CREA E-599 (Section 2): Capstone: Developing the Manuscript: Fiction or Nonfiction

In the precapstone course, CREA E-597 Precapstone: Building the World of the Book: Fiction or Nonfiction students engage in a series of structured writing exercises that make it possible for them to delve deeply into their characters—what they look like, what they want and need, and how they interact with the world in which they live—as they structure the world of their fiction or nonfiction. Students draft the first chapter of their capstone novel, memoir, or nonfiction book, or the first story or essay in their capstone collection (15-20 pages). Students also write a plan for their projects (5-10 pages) in which they create a roadmap of their book, bringing the narrative arc and key characters into focus and defining the audience for their work.

This capstone course, CREA E-599 Capstone: Developing the Manuscript: Fiction or Nonfiction, is meant to follow CREA E-597, in which students built the imaginative world of their books and produced the first story, essay, or chapter of them. In this workshop, students write two additional chapters, stories, or essays, or approximately 30 pages of new work. The capstone project in total should be about 50-60 pages—the equivalent of a thesis. Students submit the entire manuscript—the plan and the three chapters, stories, or essays developed during both the precapstone and capstone courses—at the end of the second semester, but instructors read and comment on only the two new chapters.