Intermediate Writing: Your American Life

In this course, you'll read and listen to some of the most moving and insightful pieces of the last decade, explore the important differences between print and oral storytelling, and then script and record your own full-length audio piece. Along the way, we will explore many craft elements that apply equally to print and audio pieces. You will learn, for example, how to organize your material, choose an effective structure, blend dramatization and reflection, ground insights in concrete scenes, create a strong narrative arc, and manage elements such as characterization, description, and dialogue. We will also, of course, explore craft elements unique to the audio form and you will learn how to use your voice and other sonic elements to craft the kind of piece you might hear on This American Life.Through a special arrangement with the Stanford Storytelling Project, in the spring of 2012 this course will feature special sessions with prominent contributors to This American Life. Prerequisite: first two levels of the writing requirement or equivalent transfer credit. For more information, see http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/cgi-bin/drupal_pwr/advanced_pwr.