(919) 967-9540

Creative Writing Programs at the Graduate Level, around North Carolina:

NCSU(919) 515-4170

UNC-Wilmington(910) 962-7711

UNC-Greensboro(336) 334-5459

Warren Wilson College(828) 771-3715

Queens University(704) 337-2335

Additional Resources:

The Association of Writers & Writing Programs, www.awpwriter.org.