Imagine an engineer discovering that words could build a bridge. Or a game designer deciding to build a game out of a poem. In this course we will experiment with the idea of creative writing as a hands-on experience: rather than “writers,” we will be builders, gamers, wilderness guides, cartographers, and even activists. Our task will be to pack our tools and venture out into the wilderness of both world and word to see what we can observe, collect, build, and maybe even save. Practically speaking, this means two things. First we will read two kinds of creative work: 1) experimental work that takes the form of bridges, games, manuals, recipes, travel guides, disaster kits, warning signs, letters to Dupont, etc. ; 2) work that focuses expressly on the environment in creative and surprising and even dark (but also sometimes humorous) ways. Our goal will be to use these texts as models to build our own strange and wonderful word things. Together we will discover that non-traditional approaches to creative writing can help us find fresh and exciting and hands-on ways to explore our relationship to the natural world. I sometimes call this course “uncreative writing,” as one emphasis is to challenge the idea that writing is only for “writers.” This course destroys the myth of the singular genius and proves that ALL of us can play, build, and explore our world with words. As a final project, students will create a structure, game, map, road sign, graffiti, mobile, helmet, recipe, guide or other experimental form that expressly explores and critiques the human-nature relationship. Students will also write an explanation of their process and the goals/meaning of their project. Finally, there will be an opportunity to present the work and try out any games, maps, poems, bridges, or guides on an enthusiastic student audience.