Elizabethtown College English Department

Jesse Waters designs his Advanced Fiction course as a workshop.  Here students work on building and revising their own original work. The course gives students complete freedom to bring in any pieces that they wish to develop. 

This course offers students a great opportunity to hone valuable copy-editing and basic revision skills.

Since many Elizabethtown College students wish to explore fiction writing, this course is open to all.  “I encourage everyone that has a capacity or interest in writing to absolutely take any of the workshop courses which they can.  I would even say that the best student I ever had in the advanced fiction class was an occupational therapy student,” said Waters.

The course also helps build soft skills in communication, especially when it comes to taking and giving criticism to peers.  In Advanced Fiction each student provides thoughtful and professional feedback. When students return the first round of papers, authors must face all the recommendation notes their peers have left.  Recognizing that we as writers have room for improvement is emotionally challenging, but the process helps to develop a writer’s maturity.  Learning how to handle critiques is a vital part of the experience.

“The point of a workshop is to take a great piece, to receive feedback from a wider audience, and to improve beyond what you’re capable of on your own,” said senior English and environmental science major, Marissa Kopp.

Author Bio: Jonathan Standke is a senior professional writing major.