Creative Writing
Creative Writing Audition Requirements
Creative Writing applicants must prepare and submit a portfolio with their application by the required deadline. Student portfolios will contain 16 original pieces demonstrating proficiency across a specified range of genres. Successful audition pieces tend not to be class assignments. Writers write on their own, all the time.
Portfolios: The portfolio must include:
- 3 complete short stories
- 10 poems
- a five-to-ten page one-act play
- an expository essay (an essay you have already written for English class is fine here)
- We will also consider the personal essay you submit with your general application as part of your portfolio. In your personal essay you should describe your reading background, your writing practices and your expectations of the class.
All writing samples MUST be formatted in 12-pt. Times New Roman font. Submit your work in a three-ring binder with the student's name, grade level, telephone number and email address clearly printed on the front.
Submit a portfolio after you have thoroughly read through our site: www.sfsota-creativewriting.org
For samples of the kind of work we do, it is strongly recommended that you read our student literary journal, Umlaut, before submitting a portfolio. Our current issue and back issues dating to the first publication are available (see CW site for details). We also suggest that you attend our reading performances:
October 14, 2011, Vegas, Baby!
January 20 and 21, Attack of the Killer Poets and The Return of the Killer Poets
April 20 and 21, Evenings of One-Acts
Event information is published on the SOTA website a www.sfsota.org and the Creative Writing blogsite: www.sotacw.org.
Portfolio Review: Only complete portfolios will be considered for audition. Choose your best work and do not submit more than the required number of pieces as they will not be read. Portfolio work is reviewed by the Creative Writing Director with the assistance of writers-in-residence familiar with the program. An invitation to audition will be sent if the student's portfolio passes this review. Student's whose portfolios that do not pass this review will be notified by mail that they have not received an audition date. Portfolios will be available for pick-up in the main office. Please note that portfolios not picked up within one month of notification will be disposed of.
*Sorry, but we do NOT provide feedback on specific portfolios.
Audition Day: Portfolio work will be discussed at the interview with the applicant. Portfolios will be available for pick-up after the audition results are mailed.
In addition to the portfolio presentation, students will be asked to complete two on-site writing assignments and discuss themselves and their work in a personal interview with the Creative Writing Director and CW writer-in-residence. Bring a blue or black ballpoint pen.
*Remember, the ability to follow instructions is a strong indicator of your readiness for the program.
About the SOTA Creative Writing Department
Students will write across genres in their four years at SOTA: poetry, fiction, plays and hybrid forms are all part of the curriculum. Students perform and publish their work and are involved in various community and cultural events throughout the school year. One of the missions of the Creative Writing Department is to bring SOTA Creative Writers into the wider San Francisco literary community by having them take part in outside events. SOTA Creative Writing students see themselves as writers beyond the school day.