The Writing Workshop's Mission

The Writing Workshop prepares students to become serious writers. Robert Frost said that a poem "begins in delight and ends in wisdom."  Writing, therefore, is a unique and individual journey, one that will involve the student's whole college experience and will extend beyond it through the seasons of life and work. To prepare for this journey, Creative Writing students study the great works of yesterday and today, as they strive to hear their own personal music "in the deep heart's core."

The faculty guide students on their journey toward a lifetime of learning and using the writer's craft in all its many applications. This process begins in the writing workshop classes, courses in which students read and critique one another's writing. These courses teach students how to nurture their creativity and to employ the skills of the literary arts. They also build a community of writers which supports students at Eckerd College and often beyond Eckerd into the professional world.

Building on a Solid Foundation

Regardless of their intended focus, Creative Writing majors are required to take courses in fiction, poetry, and at least one other genre. This course of study fosters an education rich in genre diversity. Elective workshops include journalism, non-fiction, the play and screenplay. Students develop individual voices and learn to articulate and defend reasoned critical opinions, abilities necessary for success, not only across the broad spectrum of disciplines offered at Eckerd College, but in life as well.