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Essay & Opinion Writing I
GUIDE TO NONFICTION COURSES
Nonfiction Pathways
Foundation
If you’re not sure what kind of nonfiction to write...
If you know what kind of nonfiction to write...
Memoir I
Essay & Opinion Writing
Feature Article Writing
Blog & Newsletter Writing
Travel Writing
Food Writing
Or...
If you want a rather short course...
Memoir Intensive
Personal Essay Writing
Feature Article Writing Intensive
Humor Writing Intensive
Blog & Newsletter Writing Intensive
Next Steps
After completing a Level I ten-week course...
After completing Memoir II, if you want to write a book...
Selling Your Work
If you hope to get published somewhere...
Also Helpful
These essential courses are great for writers of any level.
Essay & Opinion Writing I is a 10-week workshop, which includes lectures, exercises, and the critiquing of student projects. It’s for beginners or anyone who wants to brush up on the fundamentals. Farther down, you can view a syllabus for this course.
Do you enjoy sharing your viewpoints? What do you think of, say, global warming or the latest water-cooler TV show or the forgotten value of handkerchiefs? No topic is too major or minor to warrant exploration. There are many places to air your views—magazines, newspapers, websites, blogs, books, newsletters—and many forms to encapsulate them.
People will be eager to hear you out…if you know how to elucidate your thoughts better than the average loudmouth on the bus. Here you’ll learn about the leading forms of viewpoint writing—personal essay, lyric essay, op-eds, reviews, and others—as well as writing craft and how to market your work.
Whatever you have to say, we’ll show you how to say it effectively and compellingly.
A charcuterie board of creative nonfiction techniques, complete with good company to enjoy it with!
Leilani Reyes
software engineer
Notes
A personal essay is similar to a memoir; both incorporate elements from the writer’s life. But a personal essay focuses more on the viewpoint, and a memoir focuses more on the story. Gotham also offers courses on Memoir Writing and an Intensive on Personal Essay Writing.
10-Week
-
Zoom
Real-time videoconference
Tuition: $439 (returning students: $409)
-
Online
Anytime, week-long sessions
Tuition: $439 (returning students: $409)
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One-on-One
Tuition: $1,895
Syllabus
This course gives you a firm grounding in the basics of essay/opinion writing craft and gets you writing an essay or opinion piece (or two). Course components:
Lectures
Writing exercises
Workshopping of student projects (each student presenting work two times)
New York City/Zoom classes
The syllabus varies from teacher to teacher, term to term. Many topics will be similar to those covered in the Online classes.
Online classes
Week 1
Introduction to Essay & Opinion Writing: The different forms of essay and opinion writing—personal essays, reviews, op-eds, persuasive essays, exploratory essays, lyric essays. Creative nonfiction structure—lede, nut graf, body, kicker. The basics of framing.
Week 2
Purpose and Meaning: Your point (and you do have one). Finding an essay’s guiding principle. The role of theme in creative nonfiction.
Week 3
Description: Putting the “creative” in creative nonfiction. Finding the right word. The art of selection.
Week 4
Voice: Elements of voice. Role of voice in essay writing. Finding your writer’s voice.
Week 5
Personal Essay: Blending the personal and universal. Using your experience to shed light on a larger subject.
Week 6
Review Writing: Structure of reviews. Balancing honesty with mutual regard.
Week 7
Op-Ed/Persuasive Essay: Logic in creative writing. The art of persuasion.
Week 8
Reported/Exploratory/Lyric Essays: Reported—narrative nonfiction using style, dialogue, and description. Exploratory—essays that begin with a question. Lyric—nonfiction that experiments with rhythm, sound, and syntax.
Week 9
Revision: The art of revision.
Week 10
The Business: Finding the right market. Making your pitch.
Note: Content may vary among individual classes.
Teachers
Cullen Thomas
Cullen Thomas is the author of the memoir Brother One Cell (Viking). His nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Salon, The Rumpus, The Sonora Review, World Hum, Current Biography, and Penthouse. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and the National Geographic channel and has taught at NYU. He holds a BA from Binghamton University.
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Jessica Ogilvie
Jessica Ogilvie has published articles and essays in Los Angeles Magazine, Playboy, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Dame, Condé Nast Traveler, LAist, Vice, Good, and the Hairpin, among others, and her work has been anthologized in Little America: Incredible True Stories of Immigrants in America. She has worked as a contributing editor at Playboy, a contributing writer at Los Angeles Magazine, and a section editor at LA Weekly. She has taught for 826LA. She holds a BA from New York University and an MFA from Bennington College.
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Michael Dunphy
Michael Dunphy has pubished articles and essays in CNN, USA Today, Forbes, Tablet, American Way, Travel + Leisure, Travel Weekly, Time Out, Virtuoso Life, TravelAge West, and Beer Advocate. He is a contributing editor to Fodor's travel guides, the former managing editor of FlyWashington, Air Chicago, and LAX magazines, and former editor-in-chief of the newspaper The Bridge in Montpelier, Vermont. He holds a BA from the University of Vermont and an MA in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College.
Read moreCullen Thomas
Cullen Thomas
is the author of the memoir Brother One Cell (Viking). His nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Salon, The Rumpus, The Sonora Review, World Hum, Current Biography, and Penthouse. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and the National Geographic channel and has taught at NYU. He holds a BA from Binghamton University.
Jessica Ogilvie
Jessica Ogilvie
has published articles and essays in Los Angeles Magazine, Playboy, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Dame, Condé Nast Traveler, LAist, Vice, Good, and the Hairpin, among others, and her work has been anthologized in Little America: Incredible True Stories of Immigrants in America. She has worked as a contributing editor at Playboy, a contributing writer at Los Angeles Magazine, and a section editor at LA Weekly. She has taught for 826LA. She holds a BA from New York University and an MFA from Bennington College.
Michael Dunphy
Michael Dunphy
has pubished articles and essays in CNN, USA Today, Forbes, Tablet, American Way, Travel + Leisure, Travel Weekly, Time Out, Virtuoso Life, TravelAge West, and Beer Advocate. He is a contributing editor to Fodor's travel guides, the former managing editor of FlyWashington, Air Chicago, and LAX magazines, and former editor-in-chief of the newspaper The Bridge in Montpelier, Vermont. He holds a BA from the University of Vermont and an MA in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College.
Related Courses
Personal Essay Writing
The writer’s view on a topic, interlaced with experiences from the writer’s life.
Memoir Writing I
True stories about aspects of the writer’s life, whether essay or book-length.
Creative Nonfiction 101
A great entry point for the creative forms of nonfiction—memoir, essay, feature articles, reviews, etc.
