Skip to main content
Logo for Berkeley Extension

Wait!

Enter your email address to save your cart.

Your privacy is important to us.

Email Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to us!

We do not share your information with other organizations for commercial purposes.

We only collect your information if you have subscribed online to receive emails from us.

We do not partner with or have special relationships with any ad server companies.

If you want to unsubscribe, there is a link to do so at the bottom of every email.

Read the full Privacy Policy.

Back to your information.

Thank you, and welcome to the UC Berkeley Extension community!

The following fields are required:
Error has occurred. Please reload this page and try the operation again.
  • Agents
  • Student Login
  • Instructor Login
Extension homepage
      • Areas of Study
        • Art and Design
        • Behavioral Health Sciences
        • Business
          • Accounting
          • Business Administration
          • Economics
          • Finance
          • Leadership and Management
          • Marketing
          • Project Management
          • See the full list
        • Construction and Sustainability
        • Education
        • Humanities and Languages
        • Mathematics and Statistics
        • Sciences and Biotechnology
          • Biology
          • Chemistry and Physics
          • Clinical Laboratory Science
          • Health Advising
          • Life Science Business and Biotechnology
          • Online Sciences Courses
          • See the full list
        • Technology and
          Information Management
        • Writing, Editing and
          Technical Communication
      • Transfer Credit
        • Transfer Credit Courses
      • Online Learning
        • Online Courses and Certificates
      • Events
        • Information Sessions
      • Academic Services
        • Enrollment
        • Transcripts
        • General Information
        • Community Guidelines
        • Locations
      • Course and Program Information
        • Online Course Policies
        • Certificates, Programs and CEUs
        • Concurrent Enrollment
        • International Student Services
      • Student Aid
        • Disability Support Services
        • Financial Assistance
      • Voices
        • Voices Home
        • Educator Insights
        • Student Stories
        • Professional Pathways
        • Industry Trends
      • Events
        • Information Sessions
        • Free and Low Cost Events
  • Berkeley Global

The Craft of Writing

ENGLISH X421

41080
Delivery Options Online

Become comfortable with the craft elements fundamental to creative writing, including imagery, voice, character, scene, summary and setting, and learn to apply these craft elements in the fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction genres. Through weekly readings and discussions, you learn and develop skills and techniques to help you pinpoint what makes a piece of writing memorable. You’ll use what you learn to discuss your classmates’ writing critically and thoughtfully and to revise your own writing. Enrollment is limited.

Course Outline

Expand or collapse section

Course Objectives

  • Identify, analyze and apply key craft elements in works of fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry
  • Familiarize yourself with elements of the various crafts and a variety of concepts used in critiquing and understanding creative texts
  • Look for patterns with an eye to what makes a piece of writing effective and compelling
  • Write and discuss your own writing critically and thoughtfully
  • Contribute to deliberate and successful habits in revision
  • Complete a portfolio of work: one to two poems, one story and one sample of creative nonfiction
  • Make deliberate decisions about how to shape specific elements in your own creative writing
  • Develop your unique voice through the use of craft Identify traditional genre definitions and explore how genre boundaries may be blurred
  • Read closely and write carefully for craft—word by word, and passage by passage
  • Identify both strengths and opportunities for development in your classmates' writing by posing questions rather than making declarations of judgment
  • Maintain a daily writing practice in a writing journal
  • Develop and implement goals to effectively revise your work

What You Learn

  • Imagery
  • Voice and point of view
  • Character
  • Plot and conflict
  • Scene, summary and story
  • Setting and tone
  • Narrative arc
  • Genres and forms
  • Poems, prose poems and lyrics
  • Truth in creative nonfiction: essays and memoirs
  • Revision
  • Workshop of final portfolios
  • Moving forward as a writer

How You Learn

  • Reading assignments
  • Craft assignments
  • Writing assignments, which may include poems, short stories and creative nonfiction
  • Discussion participation and assignments
  • Classmate critiques and peer reviews
  • Writing journal
  • In-class exercises
  • Essay (online section)
  • Final portfolio
Loading...

Sections

Section 077

Sep 16 to Dec 09

Type: Online, Fixed Date

Instructor:

  • Laurie Ann Doyle

Cost: $885.00

See section 077 Details

Type Online, Fixed Date

Dates

Sep 16, 2025 to Dec 09, 2025

Instructional Hours

30.00

Delivery Options

Online

Available for Credit

2 semester units

Section Notes

This Fixed Date Online course starts on September 16 and ends on December 9.

Fixed-Date Online courses have specific start and end dates. Students will receive access to the course in Canvas on the course start date. Course information will be emailed to enrolled students and posted to the announcements page in Canvas.

 

TEXTBOOK NOTE:  Any complete edition may be used.

Section Materials

  • Textbook

    (Mandatory)

    Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

    © 1995 Anchor Books ISBN 0385480016 Textbook ISBN: 978-0385480017
  • Textbook

    (Mandatory)

    Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft by Janet Burroway

    © 2014 Pearson 4th edition ISBN 0134053249 Textbook ISBN: 978-0134053240

Fall 2025 enrollment opens on June 16!

This course applies to the following programs:

Certificate Program in Creative Writing

Expand or collapse section

Required Courses

  • The Craft of Reading
  • The Craft of Writing
  • Writing Skills Workshop

Electives (Literature)

  • American Fiction
  • Contemporary Voices: Speaking From the Margins
  • Great Writers Steal: How the Work of Other Writers Can Inform and Inspire You
  • The Handmaid’s Tale: Writing Dystopia, the Female Gothic and Social Commentary
  • Re-envisioning the Past Through Historical Fiction
  • Reading the Postmodern: Writing and Rewriting Genre, Gender, and Culture
  • Shakespeare
  • Adaptations & Retellings
  • Banned Books

Electives (Writing Workshop)

  • Exploring Creative Writing
  • Introduction to Writing Fiction
  • Intermediate Fiction Writing
  • Advanced Fiction Writing
  • Writing Genre Fiction: Science Fiction, Mystery, Romance and More
  • Mystery Writing
  • Developing the Novel
  • Screenwriting: The Art of Visual Storytelling
  • Poetry Workshop
  • Creative Nonfiction Workshop
  • Developing the Memoir

Courses of Related Interest

Learn More About This Program

Notes

Departmental contact: extension-letters@berkeley.edu

Instructional Types

Live Online
Live Online courses provide an interactive learning experience with scheduled synchronous online sessions held via Zoom video conferencing (Pacific Time). Learn more about the Live Online format.
Online, Start Anytime
Continuous enrollment course begins when you enroll. You have a minimum of 90 days and a maximum of 180 days to complete the course.
Online, Fixed Date
Enroll in this course by its start date and complete it by its specified end date. There are no live sessions, but plenty of opportunities to collaborate with your classmates and instructor.
Classroom
Take classes in-person at one of our buildings or partner locations.

English Language Proficiency Requirements

All of our courses are taught in English. If English is not your first language, please use the following test scores as guides in order to be successful:

  • TOEFL: 90
  • IELTS Academic Format: 7
  • DAAD: C1
  • TEM-4 or TEM-8: Level 70
  • Duolingo: 125

Note: You do not need to submit test scores.

Extension homepage

1995 University Ave., Suite 130

Berkeley, CA 94704-7000

extension@berkeley.edu

Facebook Facebook Icon Twitter Twitter Icon LinkedIn LinkedIn Icon YouTube YouTube Icon Instagram Instagram Icon Medium Small Icon for Medium
WeChat QR code

Locations

  • Berkeley
  • San Francisco
  • Online
  • Other

Resources

  • About Us
  • Administration
  • Accessibility
  • Nondiscrimination
  • Privacy
  • Transcripts
  • Gifts
  • Jobs
  • Contact Us
Western Association of Schools and Colleges

The University of California, Berkeley, is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). UC Berkeley Extension—like all other UC Berkeley schools, colleges and departments—is accredited by WASC through the University.

Copyright © UC Regents

Powered by Modern Campus

Cookie Policy

By clicking “Accept All Cookies,” I agree to permit this website to share my information, including a device identifier and my browsing history on this site, with selected partners, including Google, Meta/Facebook and others, to enhance my browsing experience and to ensure that marketing communications are targeted to my needs in accordance with our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy.

Session Time-Out

For security reasons and the protection of your personal information, your session will time out due to a period of inactivity in minute(s) and second(s). Click Extend My Session to continue. For security reasons and the protection of your personal information, your session timed out after a period of inactivity. You will be redirected to the home page.

Confirm

Alert

Course Fee

Laurie Ann Doyle

Laurie Ann Doyle, Extension Honored Instructor, is the author of a new collection of stories World Gone Missing (Regal House Publishing: October, 2017), a top book pick at The East Bay Express and praised by The New York Times bestselling author Edan Lepucki for delivering “astute portrayals of people who desire connection, hope, and renewal." Winner of the Alligator Juniper National Fiction Award and a Pushcart Prize nominee, Doyle’s stories and essays have appeared in The Los Angeles Review, Jabberwock Review and Under the Sun, among many other literary journals, as well as anthologized in Speak and Speak Again (Pact Press). She co-founded Babylon Salon, a San Francisco literary series now in its 11th year, and has been teaching writing at UC Berkeley Extension for more than a decade. Find her online at www.laurieanndoyle.com.

Online

Processing...

Privacy Policy

Cookie Policy

This statement explains how we use cookies on our website. For information about what types of personal information will be gathered when you visit the website, and how this information will be used, please see our Privacy Policy.

How we use cookies

All of our web pages use "cookies". A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we place on your computer or mobile device if you agree. These cookies allow us to distinguish you from other users of our website, which helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and enables us to improve our website.

We use cookies and other technologies to optimize your website experience and to deliver communications and marketing activities that are targeted to your specific needs. Some information we collect may be shared with selected partners such as Google, Meta/Facebook or others. By browsing this site you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy. You can revoke your voluntary consent to participate in monitored browsing and targeted marketing by selecting “Disable All Cookies” below.

Types of cookies we use

We use the following types of cookies:

  • Strictly necessary cookies- these are essential in to enable you to move around the websites and use their features. Without these cookies the services you have asked for, such as signing in to your account, cannot be provided.
  • Performance cookies- these cookies collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often. We use this information to improve our websites and to aid us in investigating problems raised by visitors. These cookies do not collect information that identifies a visitor.
  • Functionality cookies- these cookies allow the website to remember choices you make and provide more personal features. For instance, a functional cookie can be used to remember the items that you have placed in your shopping cart. The information these cookies collect may be anonymized and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them please visit https://www.allaboutcookies.org/.

Specific cookies we use

The list below identify the cookies we use and explain the purposes for which they are used. We may update the information contained in this section from time to time.

  • JSESSIONID: This cookie is used by the application server to identify a unique user's session.
  • registrarToken: This cookie is used to remember items that you have added to your shopping cart
  • locale: This cookie is used to remember your locale and language settings.
  • cookieconsent_status: This cookie is used to remember if you've already dismissed the cookie consent notice.
  • _ga_UA-########: These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the website. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the website, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited. This anonymized visitor and browsing information is stored in Google Analytics.

Changes to our Cookie Statement

Any changes we may make to our Cookie Policy in the future will be posted on this page.