CRW 3110 Fiction Syllabus
Week 1 (January 3-7)
W: Introduction to the course. Discussion of course policy sheet and syllabus. Class webpage at www.oocities.org/wcnesbitt
Week 2 (January 10-14)
M: The Writing Process 1-27
W: Story Form, Plot, and Structure 30-71 skip "Silver Water" and "20/20"
Week 3 (January 17-21)
M: Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. No classes.
W: Showing and Telling 74-115 skip "Linoleum Roses"
Cliches and fuzzy intensifiers to avoid
Week 4 (January 24-28)
M: Characterization, Part I 118-154 skip "The Visible Man"
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 (January 31-February 4)
M: Fictional Place and Time 198-252 skip "Which is More . . ."
W: Point of View, Part I 254-284 skip "The Comedian"
cliche link
Week 6 (February 7-11)
M: Point of View, Part II 287-323
skip "Beautiful My Mane . . ." and "Screentime"
W: Comparison 325-355 skip "San"
Week 7 (February 14-18)
M: Theme 357-393
W: Preface xiv-xvi, Revision 395-409, and radical revision.
Week 8 (February 21-25)
M: Workshop 1
W: 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 9 (February 28-March 4)
M: Workshop 2
W: Workshop 3
(March 7-11)
Spring Break
Week 10 (March 14-18)
M: Exercise 2 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.
W: Workshop 4
Week 11 (March 21-25)
M: Workshop 5
W: Workshop 6
Week 12 (March 28-April 1)
M: Workshop 7
W: Exercise 3 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 13 (April 4-8)
M: Workshop 8
W: Exercise 4 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.
Week 14 (April 11-15)
M: Workshop 9
W: Exercise 5 Music. We'll do this in class. We'll bring in some songs and write about them in class. Everybody bring in a CD. We'll listen to one track that you select. Note: I don't want anything that has been a video on MTV or other equivalent stations. I don't want to hear anything that has been released as a single. This doesn't mean that you have to pick an obscure artist, but if you pick someone well-known, at least choose a song we haven't heard 20 to the third power times.
Week 15 (April 18-22)
M: Evaluations bring a #2 pencil.
Detailed information on the three things that are almost due.
W: Last day of class. Reading Journal due. Exercise Portfolio due.
Fiction Portfolio due with your story and radical revision. Portfolios lose a letter grade a weekday that they are late. Anything late must be dated and timestamped by the English department in 405 WMS. Ask someone at the desk to place it in my box. Do not attempy delivery by any other method. Monday of finals week is the last day I will accept anything late, so turn it in by Monday of finals week.
Week 16 (April 25-29)
Finals week. No class.
When am I workshoppping?
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