Advanced Nonfiction: Finding Your Voice in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Harvard Summer School

CREA S-166

Section 1

CRN 36088

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In this era of artificial intelligence (AI), it's possible to forget that there is no formula for good writing and that you can't tell a story with a bullet list. Good personal narratives and fact-based storytelling are human endeavors, and they require a human perspective. This course focuses on helping students to develop their own distinctive voices as they practice the kind of hybrid personal storytelling popular on Substack, in The Cut, and on programs like The Moth and This American Life. Such voice-driven nonfiction writing combines first-person journalism techniques with descriptive narrative to build an audience, emphasizing a unique human perspective on the world. Honest, authentically-voiced personal nonfiction is more endangered than ever because of AI, so we emphasize the ethical issues for human authorship that it raises, including the need for factual accuracy. We also discuss the continuing challenges faced by nonfiction writers of all sorts as the technology keeps changing. This course includes exercises with AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude to help us dig into what makes the human voice human.

Instructor Info

Martha Nichols, MA

Founder and Publisher, Talking Writing Magazine


June Carolyn Erlick, MSJ

Publications Director, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, and Editor-in-Chief, ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America, Harvard University


Meeting Info

MW 3:15pm - 6:15pm (6/22 - 8/7)

Participation Option: Online Synchronous

Deadlines

Last day to register:

Prerequisites

An introductory course in creative writing or permission of the instructor.

Notes

This course meets via web conference. Students must attend and participate at the scheduled meeting time. See minimum technology requirements.

Syllabus

All Sections of this Course

CRN Section # Participation Option(s) Instructor Section Status Meets Term Dates
36088 1 Online Synchronous Team Taught Open MW 3:15pm - 6:15pm
Jun 22 to Aug 7