Creative Nonfiction - Writing Medical Narratives - 12-week Online Course

Writing Medical Narratives
New 12-Week Online Course

www.CreativeNonfiction.org

Writing Medical Narratives - New 12-Week Online Course

Overview
This twelve-week online class will guide all types of medical professionals
(doctors, nurses, researchers, aides, social workers, etc.) through the various
skills needed to write and publish narratives--personal stories of their
experiences (and those of others in the field). We will cover every step in the
writing process, from brainstorming to researching to writing to revising, as well
as the steps needed to pitch and publish an article or essay.
Our instructors--experienced writers of medical narratives and creative
nonfiction--will communicate with participants through a combination of written
lectures, written feedback, and email. In addition, the class will include three 1-
hour phone conferences. Speakers will be Manoj Jain, Jason Lewis, and Ellen
Ficklen.
Other Online Courses
Writing the Personal Essay
Advanced Memoir and Personal Essay
Narrative Journalism
Foundations of Creative Nonfiction


Week 1: What is creative nonfiction?
This week we’ll explore the basic questions that drive this genre of writing: What
is creative nonfiction? What are medical narratives, and why do we need them?
Hospitals and medical schools around the world are beginning to recognize the
power of narrative to inform, motivate, and teach. Every medical study has its
own story. How do we find the difference between the story and the study? How
do we make this story into a compelling piece of writing? The first live chat for
the class will take place during this week.



Week 2: Reading like a writer
Most writers read for pleasure a great deal, and medical professionals read to
keep current on the latest advances in medicine. But reading like a writer is a
different skill, one that will allow you to take a piece of creative writing and
understand how the author constructed it, then apply that knowledge to your
own work. During this week we’ll dissect two different types of medical
narratives: short pieces, such as might be found in a national newspaper, and
longer, more involved narratives such as those featured in Creative Nonfiction,
The New Yorker, and other long-format magazines. Participants will learn the
basic structure and components of these articles and how to weave them
together.



Week 3: Shaping your narrative
You may not know how to take the experiences from your career that have
affected you deeply and shape them into a defined narrative—a story or plot
that drives your writing and keeps a reader’s interest. The materials from this
week will guide participants as they turn one or more personal experiences into
a narrative piece of writing. During this week participants will also submit their
assignment, an essay or newspaper article of up to 3,500 words, to the
instructor for review. Participants will also have the option to share their work
with other class members for peer review.



Week 4: The people at the heart of the narrative
Medical narratives are usually first and foremost stories about people, so helping
your readers to care about the people in your writing is an important element of
creating an effective narrative. During this week we’ll discuss writing techniques
to help portray the complexity and humanity of the subjects in your writing.



Week 5: Incorporating Research
While you want your writing to have a strong narrative drive, you’ll also want to
make use of your expertise and include medical, scientific, and/or professional
information in this larger narrative structure. This week we’ll talk about how to
incorporate scientific studies, statistics, scholarly quotes, and your personal
knowledge into your narrative writing. We’ll also discuss how to find additional
information through research, either by contacting expert sources or by looking
for reliable information on the internet. Participants will submit their second
assignment, an essay or newspaper article of up to 3,500 words, to the
instructor for review during this week, and will also have the option to share
their work for peer review.



Week 6: Using detail effectively
Using specific and evocative detail is the key to creating a narrative that feels
“real” to the reader, and that therefore holds the reader’s interest. During this
week we’ll discuss how to use detail to create more convincing and moving
writing. We will also explore ways to describe the more technical processes of
the medical world in layman’s terms.



Week 7: Incorporating a theme
A good narrative must be more than a series of facts, and even more than an
interesting series of events—it must encapsulate some larger idea or meaning
that will move the reader to emote, think, and act. This week we’ll discuss ways
to emphasize existing themes in your writing, in an effort to create narratives
that readers from a wide variety of backgrounds can identify with, and to share
the insights you have that have not been captured in the print and web media
before.



Week 8: Writing a pitch
Taking the first step toward publication can be intimidating, so during this week
we’ll tackle that challenge as a group. The class materials will discuss how to
write a formal pitch for a nonfiction piece that can be submitted to an editor,
and then how and where to send those pitches. Each student will write a pitch
and submit it to an editor for consideration at the end of the week.



Week 9: Ethical and legal concerns
Ethical concerns about accuracy, privacy, and bias apply to all creative nonfiction
writers, but are particularly important in medical writing, where patients’ rights
are a special concern. In this class we’ll review HIPPA and other legal guidelines
for writing about patients and clients. We’ll also discuss some of the common
ethical quandaries that arise when writing about other people, and various ways
to present the lives of these people in your writing.



Week 10: Your writing and revision process
The process of taking a piece of writing from initial inspiration through drafts to
a finished product differs for each writer. This week we’ll discuss some
approaches to brainstorming, drafting, and revising that will help participants
craft a plan for their own best practices. We will also briefly discuss how to work
with an editor after you’ve created a polished draft. Participants will submit their
third and final assignment, a piece of writing up to 3,500 words, during this
week.



Week 11: How to write in medicine without losing your job
Sometimes we as writers feel bold as we put our initial thoughts down on paper,
but lose courage when it comes time to share or publish a piece. In this class
we’ll focus on methods for writers who need to feel more comfortable with
publicizing their opinions. We’ll also consider ways to write about controversial
subjects without infuriating your opposition or jeopardizing your professional
integrity.



Week 12: Publishing and marketing your work
This week will be devoted to steps for building a presence as a writer and
marketing and publishing your work. We’ll discuss best practices for submitting
work for publication. We’ll also explore other ways to create a publishing
platform and market your ideas, via websites, blogs, and other methods



About the Instructors

Manoj Jain, MD MPH is an infectious disease physician, a writer, and a national
leader in healthcare quality improvement. Dr. Jain writes regularly for the
Washington Post, and the Commercial Appeal (Memphis newspaper). His
writings also appear in the New York Times and the Times of India. He received
his engineering, doctorate, and public health degree from Boston University. He
has served as a consultant to the World Bank on HIV, and has been interviewed
by CNN, and National Public Radio. Over the past 15 years Dr. Jain has given over
a 150 talks, and published numerous scientific articles, chapters and books.




Theresa Brown, RN, is the author of Critical Care: A New Nurse Faces Death, Life,
and Everything in Between (HarperStudio, 2010). She received her BSN from the
University of Pittsburgh and a PhD in English from the University of Chicago.
Brown is a regular contributor to the New York Times blog “Well.” Her essay
“Perhaps Death is Proud; More Reason to Savor Life” is included in Best
American Science Writing 2009 and Best American Medical Writing 2009.
Theresa is a Board Member of the Center for Health Media and Policy at the
Bellevue School of Nursing at Hunter College. She is also an Advisory Board
Member for Scrubs Magazine, which won the 2010 Maggie Award for Best New
Publication from the Western Publishing Association.




Sayantani DasGupta, MD, MPH is an assistant clinical professor of pediatrics and
a core faculty member of the Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia
University. She also teaches in the graduate program in Health Advocacy at Sarah
Lawrence College, and is a prose faculty member in the summer writing
conference Writing the Medical Experience at Sarah Lawrence College. Dr.
DasGupta is author of Her Own Medicine: A Woman's Journey from Student to
Doctor (1999), and co-editor of Stories of Illness and Healing: Women Write
Their Bodies (2007). Her work has appeared in journals including The Lancet,
JAMA, and The Journal of Medical Humanities, and her essay “Intern” is included
in the anthology Becoming a Doctor. She is an associate editor of the journal
Literature and Medicine.



Jason T. Lewis directs the Writing and Humanities program at the University of
Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine. He is the managing editor of the university’s
medical narrative publication, the Examined Life Journal, and the author of the
novel The Fourteenth Colony. Lewis is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.




Ellen Ficklen is a senior editor at Health Affairs, where she is the editor of
Narrative Matters, the journal’s first-person essay section. She is a co-editor of
"Narrative Matters: The Power of the Personal Essay in Health Policy," published
by Johns Hopkins University Press. Previously Ellen held a number of editorial
positions and has written widely, including articles for the Washington Post, the
New York Times, USA Weekend, the Baltimore Sun, the Chronicle of Higher
Education, Saveur, and Preservation. She also has produced editorial projects for
the National Geographic Society, American Rivers, and National Public Radio.
Ellen has an M.A. in writing (nonfiction) from Johns Hopkins University



Participants Feedback (previous online classes)
David Reynolds
The teacher's feedback as well as some from the students has been really helpful. It's obvious she's
studied it a lot and has good ideas. I've enjoyed most of the readings too. The interview with Gay
Talese was really interesting and I never would have seen the Paris review if not for the class. I guess
my only suggestion for improvement would be more study of different types of structures, although
maybe that's coming later in the class.

Jamie Babcock
The feedback, both the instructor's and the peer review, is very helpful. Giving feedback to peers
really helps me think critically about not only their writing, but my own as well. I particularly
appreciated the safe environment created in the class. I was supported in my novice attempts at
writing by both the instructor and my classmates. The readings were one of the highlights. I am
hungry for more great nonfiction writing.

Marion Lane
Particularly liked the assignments and the readings and lecture in preparation for the assignments;
liked trying new techniques; and liked getting really good feedback from the instructor and generally
well-qualified classmates.


Participants Feedback (previous online classes)
Gene Pepper
I liked everything about the two classes I took. The Immersion Class coming after the Personal Essay
class will help me for the rest of my life, to know how to dig down in my research in writing better
stories and essays. I think Leslie [instructor] did a marvelous job working with me. She and Anjali
[instructor] have helped prepare me for my MFA studies starting in one week.

Anne Hodges White
Liked: Anjali's [instructor] lectures -- well written, thoughtful, comprehensive, very helpful; the
readings - I was introduced to writers I hadn't read, methods I didn't know; Anjali's critiques --
thorough, thoughtful, intelligent, and creative. She's a real pro.

Gene Wilburn
I liked the readings and discussion of the readings, and I especially liked the assignments. I liked that
you could either follow the suggested assignment, or substitute one of your own. The peer reviews
were helpful and the instructor feedback was excellent.


Registration

For registration please contact, online course coordinator Anjali
Sachdeva at sachdeva@creativenonfiction.org or visit
http://www.CreativeNonfiction.org

Save $25 anytime when you register with a friend.
Registration includes a 4-issue subscription to Creative Nonfiction.


Other Online Courses

Writing the Personal Essay

Advanced Memoir and Personal Essay

Narrative Journalism

Foundations of Creative Nonfiction

For registration please contact, online course coordinator Anjali
Sachdeva at sachdeva@creativenonfiction.org or visit
http://www.CreativeNonfiction.org


Creative Nonfiction - Writing Medical Narratives - 12-week Online Course

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