Advanced Fiction
Helpful Hints
1. share your work frequently
2. write ideas down
3. use all 5 senses—use sensory detail
4. show, don’t tell—especially with emotions
5. use metaphors and similes
6. you don’t always have to be human
7. don’t stop for the perfect word
8. get to know your character
9. get to know your audience
10. read a lot
11. edit and revise—a lot
12. know your dialect and voice
13. keep details balanced
14. don’t be afraid to evolve
15. take care when introducing your story
16. vary your sentence structure
17. silence the critics in your head
18. write every day
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
The Iceberg Technique.
Write a descriptive paragraph without specifically or directly mentioning the emotion and/or situation you are writing about. Use one of the following examples. All of these examples require you to describe a river, and you are required to use the physical description to convey the mood and the situation. I suggest that, to select details, you visualize the Trinity River just down the road, or another river that you can see in your mind’s eye, and consider how one of the characters below would describe what you are seeing. In addition to physical description, this is an exercise in tone and perspective. Obviously someone sad is going to describe a scene differently than someone happy, even though they might be standing in the same spot.
--describe a river as seen by a young woman who has just learned she is pregnant three days after her boyfriend broke up with her. Do not mention the pregnancy or her ex.
--describe a river as seen by a young man (or woman) about to meet his parents to tell them that he has been expelled from the university for cheating on a final exam. Do not mention cheating or the expulsion.
--describe a river as seen by a young man or woman who was recently in a terrible car accident and survived , although another passenger was killed. Do not mention death, the accident, or the other passenger.
--describe a river as seen by a young man who has a diamond ring in his pocket and who is waiting for his girlfriend to propose. Do not mention the ring, becoming engaged, or marriage.
Consider the time of year and day, the weather and temperature, and the specific details of the images you want your readers to focus on.
Write a descriptive paragraph without specifically or directly mentioning the emotion and/or situation you are writing about. Use one of the following examples. All of these examples require you to describe a river, and you are required to use the physical description to convey the mood and the situation. I suggest that, to select details, you visualize the Trinity River just down the road, or another river that you can see in your mind’s eye, and consider how one of the characters below would describe what you are seeing. In addition to physical description, this is an exercise in tone and perspective. Obviously someone sad is going to describe a scene differently than someone happy, even though they might be standing in the same spot.
--describe a river as seen by a young woman who has just learned she is pregnant three days after her boyfriend broke up with her. Do not mention the pregnancy or her ex.
--describe a river as seen by a young man (or woman) about to meet his parents to tell them that he has been expelled from the university for cheating on a final exam. Do not mention cheating or the expulsion.
--describe a river as seen by a young man or woman who was recently in a terrible car accident and survived , although another passenger was killed. Do not mention death, the accident, or the other passenger.
--describe a river as seen by a young man who has a diamond ring in his pocket and who is waiting for his girlfriend to propose. Do not mention the ring, becoming engaged, or marriage.
Consider the time of year and day, the weather and temperature, and the specific details of the images you want your readers to focus on.
Hemingway’s Prose Style:
Most critics agree that Hemingway’s fame depends as much on his prose style as on his content and subjects. His early style is lean, laconic, and devoid of strings of adjectives and adverbs. Lacking excessive modifiers, his sentences tend to be simple or compound declarative clauses; conjunctions are coordinating, rarely subordinating, so that items are arranged spatially or sequentially (not by cause or logic—Hemingway’s world is ruled more by fate and luck than by cause and effect and logic). The prose depends on nouns (many monosyllabic) for concrete imagery. There is a poetic use of repetition (learned in part from the Bible and in part from Gertrude Stein) and a concentration on surface detail, on suggesting character through things said and done rather than through authorial asides and psychological analysis. Like his Imagist contemporaries, especially Ezra Pound, Hemingway sought the concrete detail that would capture the essence of the moment and convey its emotional content to readers. His bare-bones style is in part a reaction to the over-ornate Victorian prose and to the political rhetoric surrounding World War I. Obviously influenced by the techniques of journalism, it is also an attempt to strip away all that is false, misleading, and unessential. Among the elements that Hemingway shares with other Modernist writers are alienated characters and their rejection of conventional moral standards, a manner of presentation that, in its incomplete and fragmented manner, echoes the sense of a pervasive social disintegration. Often cited is Hemingway’s “iceberg” technique, where vital elements of a story are left out in order to force greater reader engagement (even rereading). The actual text read by readers is only the tip of the “iceberg”: readers are left to ponder what lies beneath.
Hemingway on his iceberg technique:
If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows, and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have the feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer has stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.
I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg.
The Myth of Antaeus:
Antaeus was the son of Poseidon and Ge (mother earth). He was a giant who wrestled Hercules. Whenever he was thrown to the ground, he arose stronger than before from the contact with his mother. Perceiving this, Hercules finally lifted Antaeus into the air and crushed him to death. The myth of Antaeus simply refers to anyone who is replenished, and restored by returning to nature. As a romantic notion, the myth is used to refer to a process of revitalization whereby an individual, once oppressed and overwhelmed by society, seeks solace in nature. Hemingway’s characters often seek such restoration in nature through the simple rituals of hunting, fishing, and camping.
Most critics agree that Hemingway’s fame depends as much on his prose style as on his content and subjects. His early style is lean, laconic, and devoid of strings of adjectives and adverbs. Lacking excessive modifiers, his sentences tend to be simple or compound declarative clauses; conjunctions are coordinating, rarely subordinating, so that items are arranged spatially or sequentially (not by cause or logic—Hemingway’s world is ruled more by fate and luck than by cause and effect and logic). The prose depends on nouns (many monosyllabic) for concrete imagery. There is a poetic use of repetition (learned in part from the Bible and in part from Gertrude Stein) and a concentration on surface detail, on suggesting character through things said and done rather than through authorial asides and psychological analysis. Like his Imagist contemporaries, especially Ezra Pound, Hemingway sought the concrete detail that would capture the essence of the moment and convey its emotional content to readers. His bare-bones style is in part a reaction to the over-ornate Victorian prose and to the political rhetoric surrounding World War I. Obviously influenced by the techniques of journalism, it is also an attempt to strip away all that is false, misleading, and unessential. Among the elements that Hemingway shares with other Modernist writers are alienated characters and their rejection of conventional moral standards, a manner of presentation that, in its incomplete and fragmented manner, echoes the sense of a pervasive social disintegration. Often cited is Hemingway’s “iceberg” technique, where vital elements of a story are left out in order to force greater reader engagement (even rereading). The actual text read by readers is only the tip of the “iceberg”: readers are left to ponder what lies beneath.
Hemingway on his iceberg technique:
If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows, and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have the feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer has stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.
I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg.
The Myth of Antaeus:
Antaeus was the son of Poseidon and Ge (mother earth). He was a giant who wrestled Hercules. Whenever he was thrown to the ground, he arose stronger than before from the contact with his mother. Perceiving this, Hercules finally lifted Antaeus into the air and crushed him to death. The myth of Antaeus simply refers to anyone who is replenished, and restored by returning to nature. As a romantic notion, the myth is used to refer to a process of revitalization whereby an individual, once oppressed and overwhelmed by society, seeks solace in nature. Hemingway’s characters often seek such restoration in nature through the simple rituals of hunting, fishing, and camping.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Story Suggestions
Do not make your story overly complicated or overly long. If you are aiming for a ten-page story, you do not need multiple settings and multiple characters. Keep your length and general structure in mind. Ten pages is really not much. I would suggest only one or two main characters and one or two settings. You do not need a long sequence of events. You do not need a long complicated plot. Keep it simple.
Focus on your main character[s]. Picture the character in your mind. Get to know this character. Then set this character in motion. I suggest your story be character-driven (as opposed to plot driven).
Rather than try to invent an exotic setting, develop something familiar. This is a real short cut, since you can see imaginatively what you need to describe. A dorm room? A scene at a party or at a club? A street scene? In a classroom? If you set your story in a far away exotic place, Tahiti or Peru, you will have to do some background research to gather descriptive details.
Rather than try to invent exotic character types, develop something familiar. You do not need international assassins or dope smugglers. Use familiar characters and/or familiar personality types. You might even use people you know, and possibly yourself, as models for your characters.
Keep your tone in mind. Is your story going to be sad, funny, or ironic. Consider how you want your readers to feel at the end of the story. Be consistent in your tone. A funny story ordinarily would not suddenly become a tragic story.
Be descriptive. Use visual details to allow readers to see your characters and settings. Don’t say “a car.” Rather, say that the car was a mud-splattered dark blue Ford 150 pickup truck with a broken taillight.
Consider how your story will build tension and reader expectation, and then how it will resolve this tension, satisfying reader expectation.
Consider how and why your story will hold reader attention. Is there relevance? What is interesting enough to keep the reader from stopping halfway through the story?
Consider what point of view will work best for you. First person? Third person? You might try to begin the story in one perspective, and then restart the story in the other. Which seems to work best?
Show, don’t tell. If a character is sad, or happy, don’t just say that he or she is sad, or happy. Use description to dramatize how the character is sad, or happy. “Jane screamed with delight when she saw Brad step off the train.”
Do not make your story overly complicated or overly long. If you are aiming for a ten-page story, you do not need multiple settings and multiple characters. Keep your length and general structure in mind. Ten pages is really not much. I would suggest only one or two main characters and one or two settings. You do not need a long sequence of events. You do not need a long complicated plot. Keep it simple.
Focus on your main character[s]. Picture the character in your mind. Get to know this character. Then set this character in motion. I suggest your story be character-driven (as opposed to plot driven).
Rather than try to invent an exotic setting, develop something familiar. This is a real short cut, since you can see imaginatively what you need to describe. A dorm room? A scene at a party or at a club? A street scene? In a classroom? If you set your story in a far away exotic place, Tahiti or Peru, you will have to do some background research to gather descriptive details.
Rather than try to invent exotic character types, develop something familiar. You do not need international assassins or dope smugglers. Use familiar characters and/or familiar personality types. You might even use people you know, and possibly yourself, as models for your characters.
Keep your tone in mind. Is your story going to be sad, funny, or ironic. Consider how you want your readers to feel at the end of the story. Be consistent in your tone. A funny story ordinarily would not suddenly become a tragic story.
Be descriptive. Use visual details to allow readers to see your characters and settings. Don’t say “a car.” Rather, say that the car was a mud-splattered dark blue Ford 150 pickup truck with a broken taillight.
Consider how your story will build tension and reader expectation, and then how it will resolve this tension, satisfying reader expectation.
Consider how and why your story will hold reader attention. Is there relevance? What is interesting enough to keep the reader from stopping halfway through the story?
Consider what point of view will work best for you. First person? Third person? You might try to begin the story in one perspective, and then restart the story in the other. Which seems to work best?
Show, don’t tell. If a character is sad, or happy, don’t just say that he or she is sad, or happy. Use description to dramatize how the character is sad, or happy. “Jane screamed with delight when she saw Brad step off the train.”
Narrative Hints
A narrative tells a story; a story has a unified structure; often this structure has to be imposed on the chaos of real events
A story often introduces and then resolves a conflict
Remember to select and arrange; make careful choices; don’t include anything that does not contribute to the story
Detailed observations of people, places, and events; offer vivid details and pertinent dialogue; get beyond generalities and abstractions; be descriptive
Punctuate dialogue correctly
Description represents in words sensory impressions caught in a moment of time; use descriptive details carefully to set a moods or tone
Your introduction should arrest attention
Specific scenes set in time and space—show the reader actual events; don’t just tell about the events; a scene brings the characters and actions directly before readers
Make note of changes, contrasts, or conflicts that occurred during the narrative sequence
Remember that people like to read about other people
Story writing is generally an attempt to satisfy the love of the uncommon, but sometimes the quality of writing is more important than the exotic nature of the subject
A narrative tells a story; a story has a unified structure; often this structure has to be imposed on the chaos of real events
A story often introduces and then resolves a conflict
Remember to select and arrange; make careful choices; don’t include anything that does not contribute to the story
Detailed observations of people, places, and events; offer vivid details and pertinent dialogue; get beyond generalities and abstractions; be descriptive
Punctuate dialogue correctly
Description represents in words sensory impressions caught in a moment of time; use descriptive details carefully to set a moods or tone
Your introduction should arrest attention
Specific scenes set in time and space—show the reader actual events; don’t just tell about the events; a scene brings the characters and actions directly before readers
Make note of changes, contrasts, or conflicts that occurred during the narrative sequence
Remember that people like to read about other people
Story writing is generally an attempt to satisfy the love of the uncommon, but sometimes the quality of writing is more important than the exotic nature of the subject
Strange People?
That would be Mrs. Nixon. She was short with short red hair and in her late forties. She was very interested in her pet cat and thought that it would be a good idea to tell fifteen year old high school students about her sexcapades with her significant other. I don’t know how that woman kept her job.
My grandfather is ninety-five and has Alzheimer’s. His old age coupled with his OCD makes for some interesting stories. Grandpa Hart always kept a meticulous yard, and several decades ago, he even paid to have his pecan trees grafted to bear better fruit. He recently hired a landscaping company to dead head every single giant pecan tree in his yard. It now looks like Stonehenge. He also paid the landscaping crew to cut down his neighbor’s shrub. The neighbor sued for damages. I wonder what motivates him to do such bizarre things.
I grew up around musicians. Not sure if it was the jazz or the drugs (jn the 70s-80s) but they could be quiet strange. A jazz guitarist, Joe Bob, once told me that when he played it was like he wasn’t even there. Not sure where the guy was but it wasn’t on this planet.
I'm a nurse. I've met a lot of strange people. Did you know there are people who collect their own feces? I've met mass murders. In fact, when I was in nursing school I was assigned to take care of a guy who'd killed a TCU professor.
He no longer shaves but plucks his beard. His clothes come from second hand stores. He spends nearly as much time in fields as a farmer, looking for mushrooms. He once saved a friend from drowning, while donning American flag Speedos.
Worst Teacher
Since I started college, I haven’t had a professor that stands out as the worst or even bad. I did have a high school teacher, algebra two, Mrs. Nixon, who spent most of the class period discussing her cat and her rendezvous with her boyfriend in Atlanta. I learned nothing in that class.
The worst class I have ever had was a psychology class at A&M. I loved the material being taught but the people I had the misfortune to call classmates made it a nightmare. The class was about physical psychology. Though not outwardly stated, there was underlying theme or concept in which men were nothing more than hormonal animals whose every thought is motivated by sex. They felt that the most important factor that males had in what they desired or sought after in a relationship was the size of the woman’s breasts. There were mostly women in the class and the males in the class (other than myself) did nothing to disagree and openly expressed their agreement with the belief. There were times when I wanted to just stand up and yell out at all of them for being such children, for not seeking to actually live above that of an animal and develop some form of morality and decency.
I once had a college professor that came to class stoned. He taught a course on Poe. I loved the class but didn’t like it when he would start crying and lamenting his lost girlfriend.
I took a sociology course as an undergrad called “American Society.” The professor ran the course in a manner in which any ideas or papers that seemed to defend the American society were unwelcome, and graded poorly. Apparently the point was to bash the U.S., and never recognize that there were causes for decisions and events that did not mean the country was entirely evil. Whether he was correct or not, I did not like how open discussion and varied ideas were not welcome.
My worst experience was in class that the teacher was just bored. She didn’t believe in us, told us we’d never use the information and wouldn’t learn it anyways, so she wouldn’t bother. During class, she read from the book, in a class where that should NOT have been an option. I think education is a two way street and it takes both the student and the teacher bringing their best. As someone who is currently a teacher and a student, I still believe this to be true and of course it’s a challenge and some days are better than others. This was definitely a case where there was a lack of investment and as a result, I still dislike that class (and subject) years later.
That would be Mrs. Nixon. She was short with short red hair and in her late forties. She was very interested in her pet cat and thought that it would be a good idea to tell fifteen year old high school students about her sexcapades with her significant other. I don’t know how that woman kept her job.
My grandfather is ninety-five and has Alzheimer’s. His old age coupled with his OCD makes for some interesting stories. Grandpa Hart always kept a meticulous yard, and several decades ago, he even paid to have his pecan trees grafted to bear better fruit. He recently hired a landscaping company to dead head every single giant pecan tree in his yard. It now looks like Stonehenge. He also paid the landscaping crew to cut down his neighbor’s shrub. The neighbor sued for damages. I wonder what motivates him to do such bizarre things.
I grew up around musicians. Not sure if it was the jazz or the drugs (jn the 70s-80s) but they could be quiet strange. A jazz guitarist, Joe Bob, once told me that when he played it was like he wasn’t even there. Not sure where the guy was but it wasn’t on this planet.
I'm a nurse. I've met a lot of strange people. Did you know there are people who collect their own feces? I've met mass murders. In fact, when I was in nursing school I was assigned to take care of a guy who'd killed a TCU professor.
He no longer shaves but plucks his beard. His clothes come from second hand stores. He spends nearly as much time in fields as a farmer, looking for mushrooms. He once saved a friend from drowning, while donning American flag Speedos.
Worst Teacher
Since I started college, I haven’t had a professor that stands out as the worst or even bad. I did have a high school teacher, algebra two, Mrs. Nixon, who spent most of the class period discussing her cat and her rendezvous with her boyfriend in Atlanta. I learned nothing in that class.
The worst class I have ever had was a psychology class at A&M. I loved the material being taught but the people I had the misfortune to call classmates made it a nightmare. The class was about physical psychology. Though not outwardly stated, there was underlying theme or concept in which men were nothing more than hormonal animals whose every thought is motivated by sex. They felt that the most important factor that males had in what they desired or sought after in a relationship was the size of the woman’s breasts. There were mostly women in the class and the males in the class (other than myself) did nothing to disagree and openly expressed their agreement with the belief. There were times when I wanted to just stand up and yell out at all of them for being such children, for not seeking to actually live above that of an animal and develop some form of morality and decency.
I once had a college professor that came to class stoned. He taught a course on Poe. I loved the class but didn’t like it when he would start crying and lamenting his lost girlfriend.
I took a sociology course as an undergrad called “American Society.” The professor ran the course in a manner in which any ideas or papers that seemed to defend the American society were unwelcome, and graded poorly. Apparently the point was to bash the U.S., and never recognize that there were causes for decisions and events that did not mean the country was entirely evil. Whether he was correct or not, I did not like how open discussion and varied ideas were not welcome.
My worst experience was in class that the teacher was just bored. She didn’t believe in us, told us we’d never use the information and wouldn’t learn it anyways, so she wouldn’t bother. During class, she read from the book, in a class where that should NOT have been an option. I think education is a two way street and it takes both the student and the teacher bringing their best. As someone who is currently a teacher and a student, I still believe this to be true and of course it’s a challenge and some days are better than others. This was definitely a case where there was a lack of investment and as a result, I still dislike that class (and subject) years later.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Creative Writing: Advanced Fiction
MALA 60223-080
Reed 331
Williams, Spring Semester 2011
Course description:
Advanced Fiction is intended to help students improve their skills in fiction writing. The course will be primarily conducted as a workshop, and students will be expected to submit their submit their fiction for class discussion at least twice during the semester. In addition to the workshops, there will also be discussions of fictional elements and techniques, and there will be assigned readings to illustrate the discussions.
01/12, W
introduction
01/19, W
Fiction Workshop
“Up in Michigan,” Hemingway [internet]
“Sources of Fiction,” 9-25, FWW
01/26, W
Fiction Workshop
“Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway [internet]
“Setting,” 26-44, FWW
02/02, W
Fiction Workshop, with Jim Lee
“It’s the Law,” Lee [class distribution]
“Character,” 45-63, FWW
02/09, W
Fiction Workshop
“Weekend,” Beattie, 33, ASSM
“Plot,” 64-86, FWW
02/16, W
Fiction Workshop, with Jim Lee
“Rock Springs,” 190, ASSM
“Point of View,” 87-109, FWW
02/23, W
Class Cancelled
03/02, W
Fiction Workshop
“Water Liars,” Hannah, 267, ASSM
“Dialogue and Scene,” 110-129, FWW
03/09, W
Fiction Workshop
“Shiloh,” Mason, 311, ASSM
“Beginnings and Endings,” 130-150, FWW
03/16, W
Spring Break
03/23, W
Fiction Workshop
“Where Are You Gong, Where Have You Been,” Oates, 378, ASSM
“Description and Word Choice,” 151-169, FWW
03/30, W
Fiction Workshop
“Redemption,” Gardner, 223, ASSM
“Voice,” 170-189, FWW
04/06, W
Fiction Workshop
“”The Used-Boy Raisers,” Paley, 393, ASSM
“Revision,” 190-206, FWW
04/13, W
Fiction Workshop
“The Heavenly Animal,” Philips, 399, ASSM
04/20, W
Final Presentations
04/27, W
Final Presentations
Requirements:
1. Short Stories. During the semester you will be required to write two short stories and submit them for class discussion. These stories must be submitted by their due dates.
2. Short Writing Assignments. Throughout the semester you will be given creative prompts, such as a quotation, question, or challenge, and asked to write responses. These assignments might be sketches, scene descriptions, character studies, or remembrances, and they will be in prose, poetry, and dramatic dialogue. The short assignments will primarily be written in class.
3. Workshops. The class will primarily be run as a workshop in which students will help each other improve their fictional work. At different times during the semester you must submit your two short stories (or fictional equivalent) for peer review. Before the scheduled workshop dates, you must post your stories online for the rest of the class to read.
We will use a course blog for our postings and distributions. In order to do this you must
first create your own individual blog. With the help of technology at Blogger
(http://www.blogger.com?), you will build your own web log, or “blog,” and throughout
the semester when you are scheduled for peer review you will upload your stories to your personal blog, which will then be linked to our central course blog.
In addition to posting your stories, you will also use the course blog to respond in
writing to the stories submitted by your fellow students. You do not have to comment on
every story, but by the end of the semester I expect that you will have responded in writing to a minimum of 10 stories (out of a total of 30 stories that we will be generating as a class). What you write is up to you. You do not have to write a complicated textual analysis. Your purpose is to offer constructive, supportive suggestions to help your classmate improve her or his draft. I ask that you offer specific suggestions for revision and improvement. Comment on what you like in the story and then offer specific ideas for further revision. Please do not simply write: “I think this is really great as it is. Doesn’t need a thing.” And please do not write: “I just don’t get it. Better start over.” Always be polite and helpful. We are working together as collaborators. No one writes alone in a vacuum. Your responses should be from a paragraph to a page in length. At the end of the semester your responses will receive a cumulative grade according to how helpful and constructive they were.
Additionally, I also ask that you respond in writing to 4 of the assigned stories that we will read as a class (out of a total of the 11 stories listed above). These responses can range from a paragraph to a page in length, and they should comment on your experiences as a reader—what you liked or disliked about the story.
You are also welcome to use your blog to reflect on your experiences throughout the
semester, as a writer, as a student, as an individual living in a complex world, commenting on whatever moves you to write. But please remember that a blog is not a personal—and private—diary.
Blogging is a less formal form of writing than an essay, and thus blogs are a good forum to reflect, analyze, vent, explore, and consider. But blogs are also a more public form of writing and, because of the technology, an excellent way of sharing, collaborating, and responding. But please keep in mind that blogs are a public forum, accessible to anyone who has internet access, so please do not post anything that you would not share with the classroom and internet communities. I do not formally restrict or limit subjects or language, but please bear in mind that what you post—as a writer or responder—reflects who you are. By no means do you want to be perceived as ignorant, vulgar, or obscene.
If you think you want to test the boundaries of decorum and civility, and are unsure if you should post, please see me ahead of time.
The course blog will be our forum for dialogue and exchange.
4. Final Presentations. During the last two class sessions you will be expected to present
what you consider your best story back to the class. You will have a 5 to 10 minute slot for your presentation. How you present is up to you. You may give a reading, use PowerPoint, create a video, act out a part, or stage a dramatization. The possibilities are numerous, and you may ask the help of your classmates if you need another reader, actor, or stage hand. I ask three things. First, consider carefully what you think is your best story and how best to present it as a reflection of your semester’s work. Tell your classmates what you think your story is about and what you hope they will experience when reading your story. Second, put some creative thought into your presentation. I would like the presentations be engaging and interesting. And third, please keep in mind the time limit. Though ten minutes seems like a long time, it’s really not. The average page of prose read quickly takes around 2 minutes, so without any gestures or effects a prose reading will max out at 5 pages. Please check your time beforehand. Along with your presentation, I ask for a one-page explanation stating why you think this is your best story and what you hope readers will gain from reading your story.
5. Final Portfolios. At the end of the semester, no later than our last class on April 27
you will be required to submit a final portfolio of your two stories in their final drafts.
In addition, you will also be required to write a brief 1 to 2-page self-reflective introduction describing yourself as a writer and discussing the strengths of your two stories. This portfolio will showcase your creative writing skills.
6. Attendance and Participation. You are required to take an active part in this course and
to assume responsibility for its success. Both attendance and participation are required.
Missing more than three classes will result in failure. Borderline grades will be
affected by participation. Those who actively contribute will always receive the benefit of doubt.
7. An appreciation of irony and a sense of humor are required.
Grading Scale:
Two Stories 40% (20% each)
Written Blog Responses 20%
Final Presentation 15%
Final Portfolios-- 15%
Short Assignments-- 5%
Oral Participation-- 5%
Required Text:
Lamotte, Bird by Bird: Instructions for Writing and Life
Carver, American Short Story Masterpieces
Novakovitch, Fiction Writer’s Workshop
Dan Williams
Reed 414D or TCU Press (3000 Sandage)
Office hours: Friday, 10-noon, and by appointment
Phone: #6250 (Reed Hall office), #5907 (TCU Press)
Email: d.e.williams@tcu.edu
Course Outcomes:
--gain a familiarity with the craft and techniques of fiction writing
--develop advanced skills in fiction writing
--produce a final portfolio of original fiction
Academic Conduct: An academic community requires the highest standards of honor and integrity in all of its participants if it is to fulfill its missions. In such a community faculty, students, and staff are expected to maintain high standards of academic conduct. The purpose of this policy is to make all aware of these expectations. Additionally, the policy outlines some, but not all, of the situations which can arise that violate these standards. Further, the policy sets forth a set of procedures, characterized by a "sense of fair play," which will be used when these standards are violated. In this spirit, definitions of academic misconduct are listed below. These are not meant to be exhaustive. I. ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT Any act that violates the spirit of the academic conduct policy is considered academic misconduct. Specific examples include, but are not limited to: A. Cheating. Includes, but is not limited to: 1. Copying from another student's test paper, laboratory report, other report, or computer files and listings. 2. Using in any academic exercise or academic setting, material and/or devices not authorized by the person in charge of the test. 3. Collaborating with or seeking aid from another student during an academic exercise without the permission of the person in charge of the exercise. 4. Knowingly using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting, or soliciting in its entirety or in part, the contents of a test or other assignment unauthorized for release. 5. Substituting for another student, or permitting another student to substitute for oneself, in a manner that leads to misrepresentation of either or both students work. B. Plagiarism. The appropriation, theft, purchase, or obtaining by any means another's work, and the unacknowledged submission or incorporation of that work as one's own offered for credit. Appropriation includes the quoting or paraphrasing of another's work without giving credit therefore. C. Collusion. The unauthorized collaboration with another in preparing work offered for credit. D. Abuse of resource materials. Mutilating, destroying, concealing, or stealing such materials. E. Computer misuse. Unauthorized or illegal use of computer software or hardware through the TCU Computer Center or through any programs, terminals, or freestanding computers owned, leased, or operated by TCU or any of its academic units for the purpose of affecting the academic standing of a student. F. Fabrication and falsification. Unauthorized alteration or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise. Falsification involves altering information for use in any academic exercise. Fabrication involves inventing or counterfeiting information for use in any academic exercise. G. Multiple submission. The submission by the same individual of substantial portions of the same academic work (including oral reports) for credit more than once in the same or another class without authorization. H. Complicity in academic misconduct. Helping another to commit an act of academic misconduct. I. Bearing false witness. Knowingly and falsely accusing another student of academic misconduct.
Disabilities Statement:
Texas Christian University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 regarding students with disabilities. Eligible students seeking accommodations should contact the Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities in the Center for Academic Services located in Sadler Hall, 11. Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations. Further information can be obtained from the Center for Academic Services, TCU Box 297710, Fort Worth, TX 76129, or at (817) 257-7486.
Adequate time must be allowed to arrange accommodations and accommodations are not retroactive; therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the academic term for which they are seeking accommodations. Each eligible student is responsible for presenting relevant, verifiable, professional documentation and/or assessment reports to the Coordinator. Guidelines for documentation may be found at http://www.acs.tcu.edu/DISABILITY.HTM.
Students with emergency medical information or needing special arrangements in case a building must be evacuated should discuss this information with their instructor/professor as soon as possible.
If there is a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it. --Toni Morrison
As to the Adjective: when in doubt, strike it out. --Mark Twain
Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines, a machine no unnecessary parts. --William Strunk
MALA 60223-080
Reed 331
Williams, Spring Semester 2011
Course description:
Advanced Fiction is intended to help students improve their skills in fiction writing. The course will be primarily conducted as a workshop, and students will be expected to submit their submit their fiction for class discussion at least twice during the semester. In addition to the workshops, there will also be discussions of fictional elements and techniques, and there will be assigned readings to illustrate the discussions.
01/12, W
introduction
01/19, W
Fiction Workshop
“Up in Michigan,” Hemingway [internet]
“Sources of Fiction,” 9-25, FWW
01/26, W
Fiction Workshop
“Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway [internet]
“Setting,” 26-44, FWW
02/02, W
Fiction Workshop, with Jim Lee
“It’s the Law,” Lee [class distribution]
“Character,” 45-63, FWW
02/09, W
Fiction Workshop
“Weekend,” Beattie, 33, ASSM
“Plot,” 64-86, FWW
02/16, W
Fiction Workshop, with Jim Lee
“Rock Springs,” 190, ASSM
“Point of View,” 87-109, FWW
02/23, W
Class Cancelled
03/02, W
Fiction Workshop
“Water Liars,” Hannah, 267, ASSM
“Dialogue and Scene,” 110-129, FWW
03/09, W
Fiction Workshop
“Shiloh,” Mason, 311, ASSM
“Beginnings and Endings,” 130-150, FWW
03/16, W
Spring Break
03/23, W
Fiction Workshop
“Where Are You Gong, Where Have You Been,” Oates, 378, ASSM
“Description and Word Choice,” 151-169, FWW
03/30, W
Fiction Workshop
“Redemption,” Gardner, 223, ASSM
“Voice,” 170-189, FWW
04/06, W
Fiction Workshop
“”The Used-Boy Raisers,” Paley, 393, ASSM
“Revision,” 190-206, FWW
04/13, W
Fiction Workshop
“The Heavenly Animal,” Philips, 399, ASSM
04/20, W
Final Presentations
04/27, W
Final Presentations
Requirements:
1. Short Stories. During the semester you will be required to write two short stories and submit them for class discussion. These stories must be submitted by their due dates.
2. Short Writing Assignments. Throughout the semester you will be given creative prompts, such as a quotation, question, or challenge, and asked to write responses. These assignments might be sketches, scene descriptions, character studies, or remembrances, and they will be in prose, poetry, and dramatic dialogue. The short assignments will primarily be written in class.
3. Workshops. The class will primarily be run as a workshop in which students will help each other improve their fictional work. At different times during the semester you must submit your two short stories (or fictional equivalent) for peer review. Before the scheduled workshop dates, you must post your stories online for the rest of the class to read.
We will use a course blog for our postings and distributions. In order to do this you must
first create your own individual blog. With the help of technology at Blogger
(http://www.blogger.com?), you will build your own web log, or “blog,” and throughout
the semester when you are scheduled for peer review you will upload your stories to your personal blog, which will then be linked to our central course blog.
In addition to posting your stories, you will also use the course blog to respond in
writing to the stories submitted by your fellow students. You do not have to comment on
every story, but by the end of the semester I expect that you will have responded in writing to a minimum of 10 stories (out of a total of 30 stories that we will be generating as a class). What you write is up to you. You do not have to write a complicated textual analysis. Your purpose is to offer constructive, supportive suggestions to help your classmate improve her or his draft. I ask that you offer specific suggestions for revision and improvement. Comment on what you like in the story and then offer specific ideas for further revision. Please do not simply write: “I think this is really great as it is. Doesn’t need a thing.” And please do not write: “I just don’t get it. Better start over.” Always be polite and helpful. We are working together as collaborators. No one writes alone in a vacuum. Your responses should be from a paragraph to a page in length. At the end of the semester your responses will receive a cumulative grade according to how helpful and constructive they were.
Additionally, I also ask that you respond in writing to 4 of the assigned stories that we will read as a class (out of a total of the 11 stories listed above). These responses can range from a paragraph to a page in length, and they should comment on your experiences as a reader—what you liked or disliked about the story.
You are also welcome to use your blog to reflect on your experiences throughout the
semester, as a writer, as a student, as an individual living in a complex world, commenting on whatever moves you to write. But please remember that a blog is not a personal—and private—diary.
Blogging is a less formal form of writing than an essay, and thus blogs are a good forum to reflect, analyze, vent, explore, and consider. But blogs are also a more public form of writing and, because of the technology, an excellent way of sharing, collaborating, and responding. But please keep in mind that blogs are a public forum, accessible to anyone who has internet access, so please do not post anything that you would not share with the classroom and internet communities. I do not formally restrict or limit subjects or language, but please bear in mind that what you post—as a writer or responder—reflects who you are. By no means do you want to be perceived as ignorant, vulgar, or obscene.
If you think you want to test the boundaries of decorum and civility, and are unsure if you should post, please see me ahead of time.
The course blog will be our forum for dialogue and exchange.
4. Final Presentations. During the last two class sessions you will be expected to present
what you consider your best story back to the class. You will have a 5 to 10 minute slot for your presentation. How you present is up to you. You may give a reading, use PowerPoint, create a video, act out a part, or stage a dramatization. The possibilities are numerous, and you may ask the help of your classmates if you need another reader, actor, or stage hand. I ask three things. First, consider carefully what you think is your best story and how best to present it as a reflection of your semester’s work. Tell your classmates what you think your story is about and what you hope they will experience when reading your story. Second, put some creative thought into your presentation. I would like the presentations be engaging and interesting. And third, please keep in mind the time limit. Though ten minutes seems like a long time, it’s really not. The average page of prose read quickly takes around 2 minutes, so without any gestures or effects a prose reading will max out at 5 pages. Please check your time beforehand. Along with your presentation, I ask for a one-page explanation stating why you think this is your best story and what you hope readers will gain from reading your story.
5. Final Portfolios. At the end of the semester, no later than our last class on April 27
you will be required to submit a final portfolio of your two stories in their final drafts.
In addition, you will also be required to write a brief 1 to 2-page self-reflective introduction describing yourself as a writer and discussing the strengths of your two stories. This portfolio will showcase your creative writing skills.
6. Attendance and Participation. You are required to take an active part in this course and
to assume responsibility for its success. Both attendance and participation are required.
Missing more than three classes will result in failure. Borderline grades will be
affected by participation. Those who actively contribute will always receive the benefit of doubt.
7. An appreciation of irony and a sense of humor are required.
Grading Scale:
Two Stories 40% (20% each)
Written Blog Responses 20%
Final Presentation 15%
Final Portfolios-- 15%
Short Assignments-- 5%
Oral Participation-- 5%
Required Text:
Lamotte, Bird by Bird: Instructions for Writing and Life
Carver, American Short Story Masterpieces
Novakovitch, Fiction Writer’s Workshop
Dan Williams
Reed 414D or TCU Press (3000 Sandage)
Office hours: Friday, 10-noon, and by appointment
Phone: #6250 (Reed Hall office), #5907 (TCU Press)
Email: d.e.williams@tcu.edu
Course Outcomes:
--gain a familiarity with the craft and techniques of fiction writing
--develop advanced skills in fiction writing
--produce a final portfolio of original fiction
Academic Conduct: An academic community requires the highest standards of honor and integrity in all of its participants if it is to fulfill its missions. In such a community faculty, students, and staff are expected to maintain high standards of academic conduct. The purpose of this policy is to make all aware of these expectations. Additionally, the policy outlines some, but not all, of the situations which can arise that violate these standards. Further, the policy sets forth a set of procedures, characterized by a "sense of fair play," which will be used when these standards are violated. In this spirit, definitions of academic misconduct are listed below. These are not meant to be exhaustive. I. ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT Any act that violates the spirit of the academic conduct policy is considered academic misconduct. Specific examples include, but are not limited to: A. Cheating. Includes, but is not limited to: 1. Copying from another student's test paper, laboratory report, other report, or computer files and listings. 2. Using in any academic exercise or academic setting, material and/or devices not authorized by the person in charge of the test. 3. Collaborating with or seeking aid from another student during an academic exercise without the permission of the person in charge of the exercise. 4. Knowingly using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting, or soliciting in its entirety or in part, the contents of a test or other assignment unauthorized for release. 5. Substituting for another student, or permitting another student to substitute for oneself, in a manner that leads to misrepresentation of either or both students work. B. Plagiarism. The appropriation, theft, purchase, or obtaining by any means another's work, and the unacknowledged submission or incorporation of that work as one's own offered for credit. Appropriation includes the quoting or paraphrasing of another's work without giving credit therefore. C. Collusion. The unauthorized collaboration with another in preparing work offered for credit. D. Abuse of resource materials. Mutilating, destroying, concealing, or stealing such materials. E. Computer misuse. Unauthorized or illegal use of computer software or hardware through the TCU Computer Center or through any programs, terminals, or freestanding computers owned, leased, or operated by TCU or any of its academic units for the purpose of affecting the academic standing of a student. F. Fabrication and falsification. Unauthorized alteration or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise. Falsification involves altering information for use in any academic exercise. Fabrication involves inventing or counterfeiting information for use in any academic exercise. G. Multiple submission. The submission by the same individual of substantial portions of the same academic work (including oral reports) for credit more than once in the same or another class without authorization. H. Complicity in academic misconduct. Helping another to commit an act of academic misconduct. I. Bearing false witness. Knowingly and falsely accusing another student of academic misconduct.
Disabilities Statement:
Texas Christian University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 regarding students with disabilities. Eligible students seeking accommodations should contact the Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities in the Center for Academic Services located in Sadler Hall, 11. Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations. Further information can be obtained from the Center for Academic Services, TCU Box 297710, Fort Worth, TX 76129, or at (817) 257-7486.
Adequate time must be allowed to arrange accommodations and accommodations are not retroactive; therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the academic term for which they are seeking accommodations. Each eligible student is responsible for presenting relevant, verifiable, professional documentation and/or assessment reports to the Coordinator. Guidelines for documentation may be found at http://www.acs.tcu.edu/DISABILITY.HTM.
Students with emergency medical information or needing special arrangements in case a building must be evacuated should discuss this information with their instructor/professor as soon as possible.
If there is a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it. --Toni Morrison
As to the Adjective: when in doubt, strike it out. --Mark Twain
Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines, a machine no unnecessary parts. --William Strunk
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)