Creative Writing: Crafting Personal Essays with Impact

Everyone has a story to tell. Join best-selling author Roxane Gay to find your story, craft your truth, and write to make a difference. Roxane Gay is a writer, professor, and editor known for her honest, thoughtful writing on race, gender identity, culture, and more. She is the author of the New York Times best-selling essay collections Bad Feminist and Hunger, as well as the nationally best-selling Difficult Women. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney's and Tin House, and she is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. How does such powerful writing come to be? This course is an insightful, inspiring look at how to transform your story into a powerful personal essay. Learn how to craft your personal voice with wider context—and write to connect with the people you want to reach. By sharing her meditative, thoughtful approach to the craft of writing, Roxane invites you to take yourself seriously as a writer, empowering you to share your passion, take a stand, and make an impact on the world around you. Packed with practical guidance, actionable tactics, and example essays, 8 video lessons will take you from first idea to a final, publication-ready work. Throughout, Roxane will help you: Find a specific purpose for telling your story Connect your work to larger conversations and timely themes Conduct crucial research to support your work Navigate personal memories to write your truth Write and revise your final work Submit your work for publication Plus, the class includes a downloadable worksheet to support your ongoing creative nonfiction writing practice, as well as links to additional resources. This class is for everyone with a desire to write. Whether you want to finish your memoir, develop your writing craft, or explore putting pen to paper for the first time, your voice matters. This class is a jumpstart to finding your voice, your story, and sharing it with the world. It's your time to begin! Let's begin! Instructor bio: Roxane Gay’s writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She is the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, the New York Times best-selling Bad Feminist, the nationally best-selling Difficult Women and the New York Times best-selling Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. She has several books forthcoming and is also at work on television and film projects

• Craft a personal voice connected to broader contexts
• Define a clear purpose for your personal storytelling
• Conduct research and write truthfully using personal memories
• Revise and polish your final work for publication

• No deep prior experience is required, but basic computer and internet skills are helpful
• Ability to read course instructions in English and complete short practice activities