Scott Nadelson

Teaching Philosophy

Teaching is as much a passion for me as writing, and I strongly believe that the teaching of creative writing, particularly on the undergraduate level and in a liberal arts context, complements studies in literature. My primary aim in creative writing courses is to teach students to read closely, from a writer's perspective; I do so by providing a framework of rigorous analytical exploration of narrative and regular practice of craft. Students in my classes learn to read with an eye toward understanding how a writer has put a work of fiction together, how characters are developed and plots structured, how a certain combination of words and sentences creates an emotional or intellectual response in a reader. At the same time, I encourage students to engage their imaginations, to experiment, to discover their natural voices and their unique perspectives on the world. 

In practical terms, I design my courses to immerse students in the world of fiction writing and to foster a sense of community. Classroom time is taken up almost entirely with discussion of professional or student stories, both of which we examine first to discover the work's intention. In workshops I challenge students to put aside taste and preference and instead begin by working to understand what an author has tried to accomplish in a story, how she has used the elements of craft to do so, and where, if at all, she has fallen short of her goals. As a class, we put ourselves in the shoes of a writer, in order to gain a better understanding of both her work and our own.