Storytelling is an ancient human activity that is still relevant today. Students in ISHU 4100 Writing Narrative will read and study works in four narrative types—the personal narrative essay, the short story, the memoir, and the novel—as models and guides for students’ own creative writing. The course will begin with the two non-fiction forms, narrative essays and memoirs, and then move into fiction—short stories and two or three contemporary short novels. Authors may include E.B. White, Annie Dillard, Amy Tan, Alice Walker, Stephen King, Jamaica Kincaid, Sandra Cisneros, and Sherman Alexie. Each week students will complete either a brief critical response to a published piece and/or a creative writing exercise designed to provide practice in developing rounded characters, engaging sensory description, compelling dialogue, and meaningful conflict and climax.