In order to apply for a creative thesis, interested juniors must submit a sizable writing sample as well as a prospectus of the project they wish to undertake. Brad Watson, director of the creative writing program and advisor to several fiction theses, said if there was one piece of advice he could offer to those aspiring to write creative theses, it would be to take some of the fiction workshops offered by the department.

Taught primarily by visiting Briggs-Copeland lecturers, the workshops are open to all Harvard graduates and undergraduates. And while application is competitive, Watson stressed that they give students a critical opportunity to develop a portfolio of writing samples and to work closely with potential thesis advisors.

For those who do have the material and confidence to apply, the odds of selection to the program are in fact not as tough as one might think. “We actually took more than half of the applicants this year,” Watson said. He also said the program could potentially help students develop contacts in the literary world. “The instructor is going to have some contacts and try to get [the thesis] out there,” he said, but “not all students are ready.”

While opportunities to write poetry and fiction have always been available for creative thesis writers, this coming year aspiring playwrights and screenwriters will have a little more guidance than they have in the past. Todd A. Kessler ’94, a screenwriter and producer for the HBO hit television show “The Sopranos,” will offer a screenwriting workshop next year in addition to advising several dramatic thesis writers.

One such writer, David D. Kornhaber ’02, who is also a Crimson editor, said he was thrilled by the appointment because he and others interested in dramatic writing had specifically petitioned the department to bring in a lecturer to advise dramatic theses. Already the author of several plays, including two recently produced at Harvard, David plans to begin work on his thesis this summer in Paris. Inspired by a visit to the Paris catacombs the summer after his freshman year, he plans to write a play about the man who built the massive underground crypt during the 1780s. “A lot of people sort of dread their theses and all the academic work involved,” he said. “I think it will be a great learning experience, but also a really fun experience.”