• Mission

    The Creative Writing Department at SCPA is dedicated to creating an imaginative, inspirational and productive environment focused on the process of writing. In our community of artists, the objective is to write honestly, producing professional-quality pieces resonating with life and voice. Through daily practice in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, students will mature artistically and aesthetically while reaching a wide audience through numerous performance and publication opportunities.

    Curriculum

    The Creative Writing Department offers the following courses:

    • Fundamentals 4-6 
    • Techniques 7-8 
    • Global Issues 9-11 
    • Dramatic Process 10-12 
    • Advanced Media Communications 11-12 
    • Critical Concerns 11-12 
    • Pandora’s Ink: Honors 12

    The Dramatic Process class provides students with a foundation in theatre/film script writing. Students analyze and explore Dramatic Structure as it applies to theatre and film. Students work on script projects culminating in a theatre performance or film piece.

    The Advanced Media Communication class is a continuation of the Dramatic Process class. Students conceptualize, write, revise and direct a play or film that is performed for the public and entered in local, state and national competitions.

    Publications

    1310 is SCPA’s literary magazine and a central project of the Creative Writing Department. The magazine is a collaboration of Creative Writing and Visual Art and is produced entirely by students- from content creation/selection to artwork, layout, and publishing- our students do it all! 

    Career Technical Certification

    The Creative Writing department at SCPA is a program in the Arts and Communication pathway in Career Technical Education for the state of Ohio. Being a career tech program allows students to participate in work-based learning.

    Students have the opportunity to earn Industry Recognized Credentials through certification in the Adobe programs: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and Premiere. 

    Activities

    The Creatives Club provides Creative Writing and Visual Arts SCPA students with additional opportunities in and outside of the classroom to grow and develop professional creative writing and visual art skills. It gives students opportunities to network with other students and industry partners to start building professional relationships.

    Auditions

    Students interested in attending SCPA as part of the Creative Writing Department must pass a creative writing audition. For more information on the audition process or how to sign up, please visit the Audition Process and Procedures page. 
     

    Creative Writing Requirements

    Four portfolio pieces:

    • Please provide at least four (4) pieces of writing demonstrating work from different genres (i.e. two poems and two stories or one poem, one script, and two stories).
    • Download the Creative Writing Questionnaire. 
    • Complete and turn in your portfolio pieces. 

    Boards

    Proficiency assessments known as Boards are given each year in a student's artistic discipline. These assessments take various forms depending on the department, but are designed to test skill and knowledge progression in a student’s chosen arts field. Students who fail to pass their boards with a satisfactory rating will be placed on arts probation. Students who fail to pass 2 out of a series of 3 boards may be asked to leave SCPA, change the artistic discipline they are studying, or complete an arts intervention plan. For full policies and procedures, please see the Artistic Handbook on the Handbook and Forms page.

  • Writing Department Policy

  • Rubric

  • Review Policy

  • Plagiarism

  • Co-curricular time commitment expectations

  • Arts diploma criteria for writing