Schedule of Homework and Activities
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Homework (due on date)
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Class Activities
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1/20 |
Buy Books |
Introduction to the course Metaphors for my Creative Self In-class exercise: A scene describing issues with an unwanted houseguest. Introduce elements of fiction. Introduce Notebook-Keeping
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| 1/27 | Read: Method & Madness (MM) 1-21 (including Denis Johnson's story) and Junot Diaz's story on 131 Purchase textbook Purchase a notebook. Read: Write a scene stemming from last week's in-class exercise
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Character and Point of View Reading as a writer Compare and Contrast Johnson and Diaz Breaking rules, establishing new ones Worskshop
Scene and Exposition. |
| 2/3 | Read: Carver, "Feathers" |
The Shape of the Short Story Discuss the workshop and its goals. Workshop stories Telling AND Showing, POV Avoiding clichˇ |
| 2/10 | Read Joyce, "Araby"; Read and critique the stories of your classmates
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Discuss Beginnings Exercise Workshop Essays Epiphanies.
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| 2/17 | Keep notebook, Write a story that parallels (but doesn't parody) a story that you admire. Read and critique the essays of your classmates, Work on stories. Selected students make copies. |
Workshop stories |
| Week 6 Fiction | ||
| 2/24 | Keep notebook; Work on stories. Read: "Hunters in the Snow" Stories for Workshop due in my inbox by 8:00 pm Sunday night. |
Workshop Stories. Dramatic Tension Reread subsection on Dialogue in the chapter on Characterization. |
| Week 7 Fiction | ||
| 3/3 | Keep Notebook Keep revising a story. Stories for Workshop due in my inbox by 8:00 pm Sunday night. Check for your classmates' work in your in-box, read the stories selected for workshop, and be prepared to critique them in class.
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Workshop of short fiction.
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| 3/10 | NO CLASS |
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| Week 9 Fiction/Poetry | ||
| 3/17 | Prepare a one-page critique of at least one story from the workshop using the guidelines. Keep Notebook Critique each other's works for workshop. Stories for Workshop due in my inbox by 8:00 pm Sunday night. Check for your classmates' work in your in-box, read the stories selected for workshop, and be prepared to critique them in class. 3/15. |
Discuss the stories Critiques due. Bring one copy for the writer and one for me. "Final" draft of first short story due. One-page critiques due. Why poetry? |
| Week 10 Fiction/Poetry | ||
| 3/24 | Stories for Workshop due in my inbox by 8:00 pm Sunday night. Check for your classmates' work in your in-box, read the stories selected for workshop, and be prepared to critique them in class Keep your notebook in your hip pocket for the week and be prepared to record specific thing that might come at you or from within you that seems important, odd, silly, or any way worth reflecting further about. Cultivate your attention to the world. Write in your notebook at least 45 minutes each day, developing your observations, describing things or people in ALL of their most minute detail. Read: Choose one or two of the"What Is Poetry?" quotations and write in your notebook how you respond to it. In your poetry texts, browse for poems by a writer you find interesting. Finally, buy and read a book by a poet on the "What Is Poetry?" list, which I have given you in class. |
This will be our final FICTION workshop. Bring poetry texts to class Discuss poems in handouts. If you have bought a book of poetry, please bring your book to class. Poetry: Transforming the observed, the felt, and the experienced into something new, shaping it, and adding value. The image, the essential, and the abstract. Exercise on making metaphor, like, for real. The essential Haiku. Introduce Poem #1 Assignment AND Recitation Assignment. |
| Week 11 Poetry | ||
| 3/31 | Poems for Workshop due in my inbox by 8:00 pm Sunday night. Check for your classmates' work in your in-box, read the stories selected for workshop, and be prepared to critique them in class Read: Choose poem and begin recitation practice Write a poem that emerges from our metaphor exercise in class. Reading in BLT (Book of Luminous Things) TBA. Continue reading your poetry selection. |
Workshop poems according to Poetry Critique Guidelines. Discussion of assigned poems, and lecture about seeing as a poet. The lyrical vs. the narrative. Voice. Introduce Poem #2 Assignment |
| Week 12 Poetry | ||
| 4/7 | SPRING BREAK : NO CLASS
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| 4/14 |
Read: Work on Poem #2 Assignment. |
Poetry Workshop. Poem #2 due. Introduce Poem #3 Assignment |
| Week 14 Poetry | ||
| 4/21 |
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| 4/28 | Poems for Workshop due in my inbox by 8:00 pm Sunday night. Check for your classmates' work in your in-box, read the stories selected for workshop, and be prepared to critique them in class. Read: Work on Poem #4 Assignment. One-page written critique of one of your classmate's poem due. |
Poetry Workshop Poem #4 due. Introduce Poem #5 Assignment |
| Week 16 Poetry | ||
| 5/5 | Poems for Workshop due in my inbox by 8:00 pm Sunday night. Check for your classmates' work in your in-box, read the stories selected for workshop, and be prepared to critique them in class. Read: Work on Poem #5 Assignment. Prepare for poem recitation! |
Poetry Workshop. Poem #5 due. |
| 5/12 | Prepare for our end-of-semester reading by choosing poetry and prose to read. You will have 10 minutes or less in the limelight. |
Meet at La-Di-Da Cafe at 6:30 pm for OUR BIG EVENT. We will enjoy a social half-hour before the reading begins. Be sure to invite friends and family to attend! Reading begins at 7:00 pm. |
| Week 18 Poetry | ||
| 5/19 | On our final meeting, I will collect portfolios. | |
| Prepare Portfolios | ||
