This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, closing this banner, or clicking "I Agree", you agree to the use of cookies.
Read our cookies policy and privacy statement for more information.

×
Stand with UkraineDonate

Southern New Hampshire University Course Info

Manchester, New Hampshire

Favorite

Course Info

Search for courses by clicking on letters of the alphabet or by using a search bar. Explore course description, number of credits required and course sequences to satisfy graduation requirements.


MFA 622

Creative Manuscript I - Nonfiction

In this course, the student is assigned a faculty member as a one-on-one mentor. The mentor will begin the semester by reading the current draft of the full creative manuscript, up to 300 pages in length. After the mentor has read the manuscript, the student and mentor will conduct a conference in person, or by phone if an in-person conference isnt viable. If possible, the mentor and student should take advantage of a residency to discuss the manuscript face-to-face.During the initial conference, the mentor and student discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the manuscript and decide on goals for the semester ahead. Every kind of revision and rewriting is on the table. That is, the mentor and student might decide that an entire manuscript should be scrapped and started over. On the other side of the spectrum, they might decide on a course of line-level revisions. From that point forward the student submits 30 pages of creative manuscript every five weeks, for a total of four additional submissions. The mentors responses to these submissions should center on marginalia and phone conferences, with thorough line-by-line edits and comments responding to passages. The mentors responses should be like those of an excellent, devoted, unusually hands-on book editor. There should be a great deal of conversation; the responses to the packets should not be one-way instruction. This reflects the fact that the student has already completed an MFA program and is a somewhat experienced writer, in all likelihood preparing the manuscript for submission to literary agents.

Units: 12.0