The Bleeding, Pounding Heart of Prose: The Art and Craft of the Sentence

One by one, sentences either quicken our pulse or lie there limp, fill us with tension or leave us flat.

Whether you’re a novice or a novelist, writing an email or an epic, sentence craft is the key to stronger writing.

In this course, we’ll first explore composition through emulation and diagnose structure as a vehicle for content.

Next, we’ll look at recursive writing and sonic agreement and conjure concepts of our own through language- and referent-based writing techniques.

Finally, we’ll dig into choosing dynamic verbs and using syntax for surprise.

At every stop, we’ll blast through skill-play exercises—writing for sound, precision, concision, rhythm, tension, disruption, surprise, tone, style, idiolect, and feel.

By the end of this course, you’ll know how to turn clunky, airless sentences into masterworks.

The sentence will be your playground, and your writing will never be the same.

This is the first of two courses that examine the anatomy of writing. "The Skeleton of Prose: The Art and Craft of Structure" will be offered in Spring Quarter 2027.

Each course can be taken independently as well.