Final Course Guidelines and Assignments

Tuesday, December 6, 2005:

In-class fiction open mic.

Thursday, December 8, 2005:

In-class fiction open mic, part II.

I'll also be returning your stories with comments today, and administering in-class evaluations.

VERY important!! Your final creative writing porfolio will be due on Tuesday, December 13, by 5:00 p.m. Please turn your portfolio in to my mailbox in Dakota Hall 226, or if the office is closed, slide it under my office door in Dakota Hall 207. Make sure to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with adequate postage if you'd like your portfolio mailed back to you after grades have been posted to WebAdvisor. Your portfolio should include the following: (1) Rough draft versions of the three formal poetry assignments and full-length short story with my comments; (2) Revised, final versions of these pieces; and (3) 250-word process pieces for EACH of these sets of assignments/revisions in which you discuss your revision process and assess how the piece has developed/evolved as a result of revising. You will be graded on the thoughtfulness, care, effort, and overall improvement of your revisions.

Important!! Don't forget to turn in your Writerly Immersion Paper #2 along with your final portfolio on Tuesday, December 13. Guidelines for the paper can be found in the post just below.

This will be your last week of blogging! Since we aren't doing in-class exercises or readings, your first two blogs can be freestyle blogs of your choice. Your third blog will be a memoir pormpt, as usual, and so here is your final memoir prompt of the semester (for blogs due on Sunday, December 11):

Write about your first kiss. Maybe it was with a friend, just practicing. Maybe it was with somebody you were afraid of more than you were in love with. Maybe it was a stolen kiss. Maybe you did the stealing. What were the circumstances leading up to the kiss? Or, start with the kiss and describe what happened after.

Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or concerns, and I'll be glad to help! And good luck with the home stretch!

Quiz Reminder and Guidelines for Writerly Immersion Paper #2

Important!! Don't forget to bring in your completed take-home quizzes to class on Tuesday, December 6!!!

Guidelines for Writerly Immersion Paper #2:

Please write a 3-4 page comparison and contrast paper that compares and contrasts two literary journals.

One of the literary journals should be the VLP 2005 Literary Magazine (available for purchase from the English Department secretary, Melanie Westin, Dakota Hall 212, if you didn't purchase one already at the start of the semester). If, for some pressing reason, you would prefer to replace the VLP 2005 Literary Magazine with an alternate print journal, I will be open to discussing this with you.

The second literary journal can be either another print literary journal or an electronic literary journal. Click on the Porta Del Sol link below for an excellent guide/listing of electronic journals and print magazines. (Scroll down past the WebDelSol editor interviews). Electronic journals listed here have a direct link to the online journal, and you can check to see if our library carries subscriptions to any print journals that sound interesting to you.

Porta Del Sol

Please make sure cite appropriately using MLA format as needed.

Papers will be due on Tuesday, December 13, 2005, by 5:00 p.m. (either in my mailbox in Dakota Hall 212, or at my office/under my office door in Dakota Hall 207) along with the Final Creative Writing Portfolio.

Readings and Assignments for Week of November 28, 2005 - December 4, 2005

Tuesday, November 29, 2005:

Please read Chapter 11 (Play it Again, Sam: Revision) from Writing Fiction.

Thursday, December 1, 2005:

Important!! Don't forget that your full-length (8-10 pages minimum) short story is due today!

Please make sure to bring four additional copies of your story for distribution to your workshop members for in-class workshopping today.

And finally, here is this week's memoir prompt (for blog posts due on Sunday, December 4):

Do you recall taking a strong political position? Was there a single moment you can recall when you felt motivated to join a political body, and did that moment lead you down a path through life that embraced those politics? Can you remember when you became "politicized"? Was it accompanied by a strong sense of justice or injustice? Was something wrong that needed to be rectified?

Readings and Assignments for Week of November 21 - November 27, 2005

Tuesday, November 22, 2005:

Please read Chapter 8 (Assorted Liars - Point of View, Part II), from Writing Fiction.

Important!! No blogging this week due to Thanksgiving break! You may blog for extra credit, however. You can do up to three extra credit blogs at 10 points apiece, to be posted by midnight on Sunday, November 27. These can all be Freestyle Blogs on any topic, using any approach, of your choice..

Don't forget that the rough draft of your full-length short story will be due on Thursday, December 1.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Readings and Assignments for Week of November 14, 2005 - November 20, 2005

Tuesday, November 15, 2005:

Important!! Fiction Assignment #1 due today! Write a 3-4 page exposition (opening scene). See guidelines below.

Thursday, November 17, 2005:

Please re-read the section on dialogue (pp. 172-173) in Writing Fiction

Please also read Chapter 7 (Call Me Ishmael: Point of View, Part I) in Writing Fiction.

Important!! Please make sure to bring in your Writing Fiction book today so that we can look at some samples of good dialogue in class.

And finally, here is your memoir prompt for blog posts due on Sunday, November 20:

Who was your best friend at seven years old? Who was your best friend at 11? At 16? At 20? At 30? And who was your biggest enemey at each of these ages? Describe them.

Readings and Assignments for the Week of November 7 - November 13, 2005

Tuesday, November 8, 2005:

Please read Chapter 4 - Building Character: Characterization, Part I in Writing Fiction.

Thursday, November 10, 2005:

Please read Chapter 4 - The Flesh Made Word: Characterization, Part II in Writing Fiction.

Don't forget that our first fiction assignment will be due on Tuesday, November 15, 2005. The assignment is to write an opening scene for a short-story, and here are, once again, the guidelines:

Your short story scene should be approximately 3 pages, or 750 words.

The scene should reveal aspects and traits of the characters who are in the scene.

The scene should set up a dramatic situation/narrative tension/central conflict.

Your scene should jump right in and begin in medias res and attempt to engage the attention of your reader right off the bat.

Your scene should attempt to skillfully weave together different elements of fiction writing (action/dialogue, narrative summary, scene setting/description, etc.) in ways that work best for the scene.

Finally, here is this week's memoir prompt, for blog posts due on Sunday, November 13, 2005:

Describe a significant event that brought you closer to, or further away, from your religious devotions. The spiritual life can come upon a person in a sweeping moment or over the course of a long period of time. Have you ever experienced visions or other moments of a spiritual nature? If you had a single moment that you can recall, describe the details leading up to and following that epiphany. How did it change your life afterwards? If you slowly gravitated to a religious tradition or a way of thinking about the divine, show in a series of snapshots how you were brought closer and closer to the spiritual over that time.

Readings and Assignments for Week of October 31, 2005 - November 6, 2005

Tuesday, November 1, 2005:

Please read Chapter 6 (Long Ago and Far Away: Fictional Place and Time) in Writing Fiction.

Thursday, November 3, 2005:

Please read Chapter 10 (I Gotta Use Words When I Talk To You; Theme) in Writing Fiction.

As discussed in class on Thursday, I've moved back the date of the first fiction assignment to Tuesday, November 15, 2005. The assignment is to write an opening scene for a short-story, and here are the guidelines:

Your short story scene should be approximately 3 pages, or 750 words.

The scene should reveal aspects and traits of the characters who are in the scene.

The scene should set up a dramatic situation/narrative tension/central conflict.

Your scene should jump right in and begin in medias res and attempt to engage the attention of your reader right off the bat.

Your scene should attempt to skillfully weave together different elements of fiction writing (action/dialogue, narrative summary, scene setting/description, etc.) in ways that work best for the scene.

Finally, here is this week's memoir prompt, for blog posts due on Sunday, November 6, 2005:

Remember something or somebody you pursued with a passion. How old were you when this happened? Does it seem a rite of passage, or a turning point in growing up? Did you get the thing or that person? If so, was it worth it? If not, do you have regrets?