Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about . . . Be willing to be split open.
--Natalie Goldberg Wild Mind
CRW 3110-01 #00408 9:30-10:45 M-F WMS 120
Instructor: Dr. William Nesbitt
Office: 229 WMS
Office Phone: 644-5148
Office hrs: 10:50-11:20 Monday through Thursday
E-mail: wcn5418@mailer.fsu.edu
webpage: www.oocities.org/wcnesbitt
Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to develop a solid foundation in the basic aspects of writing creative fiction and we will concentrate our energies on four main areas: 1) Reading and discussing various stories and chapters on writing in our text 2) Completing and sharing various short writings in and out of class 3) Over the course of the semester producing, workshopping, and revising an original short story 4) Responding on paper and in class to the drafts of classmates.
*A special note: I do not want genre fiction for workshop. This includes romance, detective, western, adventure, spy, horror, thriller, fantasy, science fiction, and my special inclusion: anything that takes place in high school. If you want to write these types of stories, do so for the radical revision.*
Required Texts:
Fiction Writer's Workshop by Josip Novakovich.
Enough copies of your draft that each person in the class can have one.
The stories on the Internet, which can be found online in our syllabus. You will want to print out each story, read it, and bring it in for the date listed.
Requirements of the Course:
Attendance is a requirement (more than 4 absences is grounds for failure). According to university policy, the only absences that are automatically excused are for participation in university sanctioned events (i.e., you are a member of the FSU baseball team or you play in the FSU band). For such instances, I need signed documentation on FSU letterhead explaining the situation prior to the event. There is no need to inform me of why you were late or absent. Should life mandate that you miss more than four classes, withdraw, apply for a medical withdrawal, or apply for a hardship withdrawal.
Lateness: If you arrive after I have called your name, you are late. After you accrue three tardies, each subsequent one becomes an absence. If you are late, it is your responsibility to let me know immediately after class. E-mailing me later or telling me next class is no good.
Evaluation:
1) Fiction Portfolio 50% (Short Story 40%) (Radical Revision 10%) and the three process memos.
2) Thoughtful, active, and responsible participation 20%. This includes preparation for class, workshopping, alertness, timely arrival to class, timely distribution of drafts before workshopping, thoughtful behavior, and bringing the appropriate texts to class.
3) Exercises 20% Some of these will be done in class, some of them out of class.
4) Book Review 10% Find a book of non-genre fiction published no earlier than 2003 and write an original review that is around three pages.
or
Book Chapter 10%. There's a chapter missing in our book. What is it? Write it.
Reading/Writing Center: The Reading/Writing Center offers one-on-one help for students with their writing, Make an appointment by calling ahead (644-6495) or stopping in (WMS 222C).
* Two Big Things About Your Stories That I Will Chirp About All Semester: 1) Show, don't tell. 2) The best stories are usually character-driven, not plot-driven, stories about people, events, and places you are intimately familiar with. *
Drafts and workshops: For each workshop day we will workshop, usually, three to four typed drafts. Try to take the draft as far as you can before we workshop it so that you can maximize your workshop. You should bring in enough copies for each person in class at least three class days before your workshop date (we'll present in alphabetical order and I'll update that information on the webpage). Write your name legibly at the top of each paper that you workshop. Each person in class will read and respond in writing to your draft before your workshop date. We are not proofreading. We are looking primarily at issues of macrorevision (229-236). While you sit silently we will discuss your story as if you were not in the room for fifteen to twenty minutes. We will discuss what works well in the paper and what could use some additional work.
The point of the workshop is to provide balanced critique that offers clear suggestions for improvement without debasing the writing or the author's sense of self worth as a writer. On the flipside, we do not want the author to walk away from the workshop without specific ideas for revision.
Failure to bring copies three days ahead of time for workshop or absence during your workshop day will result in a deduction of at least one letter grade from the final grade even if we fit it in later or you come to my office. The length of the draft is up to you but we are workshopping stories, not single pages, microfiction, novellas, novels, or novels in progress.
The standard format for all typed work will be Times New Roman 12pt. double-spaced with once-inch margins surrounding the paper.
Plagiarism is grounds for suspension from the university as well as for failure in this course. It will not be tolerated. Any instance of plagiarism must be reported to the
the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Plagiarism is a counterproductive, non-writing behavior that is unacceptable in a course intended to aid the growth of individual writers. Plagiarism is included among the violations defined in the Academic Honor Code, section b), paragraph 2, as follows: "Regarding academic assignments, violations of the Academic Honor Code shall include representing another's work or any part thereof, be it published or unpublished, as one's own."
Students with disabilities needing academic accommodations should in the first week of class 1) register and provide documentation to the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC) and 2) bring a letter to me from SDRC indicating the need for academic accommodations.
