Creative Writing Program
Carnegie Mellon University houses one of a small number of English departments in the country offering a major in Creative Writing.
In the Creative Writing program, undergraduate students will develop talents in writing fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and creative nonfiction. While studying with faculty members who are writers, Creative Writing majors will read a wide range of literature and genres, sharpen critical and verbal skills, better explore the resources and potential of imagination, and develop a professional attitude towards writing. The extracurricular writing activities and a variety of writing internships available on and off campus provide valuable experiences for planning both professional and academic futures. After graduation, many Creative Writing majors go on to graduate writing programs and to careers in teaching, publishing, public relations, advertising, TV and film, or freelance writing and editing.
Learning Outcomes
Creative Theory & Contextual Analysis
-
Explain the terminology and theoretical techniques specific to a given creative writing genre. Explain how cultural, historical, and social context affect both the writing and reading of creative texts.
Creative Production & Personal Style
- Produce short creative texts (including poems, creative nonfiction essays, short stories, and novel chapters) by applying genre-specific creative theory; utilize feedback from multiple sources to write secondary drafts of such creative texts.
- Produce long form creative work (poetry chapbooks or collections, novellas or novels, collections of shorts stories or creative nonfiction essays) by applying genre-specific creative theory; utilize feedback from multiple sources to write secondary drafts of such creative texts. Explain creative choices through the use of genre-specific terminology and techniques.
Professional Practice
- Utilize knowledge of publishing practices to submit creative texts for publication consideration.
- Apply career-based skills to class work, including tasks related to publishing and other professional creative writing contexts.
