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Indicators: (a) Participate enthusiastically in in- • Impart structures that exhibit thoughtful
class writing exercises. (b) Submit assigned choice
exercises employing such techniques. • Create striking, surprising figures of
2. Keep a writing discipline (and thereby speech
• Use images that appeal to all the senses
appreciate and understand the processes and
• Choose vivid, specific nouns and verbs
discipline required to produce creative work).
• Avoid “empty” words and clichés
Indicators: (a) Maintain and submit a log of • Pattern sounds and images in pleasing,
weekly writing sessions. (b) Submit weekly provocative ways
exercises and final portfolio on deadlines. • “Play” with language semantically and
(c) Discuss in classes and workshops the joys syntactically
and struggles of your writing process. • Achieve standard surface features (as
3. Explore yourself and your experiences through appropriate)
writing poetry and fiction. Indicator: Compile and submit a portfolio of
Indicators: (a) Discuss in classes & workshops the works that best illustrate your competency
the personal connections in your writing. (b) In in these areas.
a self-critique submitted with the final
portfolio, explain the personal connections in
one or more works. S TRUCTURE & P ROCEDURES
4. Identify strengths and weaknesses in peers’ Structure & Instructional Methods
works-in-progress; make suggestions to others
for improving/revising their work. The first half of the course emphasizes writing
disciplines and processes. Our immediate concern
Indicators: (a) Participate in informal, will be generating a body of material so that we
impromptu discussions of works-in-progress. can select from it the most promising works for
(b) Respond in writing to your peers’ works- further development and revision later in the
in-progress. (c) In a presentation to the class, semester. In general, our class sessions before mid-
read one or more works by a peer and respond term consist largely of in-class exercises, instructor
with a constructive, 5-10 minute critique. presentations, discussion, and informal sharing of
5. Use feedback from others to revise your work. works-in-progress. Class sessions following mid-
term are devoted largely or exclusively to
Indicators: (a) Acknowledge in discussions of
workshops where students share their work or
your work how you have incorporated
present the work of other class members for
previous responses/suggestions. (b) In a self-
feedback.
critique submitted with the final portfolio,
explain how responses/suggestions helped
shape the final form of one or more works. Procedures & Requirements
(c) Submit all process work for the poems and Attendance and Participation. Because we will be
stories included in final portfolio. a small community of writers responding to and
depending on one another, regular attendance and
6. Read your own work critically, identifying
active participation are crucial to the achievement
weaknesses and improving subsequent
of the class’s desired outcomes. Your absence or
versions.
failure to participate fully hurts not only you but
Indicators: (a) Report in in-class discussions also the other members of the group. By prior
how your work-in-progress has evolved. (b) In arrangement with me, you may miss three class sessions
final portfolio, include all process work to without penalty. In all but extenuating circumstances,
illustrate developmental histories of the poems four or five absences will lower your grade, and six
and stories submitted. absences constitute grounds for failure. Regardless of
7. Craft language (in poetry and prose) so as to the activity—writing, discussion, workshop
critiques — your enthusiastic participation (and
• Create an authentic voice preparation, when applicable) is expected.
• Create a believable, complex character
• Control plot or narrative movement
• Control point of view
Spring 2011 3
Attitude. Nothing exposes our minds quite so • Begin each new writing session/exercise on a
nakedly as our writing. Rejection and ridicule hurt, fresh page. Put a heading at the top of the first
so, understandably, writing for others is scary. page that includes the assignment number (if
Class participants need to know and trust that they applicable) and some cryptic descriptor of the
are sharing with persons who are fair, who session's activity, the date and time you wrote
understand the difficulties and anxieties of the entry, and where you were when you
writing, and who mutually support and respect wrote it. For example, the heading on one of
one another's efforts to become a writer. We must your assignments might look like this:
feel free to fail, because we will do so time and
3.4: Freewrite
again and because fear of failure leads to the only
Sun., Feb. 23, 8:30 p.m., library carrel
unacceptable failure—chronic failure to write. We
could do much worse than adopt “Do unto If you write habitually at the keyboard, I
others . . .” as our class motto. would love to receive these exercises typed or
But this matter of attitude has a flip side, too. We word processed; however, unless it is important
sabotage the educational process and our own to you, do not retype exercises written in
growth as writers if we are overly sensitive, overly legible longhand.
defensive, of our writing. Review Outcomes #4 • After each writing session, record the actual
and #5 above. One of the primary expectations of time you spent writing and a few comments
this course is that you learn to critique creative about the session on your weekly writing log.
works constructively. Another is that you learn
• Keep all your backdated exercises and session
how to hear others talk about your writing and to
entries organized in a three-ring notebook and
sift from it that which can help you improve your
carry it to class with you. There may be
work. Joyce Carol Oates, in her book On Boxing,
occasions when we will build class discussions
says that she knows only one occupation aside
or activities upon previous weeks'
from boxing whose participants willingly undergo
assignments.
continual punishment to the head—writing. We
need to acknowledge the truth of Oates’ statement, Keep everything you write in this course. Discard
but also to understand that, in this class at least, nothing! This doesn’t mean that everything you
we are not entering the ring with lethal write deserves to be preserved. Most of what you
heavyweights impatient to knock our blocks off will generate should be thrown away. I am only
with one vicious hook but rather with sparring asking that you reserve judgment on what should
partners, persons on our side who only want to be thrown away until after you have determined
help us write better. the final contents of your portfolio. [See next
requirement.)
Compassion, sensitivity, fairness, and tact;
openness, honesty, mental toughness, and Portfolio. Your ultimate goal in the course is to
objectivity: these are the watchwords we must develop a portfolio of your best material to submit
balance if this class is to succeed. at the end of the course. Reasonable guidelines for
the portfolio might be
Exercises/prompts/process work. Each Thursday I
will distribute a writing log form along with the • Fiction 10+ pages
next week’s exercises, which will consist of a • Poetry 125+ lines
variety of reading and/or writing assignments. However, you may prefer to emphasize poetry or
You will submit the completed log and exercises fiction writing. In that case, the guidelines might
the following week in a manila file folder. look more like the following:
Follow these guidelines in preparing this work: Emphasis in Fiction
• Schedule a time five days a week when you • Fiction 20+ pages
will have an uninterrupted hour to devote to • Poetry 50+ lines
each exercise. Record your anticipated
schedule on your log sheet. Emphasis in Poetry
• Determine the reading sequence for your Each weekly folder is worth five points. The only
portfolio pieces and prepare a table of way you can lose points is by not maintaining your
contents. Feel free to develop your own format writing discipline, either failing to do the
for your final portfolio (three-ring binding assignments or doing them inadequately. Discipline
with a divider for each work; folder for each and productivity—that is, writing, and writing a lot—
work). Just make sure that process work for outweighs all considerations of quality in the weekly
each final piece is clearly identified and folder.
correctly sequenced. Participation/Attitude. During class sessions, I
Self-evaluation & grade proposal. During finals keep some records of participation and
week (May 16-19), all students will schedule a contributions to class activities. Enthusiastic
grade negotiation conference. At that conference, participation is expected. I will be in touch with
you will present a formal self-evaluation and grade you individually if I have concerns about your
proposal of 1,000-1,500 words along with your classroom participation or attitude.
portfolio. Self-evaluation/grade proposal & portfolio. As
The persuasive proposal will be carefully keyed to you will learn in this course (if you don’t already
the goals and expected outcomes of the course and know), poems and stories are incredibly diverse,
will point to the developmental work as well as the the results of extraordinarily complex creative
finished pieces in the portfolio for supporting processes. Likewise, evaluating fiction and poetry
evidence. It will answer such questions as is complex, highly subjective, and involves
weighing a multitude of factors against each other.
• What writing habits have you developed? One individual can’t do it without risking
• What habits of critical reading have you unfairness.
developed?
• How have your attitudes toward writing For this reason, I will give every consideration to
(including defensiveness toward criticism) your end-of-term self-evaluation and grade
changed, if any? proposal in awarding a course grade. I expect you
• What sort of peer critic/responder have you will be honest and forthright about yourself and
become? your work in the course, that you will have an
• What has writing helped you better accurate sense of how your work and performance
understand about yourself and/or your squares against the standards and expectations we
experiences? set, and that you will neither inflate nor
• What sort of a self-critic and reviser of your underestimate your achievement.
own work have you become? This means the self-evaluation/grade proposal is
• Which of the qualities or skills listed in an extremely important paper, a paper that
Outcome #7 are strengths of your writing? exhibits how objectively you can reflect upon your
Weaknesses? own writing and habits. As I review your self-
• How do you see your experiences in this evaluation and portfolio, I will be considering the
course affecting you in the future? following criteria:
• Depth of insight: the range and depth of
understanding you reveal about your course
performance and your writing—includes
connectedness to goals, clarity & precision of
Spring 2011 5
the evaluation & proposal language, specific
nature of claims, thoroughness of self- S PECIAL I NJUNCTION
assessment.
You are responsible for seeing that this syllabus
• Strength of evidence: the quality, power, and does not interfere with your education. You can
relevance of the evidence supporting your always do more work or different work (within
claims of learning and achievement; the extent reason) than the syllabus requires. Consult with
to which you prove or show claims with me if you wish to explore the possibilities for
specific references to works in the portfolio. adapting this course to better suit your needs.
• Quality of finished works: the extent to which
your final poems and stories exhibit your
command of the criteria listed in Outcome #7
B IBLIOGRAPHY
(voice, imagery, structure, etc.) You learn to write not only by writing but also by
The purpose of the grade negotiation conference is reading. Indeed, writing follows reading. It is
to confirm an agreement on your final grade. unreasonable to think you can write better than
Provided that you have violated none of the you can read: writing develops after close reading.
conditions affecting final grades (see below) and Thus, becoming a better reader, a more
that I agree with or am persuaded by your self- experienced reader, is an important part of
assessment, you will receive the grade you becoming a better writer.
propose. If necessary to reach agreement, we will You should read as much contemporary fiction
schedule a second negotiation conference. and poetry as you can as part of your regimen to
become a better writer. I have not asked you to
Conditions Affecting Final Grades
purchase an anthology of readings (although The
• Attendance: Students with four or five absences Poet’s Companion includes dozens of good poems).
lose one letter grade. Students with six or more At times we will read some poems or a work of
absences must make a persuasive argument short fiction in class. At other times, I’ll assign a
for passing the course. work for you to read or ask you to find your own
• Weekly Folders: Students who do not earn 91 work(s) for study.
percent of total daily writing points cannot Miller Library carries the following periodicals
propose an A. Students who do not earn 81 that publish at least one poem or story in each
percent cannot propose a B. Students who do issue. You should pull each of these from the
not earn 71 percent cannot propose a C. current periodical shelves at least once during the
Students who earn less than 61 percent cannot semester:
pass.
Ms.
• Incompletes: Failure to submit an adequate Atlantic
portfolio during finals week will result in a New Yorker
failing grade unless the student can provide College English
persuasive arguments for an Incomplete New Republic
during the grade negotiation conference. Harper’s
Mid-term Grades. You have two options for mid- The single best contemporary poetry site on the
term grades: (1) you can request the most Web is Poetry Daily at http://www.poems.com.
appropriate mark for this course, IP (in progress), The Academy of American Poets site, poets.org, is
or (2) you can request a mark reflecting your also quite good. The course Web page will provide
weekly folder scores and your participation & links to other online literary magazines and sites.
attendance records. If you choose the latter, it is, of
A good number of consistently rewarding
course, with the full understanding that the grade
collections of classic, modern, and contemporary
means nothing. Your final grade is based solely
stories and poems are available in Miller Library.
upon your self-evaluation and portfolio (minus
Look in the 811s for the poetry, in the 813s for the
any penalties incurred by violating the conditions
fiction. I promise enjoyable browsing in the
affecting final grades).
following:
6 EN 420 Creative Writing