The State of the Crime Novel in 2021, Part 2: Writing During the Pandemic

Writing Intensive Courses

All academic disciplines use writing to develop ideas and communicate for specific purposes and audiences. The Writing Intensive (WI) course requirement at SUNY Cortland asks students to practice discipline-specific writing, use writing as a way to learn new concepts and ideas, and refine their writing process through revision and individual feedback.

SUNY Cortland students must complete six credits of WI courses, and three credits must be completed in their major program. There are WI courses in every academic department. Students cannot transfer in courses from another institution to fulfill any part of the WI requirement.

Students will undertake an effective writing process, making informed decisions about their writing with input from their instructor.

Students will write effectively in specific disciplinary genres.

Students write an equivalent of at least 15 typed pages, with two or more pieces of writing submitted in multiple drafts. Upper division WI courses may use a single project toward this 15-page minimum.

Instructors are required to respond to students' writing through written comments, conferences, or both. Students must revise their work and use their instructor's feedback as they write their revisions.

Instructors must dedicate class time to teach students how to write in a particular discipline, which may include discipline-specific writing techniques, strategies, and genres. 

The writing component of the course must constitute a significant percentage of the students' final grade.

Course Descriptions

CW 1040 Intro to Creative Writing    Bergstraesser      

This course is designed to help you craft various works of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. In addition to in-class writing exercises, creative exercises outside of class, and discussions, you will critique each other's writing in a constructive workshop atmosphere—thereby developing useful editorial skills that will help you improve your own writing.

Through lecture and discussion, we will explore the technique and devices involved in creating these three genres. We will read and discuss the works of many different writers, using their technique and content as a guide for your own writing.

And if this course description seems dull, the class is anything but.

CW 2080 Intro to Poetry      Northrop        TR 11 a.M. - 12:15 p.M.

In this course we will read and write poetry; we will discuss, enthuse over and question our responses, question the poems and our expectations of poems. Completing and revising both in- and out-of-class writing assignments, students should expect to produce, by the end of the semester, a poetry portfolio (and artist statement).  Class time will be divided between discussion of reading assignments and workshop submissions.  Please see instructor with any questions. 

CW 2125 Special Topics in Writing: Animals. Northrop. TR 2:45 p.M. - 4:00 p.M.

Our worlds are not the only worlds. We live with and beside the non-human animals: pronghorn, Swainson's hawks, lap dogs, mountain lions straying through town, pine beetles, Mourning Cloaks, drowned kittens, nighthawks overhead, raccoons in the kitchen, Mountain Whitefish.  How do we sound these worlds?  And why? To what ends?  Writers have long looked to and imagined the non-human, but how do we do that?  How do we write (and think) that which we name but may not be able to fully know?  In this course we will consider (through class discussion of assigned readings, independent research, writing exercises and semester-long creative writing projects) ways of thinking / representing non-human animals and our relationships with them. In this course, we will approach and mind those relationships.

We will be considering a range of creative work: stories, poems, essays, short videos, dramatic monologues, paintings, photographs.  Of each creative piece we will discuss the questions that we read as driving the piece, and the questions the piece raises for us.  It's not possible for me to know our questions now, ahead of time, but some possible questions, or rather, some of my own questions:  How do we look at non-human animals?  How are we looked at?  How do non-human animal and human animal lives intersect?  What boundaries have been erected historically and why, to what end?  How are our lives shaped by non-human animals?  How are non-human animals lives shaped?  What responsibilities do humans have?  What causes for joy, what concerns?

CW 4050-02 Writers Workshop: Fiction. Pexton. TR 1:20 p.M. - 2:35 p.M. 

In this class students will read examples of published short stories, and possibly some longer work, and participate in discussions that break down the elements of fiction at work: character, setting/place, point of view, tone/style/narrative voice, dialog, conflict/plot, main ideas, etc. The reading will be mostly, if not entirely, Realism. The writing will be short stories of varying length, from flash fiction to short-short stories to full-length stories. Students who wish to write longer pieces should discuss the work with the instructor before committing to such a project for this class. The writing will be approximately 30 pp +/- of original fiction (this excludes, for the purposes of this course, fan fiction or game fiction) plus additional writing of occasional exercises and critiques/analyses of the outside reading and peers' work. Attendance required. If circumstances force the class to move entirely online, attendance will consist of posting required materials on the required date at the required hour. Text materials supplied by the instructor.   

CW 5540-01 Seminar: Writing for Public Audiences. Brown. 

CW 5540-02 Seminar. Northrop. T 4:10 p.M. - 7:10 p.M.

CW 5560-01 Writing Workshop: Time & Place. Hagy. M 3:10 p.M. - 6:20 p.M.

CW 5560-02 Writing Workshop: Creative Nonfiction. Brown. W 3:10 p.M. - 6:20 p.M.

For a full listing all courses offered by Creative Writing, please use the UW Catalog.

Faber Nabs A New Seaside Mystery Series By Jess Kidd

Jess Kidd © Cordula Treml

Faber has nabbed Nora Breen Investigates, Jess Kidd's new seaside mystery series featuring a "wayward nun turned superior sleuth".

Libby Marshall, crime commissioning editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Susan Armstrong at C+W, and Aisling Brennan, who is covering Marshall's parental leave, will be publishing the first book in the series, Murder at Gull's Nest, in March 2025. Faber will be returning to Gore-on-Sea for the following two titles in the series, which will be published in 2026 and 2027.

"After thirty years in a convent, Nora Breen has thrown off her wimple and set her sights on the seaside town of Gore-on-Sea," the synopsis says. "Why there? Why now? Well, it doesn't suit her to disclose that right now, thank you very much. Over disappointing—and sometimes downright inedible—dinners at her guest house, Nora Breen realises that her fellow lodgers are hiding something. But thanks to her powers of observation and, well, nosiness, it doesn't take her long to get them talking."

Kidd has been nominated for awards including the CWA New Blood Dagger and the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, and her books have been chosen for the BBC "Between the Covers" Book Club.

"I'm delighted that the fabulous team at Faber are publishing my first crime novel, Murder at Gull's Nest," she said. "This is the perfect home for a series of darkly twisted detective stories with a cast of characters I've loved writing. I can't wait introduce Nora Breen to my readers old and new."

Brennan added: "Jess Kidd has an incredible ear for character and her pacing is impeccable, so a crime series felt like a natural outlet for her talents. Nora Breen is an amateur sleuth for the ages, and Gore-on-Sea is the perfect destination for anyone looking to be gripped and amused in equal measure."

---