Overview
Creative Writing Capstone is an independent, advanced course in which students conceive, develop, revise, and present a substantial creative writing project in an approved form or genre. Projects may include a novella excerpt, short story cycle, poetry manuscript, creative nonfiction sequence, dramatic work, hybrid text, or another sustained endeavor approved by the department.
Students establish a project proposal, research or reading framework, production schedule, intended audience, and ethical parameters before undertaking successive stages of drafting and revision. Workshop and tutorial sessions address architecture, voice, form, pacing, characterization, coherence, stylistic control, and revision strategy while requiring students to provide rigorous, constructive critique.
The creative project is accompanied by an exegesis, process journal, or artist statement that contextualizes the work within relevant literary conversations and explains its principal formal and aesthetic decisions. Students complete a professional presentation or public reading and defend their project choices while identifying appropriate pathways for publication, further study, or continued artistic practice.
Learning Outcomes
- Design and manage an independent creative writing project of substantial scope from proposal through final presentation.
- Sustain an intentional aesthetic, formal structure, and artistic direction across a complex extended work.
- Apply advanced techniques of voice, form, pacing, development, imagery, characterization, and sentence-level control.
- Evaluate workshop and supervisory feedback, distinguishing necessary revision from changes that would compromise the project's artistic purpose.
- Revise a creative manuscript at structural, paragraph, line, and sentence levels using documented developmental processes.
- Contextualize creative choices through relevant literary research, reading frameworks, and critical reflection.
- Defend the project's formal, ethical, and aesthetic decisions in a professional oral presentation.
- Formulate realistic next steps for publication, further study, or sustained independent creative practice.
Timetable
| Type | Length | Frequency | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seminar | 1 hour | Weekly | All semester |
| Workshop | 2 hours | Weekly | All semester |
| Tutorial | 1 hour | Fortnightly | All semester |
| Practicum | 1 hour | Fortnightly | Second term |
Assessment Schedule
| Type | Description | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment | Project proposal, reading framework, scope, timeline, and ethical considerations | 10.00% |
| Attendance | Workshop participation and formal peer critique | 10.00% |
| Deliverable | Process journal and developmental submissions | 15.00% |
| Capstone | Substantial revised creative project | 40.00% |
| Assignment | Critical exegesis or artist statement | 15.00% |
| Exam | Public presentation and project defense | 10.00% |
Prerequisites
Teaching Staff & Programs
This course is delivered jointly by faculty from the participating programs listed below. In line with the Douchewater Way, the University of Sexology tailors core instruction directly to each cohort's specific discipline — adapting curriculum to program needs rather than forcing students into a one-size-fits-all model. Learn more about our approach at The Douchewater Way.
