The courses in this series have been extremely helpful in focusing my attention on what matters most. Each component fits nicely, especially the last one. I really think the various interviews with writers and the teaching staff make a huge difference, bringing the aspiring writer into the real world, actually sitting around the 'table' with the pro's. Writing and receiving peer reviews is a tremendous learning opportunity. Thanks, and well done!

Very descriptive and profound course that touches various aspects of Creative Writing. Recommending pieces by other writers helped to understand what kind of writing is expected of a good fiction author. Conversations with other professors helped us to explore the connection between setting and the other parts of the story. Amity is a fantastic lecturer and provides valuable insight throughout the course. Thanks for this phenomenal course.

Creative writing being an art, one may try and describe its constituents but never an entire composition. One such constituent is setting and description. Amity Gaige presents this constituent with rare sensitivity. She recommends inspirational reading materials, and designs challenging assignments that defines the space yet affords freedom to the learner. Additionally, she possesses an effective screen presence.

I’ve enjoyed this course the most so far (having completed Craft of Plot and Character), perhaps it’s due to a general improvement in my writing through the skills I’ve alredy gained, but I really felt these particular modules were very good and really challenged my imagination. A great course from Amity Gaige who does an excellent job in helping to develop your techniques in setting and description.

This particular module helped me to explore the shut passages of my mind and heart. It improved my language skills and ability to think and write about not just the characters but the things and place that surround them and be specific with it. I have really become fond of Amity, She shared some brilliant exercises that can help us concentrate and write with our mind, body and soul in our work.

Excellent course, very informative and interactive. Amity is a wonderful facilitator of the course, her passion and commitment to writing can be sensed in every word of advice she offers. The course is well-balanced in its offerings, exercises, 1-on-1 discussions and assignments. Because of this course, I will most likely continue to look at others in this "writing series".

Robert Garlington

This course was really helpful for thinking (and writing) about the setting and description for a story. A big THANK YOU to Amity Gaige - you clearly put a great deal of thought into how to communicate the topics in this course in a way that new authors could understand and apply them. I particularly liked the concept of "Imaginative Research" and will use that in all of my future writing.

One can tell that Amity Gaige has carefully tailored this course to teach us the craft of setting and description. I have never paid much attention to it before, always connecting much more to the characters' feelings. Only now after taking this course, I can appreciate how important setting and description really is for the reader and also for the characters in your story. Thank you Amity!

This was an excellent class. The assignments were specific, challenging, and enjoyable. I enjoyed the instructor's approach and insight to writing. Additionally, I found the supplemental materials very helpful. Finally, sharing past student work with current students helped clarify the subject matter and gave me perspective on the required assignments. I wish more instructors did that!

I am not a writer, never thought this would be a path I would follow but Amity helped me dream a dream bigger than when I started! She provided me some more clarity by being insightful, clear, interesting, resourceful and direct . We knew writing entailed grunt hard work, details and focus but she made it seem very achievable. In fact I bought 2 of her books after this. Great job !

Amity Gage did a great job helping learners to see what good setting and description looked like. Her in-class examples and assignments were excellent. I was frustrated, though, by many peer reviewers who didn't take their role seriously and provided meaningless feedback - single words, like "yes" or even single letters. Is there some way to hold students accountable?

This is an amazing course. I have done previous two courses as well and I find this one to be the best because the assignments are challenging and you can experiment with your writing. I have enjoyed it thoroughly and now I am going on to do the next course. Simply wonderful! And a must for anyone who wants to challenge and improve their descriptive writing.

I'm from Sri Lanka.This course is my first creative writing course in English. It helped me to think more creatively about my writing. I'm not fluent in English. But my peers helped me to build up my writing style and they gave good advises. Thank you very much Wesleyan University and the lecturer. Hope you will introduce more courses like this in future.

For me, this might have been the most challenging course of the Creative Writing Specialization in that it targeted one of my weaknesses as a writer, but the assignments tested me and helped me to hone the craft of description (and setting). The lectures were a treat to listen to and learn from – Amity is a very engaging and knowledgeable teacher.

I've taken numerous Creative Writing courses over the years- in Community College, in a university. I can honestly say that Wesleyan University's Creative Writing Specialization benefitted me more than any other. Amity Gaige is a rock-solid novelist and a great teacher of all the most important parts of Setting. This course is highly recommended.

Each of the Creative Writing courses in this series has been meaningful and helpful to me as a novice writer. The material, instructors, guest speakers, practice assignments, and forums made learning enjoyable and effective. Most of all, the university and the seasoned professors/writers are inspiring individuals for whom I am eternally grateful!

Amity is an excellent guide. The exercises are fun and match the lessons you are taking. I really enjoyed the course and feel it improved my attention to detail in my writing. I also liked the part about research which before I didn't do much of. Now I am very aware of learning about my settings and subjects before writing about them. Thanks!

Amity is able to convey the abstract concepts that piece together an engaging and fluid composition using examples and exercises that are incredibly helpful to an aspiring writer. The insight she offers is invaluable and I feel privileged to have been able to access her teachings. I am looking forward to reading the books she has written.

This has been my favorite course of the three I've taken thus far.

I really enjoyed the reading material that acted as a demonstration of what we were being expected to write about.

The necessity to persuade the reader. I had never looked at it in this way, but from now on I will think of whether my settings are persuading the reader.

I deeply enjoyed this course and I believe that it offers some very helpful feedback into learning about setting and the proper elements/importance of setting. It is a feature that I've often overlooked in creative writing, but it definitely can be an element all on its own and this module shows you how to express it to the fullest.

slow motion, significant detail, about genre or style, the perspective of the auto-biography for the contenu;

the discussion about the cours among the students;

the interview of the others writers was woundeful;

also the moment for us the student to think, to meditate, to read, and then to write, all this like the real class.

I really enjoyed this course! The lecturer gives a great amount of information and advice that feel monitored in the videos in a way, so far this is my favourite course of the specialozation. I really liked being given many reading sources, they served a good example and clarification for what the assignments required.

This class helped me understand the importance of creating a setting that the reader can identify with. A good setting will connect the reader to my story. I've learned a great deal from Amity Gage, Brandon Skyhorse, Amy Bloom and Salvatore Scibona have helped me improve my writing by helping me discover my voice.

This course is very entertaining. All the concepts are explained clearly and beautifuly with relevant examples and a nice pace. The exercises are fun to write and really make you put your newly learned concepts to practice. It provides an aspiring writer with valuable tools to create compelling, persuasive stories.

I learned so much! Amity is an excellent teacher, the exercises were spot on, just what they needed to be to evolve as a writer. I learned a lot from reviewing my peer's work as well, and some of their feedback was very helpful. Excellent, excellent course, all four of them are just so good. Thank you!