All courses are three credits, unless otherwise indicated.

CNF 600. Nonfiction Basics: Narrative Design  | 3 credits

This course offers an intensive survey of storytelling and its applications in nonfiction writing. It is designed to give students, especially those coming from non-writing professions, fluency in established craft principles of storytelling and familiarity with nonfiction works that embody these principles. 

CNF 611. Readings in Nonfiction | 3 credits

This course offers students in the MFA in Creative Nonfiction program a deeper literacy in the literature of fact. It is designed to help them develop the tools to analyze and evaluate works done on the page and in discussion. Readings focus on nonfiction classics, contemporary texts, and selections in forms such as essay, memoir, and literary journalism. 

CNF 612. Style: Editing & Revision in Nonfiction | 3 credits

This is a class in learning prose styling. It provides students with immersion in the techniques of editing and polishing their work. They also will learn the foundations of sentence construction, clear expression, and other tools of craft. 

CNF 613. Literary Magazine Studies and Publishing Practicum | 3 credits 

This course surveys the history and evolution of the American literary magazine and its global influences. Students will work with the instructor to publish one issue of Proximity, an online literary magazine that is exclusively nonfiction and was founded by four alumni of Goucher’s MFA program — acquiring and editing the work of at least one contributor.  

CNF 614. Poetry and Nonfiction | 3 credits

This elective is a course in reading and writing poetry, and how those pursuits intersect with and influence the writing of nonfiction prose. 

CNF 617. The Entrepreneurial Writer | 3 credits

The Entrepreneurial Writer prepares students for post-MFA life by developing the skills necessary to work within a professional literary community — whether as a writer, editor, publisher, or organizer of literary projects and programs. In this course, students learn multiple forms of writing related to publishing (query letters for literary, trade, and commercial magazines), securing an agent (book proposals, query letters, treatments), applying for grants and fellowships (narrative statements, writing samples, project plans), and seeking employment (biographical statements, cv, teaching statements). Students will also gain the basic exposure necessary to feel confident in their professional goals and literary citizenship. But in an effort to provide more than just the basics, each student will work with their mentor to develop a personalized contract reflecting their individual goals, narrow or broad, including three major submissions—the most important part of this course. 

CNF 618. Essay Forms: From Familiar to Lyric | 8-week course | 3 credits

In this course we will explore the many forms an essay can take. We’ll start by looking briefly at the familiar (or personal) essay and then delve into the more experimental forms of the lyric essay.  We’ll closely examine examples of each form, including flash, segmented, braided, and hermit crab essays. We’ll also do a lot of writing, starting with a series of generative prompts for each form and ending with a draft of a lyric essay in the form(s) of your choice. Students will leave with a new understanding of the lyric essay as well as new work. 

CNF 625. Research and Reporting | 3 credits

In this course, students learn skills to conduct in-depth research, interviews, and reporting. They also will explore strategies for weaving data and other information into narrative and organizing materials. This course does not contain a writing component. 

CNF 633. The Book Proposal | 3 credits

In this elective, students build a book proposal under the one-on-one supervision of a literary agent or editor with publishing experience. 

CNF 634. Book Proposal Intensive | 3 credits

This course is a brief but comprehensive introduction to designing and writing a book proposal. It teaches writers how to envision a book project with a readership in mind, apply structure widely accepted in the publishing industry to a project’s primary themes and ideas, and apply a series of steps to produce a plan for writing the full proposal. 

CNF 635. Reported Memoir | 3 credits 

Databases, documents, and other resources, and practices can enrich a memoir and verify the accuracy of a writer’s work. In this course, students conduct in-depth research and interviews under the supervision of an MFA faculty mentor. This elective teaches the skills to deepen personal writing through research; it does not contain a writing component. 

CNF 636. Nonfiction V | 6 credits

This elective allows students to work with a faculty member along with other students in a workshop while beginning a new project or exploring a new avenue of an existing one. In this and each semester, students write 12,500 words — about 50 pages — of new creative work, and at least 5,000 words or their equivalent in the study of craft. 

CNF 637. Pitching Projects: The New York Trip | 3 credits

This course is a brief but comprehensive introduction to designing and writing a book proposal. It teaches writers how to envision a book project with a readership in mind, apply structure widely accepted in the publishing industry to a project’s primary themes and ideas, and apply a series of steps to produce a plan for writing the full proposal. 

CNF 641. Directed Study in Nonfiction | Full term: February 8 - May 14 | 1.5 - 5 credits  

This course gives students additional time and space outside the formal curriculum of the program to write, polish manuscripts, begin new projects, or initiate other work.  

CNF 645. Teaching Internship | 3 credits 

In this course, students gain teaching experience in one of Goucher's undergraduate classes. This course offers both virtual and in-person options, with the permission of the undergraduate instructor. 

CNF 650. Fieldwork in Nonfiction | 3 credits

Students learn to work more independently and create a research and writing plan outside of the CNF program’s core course structure. Students will also submit a final written project that demonstrates mastery of a chosen focus of writing and research.  Unlike electives that focus solely on research, this course emphasizes writing. 

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Alumni of the CNF program may take any of the above electives. New documentation must be completed and submitted to the program.