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Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Fall Semester 2026

Foundations of Creative Writing (Online)

ENGL 6010-70I

Course: ENGL 6010-70I
Credits: 3
Term: Fall Semester 2026
Department: English
CRN: 32533

Course Description

A foundational, process-based course on the craft, tools, and techniques of two genres: fiction and poetry. Students will read literature and compose works informed by traditional and contemporary models. (Fall) [Graded (Standard Letter)]

Required Texts

  • Ron Carlson Writes a Story by Ron Carlson, ISBN: 9781555974770
  • The Art and Craft of Fiction, 2nd ed. by Michael Kardos, ISBN: 9781319030421
  • American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time, ed. by Tracy K. Smith, ISBN: 9781555978389
  • Elements of Creative Writing, 2nd ed. (OER)

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  1. recognize the steps and stages of the creative writing process,
  2. recognize and reproduce writers’ habits of mind,
  3. through close reading, discuss and analyze classic and contemporary models of fiction and poetry,
  4. identify and analyze foundations of good writing in any genre,
  5. create original work that grows out of established craft.

Course Requirements

Reading and Lecture Notes (20% of overall grade)


You will watch every video lecture I post, actively and generously participating with comments though Annoto.

You will also submit close-reading notes for all the readings--craft and creative--each week. My preferred method for showing your close reading is handwritten annotations written directly in the book or on a printed-out copy of the reading, but I’ll accept other methods too if we talk about it, ideally in the first weeks of class.

A note on the hand-written annotations: If you want to write well, you have to read well, therefore, reading carefully and closely--to figure out how a text works--will be a foundational part of your grade. I substantiate a student's engagement with the text through their annotations on a text. Handwritten annotations are time consuming, yes, but are also far better for engagement, recall, and discussion. Annotating is not merely highlighting or underlining, nor is it notes on a separate piece of paper. Annotating is adding notes to the text.

For the craft readings, focus on your comprehension of the text and connecting what you're reading to other readings and concepts in and out of our class as well as asking specific questions you may want to raise in class. Below are some things you can do as you're completing annotations for a craft reading.

  • Paraphrase parts of the reading
  • Elevate and elaborate on ideas
  • Connect the text's ideas to your life and experience
  • Connect the text's ideas to other fields or other learning
  • Connect the text's ideas to other readings or parts of this work
  • Argue with or question the ideas of the authors/text
  • Note questions you want to ask during in-class discussion (annoto) or during office hours

For the creative readings, work to notice the craft elements we've discussed so far with a special emphasis on the craft element we're currently focusing on. Reader-response readings, e.g. "I love this!" or "What?" are not good annotations for the creative readings. You're working to see the craft in the piece. Make sure I can see how you're seeing things.

Exercises (30% of overall grade)


Each week you will complete a writing exercise designed to practice an element of craft. You will type this exercise out as a Google Doc and post it to that week's discussion. When you create the doc, make sure you change the share permissions for anyone with the link to view or comment (depending on your preferences) and set me as an editor. Then complete the exercise.

Your submission of the exercise will be due at the end of the week, no later than Sunday night.

By Wednesday of the following week, return to the discussion page and choose two to three of your colleagues' exercises to comment on. Details on what those comments should consist of can be found in the assignment description for each exercise. 

Remember that feedback among writers is an ecosystem. Generally if you give good, generous feedback you're likely to get that back. If you are stingy or shallow with your feedback, your classmates are likely to do the same for you. If you want generous feedback, be willing to give it.

Weekly Notebook (25% of overall grade)


Every week you will submit a single, but multi-faceted, assignment that includes a writing plan and goal; a writing log; glimmers; and evidence of this week’s writing.

Writing Goal

Each week you will write or copy out your writing plan for the week, and name a specific writing goal.

Writing Log

Throughout the week, you'll keep a log of your individual writing sessions. This completed log will come second in the weekly notebook. The writing log needs to include, at minimum, the following information about each writing session:

  • Date
  • Time
  • Duration
  • # words, pages, etc.
  • Mood or engagement
  • Notes about you’d like to retain or change

Include any creative writing you do, even if it isn’t specifically for my class.

Note that the writing log portion of the assignment is completion based. Getting the work done you need to get done is accounted for elsewhere in the class. Keeping the writing log is its own thing. In other words, be honest. If you didn’t write this week, don’t try to pretend you did. Instead, reflect in the notes/comments section and/or in the writing plan section what’s not working and what you’re going to try to do to change that.

Glimmers 

The writer Pam Houston, in an interview with Jodi Scheer Hernandez, was asked how she stays inspired to write. She responded,

"By going out in the physical world (often the natural world) and really paying attention. All of my work comes from my experience in the physical world…. The real world, you might say, though I intentionally don’t. I move through the world and I wait until something 'glimmers' at me, until something says, 'Hey writer, over here, pay attention.' It can be a seal’s head popping up in an ocean wave, or the color the bark of the Aspens turn just before they leaf out, or a snippet of conversation overheard at a coffee shop, or a piece of graffiti on an underpass…. Just about anything, but some of those glimmers feel like they have resonance. It feels as though this thing in the outside world is somehow going to help me unlock some story I have to tell. I don’t think too much about the how of that. I just trust that it will happen, and often, when I actually sit down to write and gather all the recent glimmers around me, a story does in fact emerge."

I expect that each week you record at least five “glimmers” that occur to you per week. Include a short commentary on when and how this “glimmer” came to you. You are also welcome to include what you might do with it.

Writing Evidence

Submit to Canvas the actual creative writing you did this week. If this is handwritten, you can add in photos/scans. If it is typed, it will need to have been typed directly in the document.

Final Portfolio (35% of overall grade)


Your final is long and complex—but you can and should be working on it throughout the semester. Below is a list of what will need to be completed by the end of the semester:

  • Handwritten annotations and a written analysis of a published poem.
  • Handwritten annotations and a written analysis of a published short story.
  • 3 poems, written this semester, each with a reflection on the writing process for that piece.
  • 2 complete short stories, written this semester, each with a reflection on the writing process for that piece.
  • Handwritten annotations and a written analysis of one of your poems.
  • Handwritten annotations and a written analysis of one of your short stories.

Course Outline

  • Weeks 1-2: The first unit of the course is spent giving students an overview of the creative process in general. Student will take time to deliberately develop a sustainable and productive writing process.
  • Weeks 3-11: In the second major unit students will learn the basic elements of creative writing craft and close read to see how they manifest in published works of poetry and fiction. Students will also practice using those elements in their own writing. 
  • Weeks 12-16: In the final unit of the semester students will turn their focus to looking at the craft elements all at once instead of one by one. They will choose and write formal analyses of one published poem and one short story. Students will then, with the help of their classmates, analyze their own use of craft in their own writing. The semester will end with a whole-class reflection. 

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

  • Each assignment has a due date. I will begin grading on that date. You have a natural, built-in grace period though. If I haven’t finished grading the assignment yet, you can still turn your assignment in. Once I’ve entered a zero for your grade, that means I’m done grading that assignment and the grace period has ended. It’s a bit of a gamble to turn something in late; get your work done ASAP. If you really need to, email me and ask me how far out I am on grading. I can give you a rough ballpark. Note that major assignments generally take longer to grade while minor assignments usually have a quicker turnaround. Also note that this late policy does not apply to the final or other time-dependent assignments like exercises your classmates need to give feedback to and/or workshop. Those must be done on time for credit.

  • Accepted late work will be given no feedback, only a grade, and may take longer to be returned.

  • If you have something exceptional going on, talk with me ASAP. I may be able to work with you, but I also have to be fair to all students, so there are some issues on which my hands are tied.

  • Computer or user error is not a legitimate excuse for late work, so submit early and double-check that your submissions were uploaded correctly and that they are the correct submissions. This is especially true for an online class.

Attendance Policy

  • As this is an online course, your attendance will be measured by your participation and completion of course assignments.

Course Fees

$18

Conduct and Content


This class will operate on a basis of mutual respect, personal responsibility, and professionalism. I expect that you respect me and my time, your classmates and their time, and yourself and your own time. This means being prepared, participating generously, and owning the consequences of all your decisions. Remember, no one will ever take you or your work more seriously than you do. 

Be aware that some of the material we address this semester—your classmates work included—may contain profanity and/or address topics such as sex, violence, suicidal ideation, homophobia, racism, or other difficult subjects. Students who find such content objectionable or overly difficult are free to forgo any reading assignments or class discussions; however, no alternates will be provided. If there is something in particular you are concerned about, please let me know if the first week or so of class.

Please do practice self-care regarding difficult material. I am not interested in causing students pain and difficulty. If there is a reading or story that is too much for you—one I’ve given you or one a classmate has given you—forgo it and talk to me about it during office hours. Similarly, realize that no one in class is obligated to read your writing.

It is also important that I make sure you know I am a mandated reporter for instances of child abuse of any minor and sexual harassment that concerns/involves SUU students or SUU campus (include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking). This does not mean you cannot write about abuse or harassment. It does mean that if I learn about any abuse or harassment, in the past or ongoing, I will have to file a report with either our campus Title IX office or with SUU police. If the office I make the report to already knows about the situation, nothing new will happen. If it is new to them, they'll contact you for an initial meeting where they'll ask for a more clear picture of what the situation is and offer support (potentially like therapy, class or housing changes, etc.) to the survivor.

I want to be clear that, so far, I have come at this topic from a "I have to report it" angle, but as a human, I want you to know that I have every interest in doing what I can to stop abuse and harassment and to help the survivors connect with resources to cope and heal. But know I don't see a student opening up about abuse or harassment as problematic. If you are ready to talk about it, I'm ready to read the art you make about it. But I also will make sure the powers that be are aware, too.

AI Policy


The Policy

The Author’s Guild has issued a position statement
Links to an external site. about the use of AI in publishing, and I teach with those principles in mind. AI tools could take a writing gig away from you one day or keep you from selling a book. In line with the industry standard, and to stay in line with professional expectations, I do no allow use of AI in this class. If you use AI on an assignment, you will have to have a face-to-face meeting with me, then redo the assignment from scratch with stricter parameters. If it happens again, you may fail the class. 

Again, use of AI is fundamentally antithetical to our course outcomes, so use of AI, specifically LLMs (large language models) and generative AI, is not allowed in this course.

Similarly, never submit or expose someone else's intellectual property to AI without explicit permission for that person. In this class, that means absolutely not submitting my or your classmates' work to an AI without their explicit, written permission. (I don't think you should submit published work to an AI-driven tool, either, though I carry less responsibility in this.) This includes programs like Speechify (to listen to a text read aloud) and feeding an essay to an AI to ask for a summary or to ask it to generate talking points. I expect you to do this work yourself, as it is the work of the class, and it is professional and personally irresponsible to blow someone else's chance at publication because you violated their intellectual property rights.


The Details

For the purposes of this class, do not use any AI to generate or edit work. This includes using AI to help you generate topics or prompts as well as generate whole essays, paragraphs, sentences, or words. (Yes, turn off predictive typing in google docs
Links to an external site..) While I and most other professionals and publishers do not consider word processor-based spelling and grammar checks to be AI, tools like Grammarly are considered AI and, therefore, off the table. Why? Because writers should know grammar and be able to write relatively error-free language on their own. It's a skill you're in this class to develop, and if you outsource it to AI now, you aren't learning grammar rules and how to edit for them.

Nearly all publishers I've ever checked up on have a statement like this one from McSweeney's: "McSweeney’s accepts no writing aided in any manner by AI. Before publishing any writing—from a letter to a book-length work—authors published at McSweeney’s will be asked to attest that AI played no part in the creation or writing of that work."

Using AI to generate your work means it likely won't be published and almost certainly won't be able to be protected by a copyright (because you didn't write it, the LLM, which is illegally coopting copyright protected material, did). No copyright means no publication. Widespread acceptance of AI generated material and feeding of the beast means fewer opportunities for actual writers wanting to do the work.

Writing while listening to an AI-generated playlist on Spotify? Not what we're talking about. If you find yourself unsure about whether what you're doing is okay? Let's talk about it.

For this course, you are required to use Google Docs to compose all your out-of-class written work. When you begin an assignment, you are required to add me as an editor. If I’m not a named editor/collaborator, I will not accept the assignment. Use that exact same document for the whole drafting and editing process. Never cut and paste your draft into a new doc. If you are going to make a big change, you can save the version you have before the big change for reference later.

At any point in the semester, you may be asked to discuss your piece with me in a formal or informal meeting. Be prepared to explain what you did with your writing, when you did it, how you did it, and why you did it. If you cannot sufficiently explain your work, that may impact your grade with a grade reduction—up to a zero. The outcomes in this class aren't merely to generate good, interesting work, it's metacognition about that work.

Grey Areas and Exceptions

If you feel you're in a grey area or have an exception my AI policy and required procedures, talk to me before you begin a new project, and we'll record the parameters of the exception in an email so we'll both have a written copy of what is and is not approved. For instance, if you prefer to use MS word instead of Google Docs, that can work. We just need to talk about it before you begin your project. If you hand write your drafts first, I can work with that. Just talk to me. If you want to use an LLM as a co-author in your experimental essay and have a good reason to do it, awesome. Talk to me in advance and we'll work it out.

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.