AENG-102Z INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING, Fall 2002

AENG-102Z INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE WRITING, Fall 2002

Section 6856 Tu/Th 2:30-3:50, 114 Humanities

Professor Unger

OFFICE: 392 Humanities, 518.442.2633

OFFICE HOURS: Tu/Th 11:45-12:45 & By Appointment

You will spend a good deal of time in this class working on each others writing: reading it, talking about it, writing about it. There will be some lecture, some outside readings, some additional exercises, but the bulk of the class will be about writing generated by the class. For this to work, it is crucial that you respect each other enough to bring everything that you can to this task, everything you want your classmates to bring to the task of analyzing your work: all of the critical intelligence that you want brought to bear, tempered by all the deep sensitivity you need as a buffer. Finding that balance point is key to making this class work.

Some Administrative Details:

Attendance: Regular class attendance is expected. You have two allotted absences, which require no explanation. Thereafter, unexcused absences will lower your grade (half a grade for each absence). Coming to class either too late to meaningfully participate or insufficiently prepared to participate counts as an absence.

Participation: As a great deal of class time will be spent in a variety of interactive formats, active participation is essential. In order to participate meaningfully, it is essential that you do the required work, including the reading, and do it on time.

Notebooks: Students are required to keep a notebook, including thoughts on assigned readings, preliminary work on essays and comments or questions generated by class discussion. Students may be asked to read notebook entries aloud in large or small group discussions, or to use them in a variety of in-class exercises. Notebooks may be collected at any time during the term. All notebooks will be turned in at the end of the term as part of the final portfolio. Students who are keeping up with the work should find that they are writing a minimum of five pages per week in their notebooks.

Plagiarism: Any student who plagiarizes, or assists other students in so doing, will fail the course and be further dealt with according to university guidelines. A good deal of collaboration is encouraged in and out of class; failing to acknowledge sources or willfully misrepresenting work, however, is not acceptable.

Grades: Short Assignment grades will be checks, with pluses and minuses. Grades on the papers will be letter grades, also with pluses and minuses. Course grades will be letter grades per university guidelines. While grading should not be competitive, it is reasonable to want larger context for your grades. For that reason, when I return graded assignments, I will generally give a list (anonymous, of course) of how many grades of each type were given for that assignment. The following should make clear what is required to attain each grade:

A: Understood the assignment and was able to reinterpret it, adding a high degree of personal style and insight. Essentially without mechanical flaws.

B: Understood and was able to reinterpret the assignment. Went beyond the minimum the assignment called for. Better than average from a mechanical point of view.

C: Reasonable understanding of the assignment. Visible effort to fulfill the requirements of the assignment. Adequate level of mechanical competence.

D: Flawed understanding of the assignment. Some evidence of a good faith effort to understand and complete the assignment. High number of mechanical errors.

F: Clear that the assignment was not understood. No serious effort made to understand or complete the assignment. Very high number of mechanical errors.

NG: On rare occasions—if a paper shows that work has been done but it doesn’t fit the assignment, for example—I will give a “No Grade,” which means the assignment must be re-written and re-submitted.

Access to the instructor: You are encouraged to bring any and all questions or problems that you have about or with the class to me. My office hours, e-mail address, and office phone number are on the first page of this syllabus (email is always best–and fastest). Within the first couple of weeks of the term, I will also distribute a phone and e-mail sheet to facilitate communication among members of the class.

Introduction to Creative Writing AENG102Z-Section 6856 Fall 2002

Date	Topic	Assignment
Tu/3 Sep.	Course Introduction
Thu/5 Sep.	Workshop	Monolog
Tue/10 Sep.	Dramatic Speech
Thu/12 Sep.	Workshop	Short Assignment #1
Tu/17 Sep.	Character Development
Thu/19 Sep.	Workshop	Dialog
Tu/24 Sep.	Exposition	Long Reading
Thu/26 Sep.	Workshop	Personal Narrative
Tu/1 Oct.	Editing
Thu/3 Oct.	Workshop
Tu/8 Oct.	Story Arc
Thu/10 Oct.	Workshop	Short Story
Tu/15 Oct.	Narrative Traditions	Short Assignment #2
Thu/17 Oct.	Workshop
Tu/22 Oct.	Mid-Term Conferences
Thu/24 Oct.	Mid-Term Conferences
Tu/29 Oct.	Screenwriting Mechanics	Short Assignment #3
Thu/31 Oct.	Workshop	Short Screen Scene
Tu/5 Nov.	Genre
Thu/7 Nov.	Workshop
Tu/12 Nov.	Rhythm	Short Assignment #4
Thu/14 Nov.	Workshop	Narrative Poem
Tu/19 Nov.	Open Topic
Thu/21 Nov.	Workshop	Lyric Poem
Tu/26 Nov.	The Emotional Business of Writing	Lamotte Reading
Tu/3 Dec.	The Business Business of Writing
Thu/5 Dec.	Workshop	Student Choice of Genre
Tu/10 Dec.	Workshop	Final Portfolio

Writing Assignments

Monolog: short speech, three to four hundred words, meant to be delivered aloud by one person. This may be of the more formal sort that one would hear in a play or the less formal sort that one might expect from a television character either talking without interruption to another character, to him or herself, or directly addressing the audience.

Dialog: four to six hundred word dialog between two characters, using naturalistic speech.

Personal Narrative: six hundred to nine hundred word autobiographical story.

Short Story: one thousand to fifteen hundred word short story in a genre of your own choosing.

Short Screen Scene: six to eight page screen scene in a genre of your own choosing.

Narrative Poem: one to three page narrative poem.

Lyric Poem: one to two page lyric poem.

Student Choice of Genre: additional work (required) in an area of your choosing; may be one of the forms cited above or, after consultation with the professor, in another mutually agreed upon form.

Short Assignments

1. Bring in a short piece of writing–a poem, an excerpt from a short story or an article–which is emotional, which you find either effective and moving or ineffective and maudlin. Write a brief, one paragraph explanation of why you feel the way you do about the piece, why it either works or doesn’t work.

2. Think of the kinds of stories you remember being told as a child, by your oldest relative: were there any recurring features to those narratives? Were those features similar to the narrative habits of people from the same ethnic group as this relative? Write a brief paragraph which summarizes any characteristics of these stories you might remember.

3. Watch–preferably record–a half hour t.v. show. Make a scene list: that is, give a quick one line description of each scene in the show, so that you have an outline of what happened over the entire half hour. This is easier if you tape the show so that you can stop and start things at your convenience.

4. Bring in a copy of the lyrics from one or more of your favorite songs, along with a written paragraph which explains what it is about the words (not the music) that you find appealing.

Readings

“Shitty First Drafts,” Anne Lamotte

“Stuff: The Power of the Tangible,” David Long