Program for Authors Aids Writing Skills

And with 40 lines due every week, it's a task that weighs heavily on his mind.

"It's the centerpiece of my schedule," Battle said. "Everything else has been pushed off to the side."

Battle isn't alone in his predicament. As a member of UNC's honors program in creative writing, he is one of nearly two dozen students spending the school year working on 1,000-line poetry anthologies or 100-page manuscripts.

The students are all members of the University's undergraduate program in creative writing. Like many of the 280 other students enrolled in one of the program's 15 classes, these students hope to graduate with a minor in creative fiction or poetry writing.

The program is one of hundreds of creative writing programs nationwide but is one of the few to offer such instruction at the undergraduate level, said program director Bland Simpson.

Simpson said the program was formally founded in 1966 but that its creation dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, when future authors such as Thomas Wolfe were instructed in playwriting from professors like Frederick Koch and Paul Greene.

While the breadth of the program's offerings has expanded into screenwriting, fiction writing and poetry writing, Simpson says the basic theme of the classes has remained the same.

"In spirit and style, the classes are upbeat, offering presentations of class work," Simpson said. "That approach to getting writers used to handling all kinds of responses to their work -- that's been there since the beginning."

Students in the program can receive a minor in creative writing if they complete five classes in the program. Simpson said students typically select poetry or fiction writing and move through introductory, intermediary and advanced sections in their genre.

Students in the program said classes on all three levels are centered around the critiques given by both professors and classmates. Many said the value of such critiques improves with each level a student advances through.

"As the classes progress, people get more comfortable with each other," said Justin Ansley, a senior in honors fiction writing. "If someone tells you that there's a weak point in your story, you don't feel like the story sucks."

Battle said such student evaluations have done more than anything else to improve the quality of his writing.

"It's ridiculous how much a poem improves from the first draft to the second, after it's been work-shopped," Battle said. "It's so important to see if people get the ideas you're trying to get across."

Professors in the program said students also receive encouragement from published writers -- many of them UNC alumni -- who are brought in by the program to give readings and meet with students.

Pam Durban, a professor who joined the program after teaching in graduate writing programs at several universities, said visiting writers contribute to a vibrant local writing community she credits with producing the best writers she has ever taught.

"When you're in a place where there's lots of energy about writing, you absorb that," Durban said. "It makes it a really dynamic place."

Senior Michael Jones said meeting published writers has encouraged him to pursue a career in fiction writing, something he never considered a couple of years ago.

But Ansley, who is still undecided about his postgraduate plans, said he expects to apply the program's lessons in almost any future job.

"It has given me a sense of the importance of clarity in writing and in communicating," Ansley said. "Whatever my career is after graduation, that's going to help me, I'm sure."

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.