CRW 3110 Syllabus
Week 1 (August 23-27)
W: Introduction to the course. Discussion of course policy sheet and syllabus. Class webpage at www.oocities.org/wcnesbitt
Week 2 (August 30-September 3)
W: The Writing Process 1-27 and Story Form, Plot, and Structure 30-71
Week 3 (September 6-10)
W: Showing and Telling 74-115 and Characterization, Part I 118-154.
Week 4 (September 13-17)
W: Characterization, Part II 157-195
Here are some questions to keep in mind as you are writing your story and responding to others
Week 5 (September 20-24)
W: Fictional Place and Time 198-252 and Exercise 1 News of the Weird. Typed ahead of time. The world's tallest man is still growing. A thief finds himself trapped in a building he intended to burgle and has to call 911 to rescue him. A man in India finishes eating a car piece by piece over the course of a year. The news sections of most search pages such as Yahoo as well as some print publications contain a section of strange but true (no urban myths) happenings around the world. Find one of these, make a copy of it, and write the first page of a short story based on the news item, or write a piece of micro fiction (shoot as close to 250 words as you can) based on the news item.
Week 6 (September 27-October 1)
W: Point of View, Part I 254-284 and Exercise 2 Hopper or Dali. Typed ahead of time. Take a look at these links. One is Edward Hopper's Nighthawk's and the other is
Salvador Dali's "Autumn Cannibalism." Pick one picture and imagine it captures just an instant in time. What is occurring right at that moment? Write a detailed account of that instant.
Week 7 (October 4-8)
W: Point of View, Part II 287-323, and Exercise 3. Micro Fiction. Typed ahead of time. Write a story of no more than 250 words and no less than 100. Be sure to include such traditional elements as introduction, conclusion, climax, character, and setting. Word economy/efficiency, focus, and narrative compression will be of key importance. Additionally, write a second story. See how short you can possibly make it. Hemingway's response was "For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn." Other writers such as Russell Edson and Enrique Anderson Imbert have written pieces only a few lines long, thus calling into question our notion of what constitutes a complete story. Thus, you will have two stories: one between 100 and 250 words and another that is as short as you can make it.
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Week 8 (October 11-15)
W: Comparison 325-355 and Exercise 4. Comparison. Remember that the trick is to come up with something that involves one or more of the five senses. Typed ahead of time. Rewrite these passages so that they are showing us instead of telling us: (1a) She is beautiful. (1b) It was a nice day. (1c) The car is raggedy. (1d) He is rich.
Fill in the blank. Complete each of these comparisons with a phrase that shows the idea of the three words after it. This section will have nine sentences total.
(2a) white as . . .
old, young, dishonest
example: "White as the insides of an eighty year old German's thighs rubbing together" gives us the idea of old.
(2a) lips that were . . .
beautiful, false, stubborn
example: "She had lips that were two unmoving bulls standing shoulder to shoulder" gives us the idea of stubborn
(2a) the night was . . .
dark, hopeful, lost
example: "The night was a hard cat turd I would find behind my sofa months from now" gives us the idea of lost.
(3a) Make one of the fill in the blanks in the previous section an extended metaphor.
(4a) Rewrite each of these cliches: "Never be the same again," unforgettable moment," and "it was the longest day of my life."
Cliches
Week 9 (October 18-22)
W: Exercise 5 New Conclusion or Original Exercise. Typed ahead of time. Rewrite the last paragraph of one of the stories from our text or bring in a writing exercise not from our book that we could do in class. Maybe it's an exercise you did in another class or something you made up. We may spend some time doing some of these exercises in class.
Preface xiv-xvi, Revision 395-409, and radical revision. Workshop 1
Week 10 (October 25-29)
W: Workshop 2.
Week 11 (November 1-5)
W: Workshop 3.
Week 12 (November 8-12)
W: Workshop 4.
Week 13 (November 15-19)
W: Workshop 5. Detailed information on the things that are almost due.
Week 14 (November 22-26)
W: Optional work.
Week 15 (November 29-December 3)
W: Last day of class. Evaluations bring a #2 pencil.
Reading Journal and Exercise Portfoliodue.
Fiction Portfolio due with your story and radical revision. Anything late should be dated and timestamped by the English department in 405 WMS. Ask someone at the desk to place it in my box. Late portfolios lose a letter grade a day that they are late.Portfolios lose a letter grade a weekday that they are late.
Week 16 (December 6-10)
Finals week. No class.
When am I workshoppping?
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