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Creative Writing, Short Story

Fall 2012 COMM-2330-01, CRN - 28361


Elizabeth K. Gordon Office: 4602 Sage E-mail: gordoe3@rpi.edu Office Hours: Monday 4:00-5:30 & by appointment

Writing short fiction will be the focus of this workshop style, communications and writing intensive course. Process will be as important as product, with stories by established authors studied for inspiration and instruction. Energetic rough drafts, engaged revision, serious process-reflection, and a muscular level of peer review are expected.

Outcomes
Student-writers successful in this course will Develop a stronger writing practice, with the ability to generate and develop original ideas and write through blocks Be able to take rough writing through a vigorous revision process Become conversant with the elements of fiction, namely plot, tone, style, theme, symbol, imagery and point of view Develop beginning- to intermediate-level skills with the above-mentioned elements Enhance their ability to collaborate with peers on semester-long projects Gain experience with computer-mediated collaboration and publication Become more discerning readers of classic and contemporary fiction Be able to articulate an aesthetic and make content and design choices that reflect it Be able to identify and query likely venues for publication

Texts
1. Creating Short Fiction: The Classic Guide to Writing Short Fiction by Damon Knight. Paperback: 209 pages. Revised edition (March 15, 1997). ISBN-10: 0312150946. ISBN-13: 978-0312150945 2. The OHenry Awards, 2001 Prize Short Stories, Chabon, Gordon and Simpson. ISBN 10: 0-38549878-0 3. The Art of the Short Story by Dana Gioia and R. S. Gwynn. ISBN-10: 0321363639 ISBN-13: 978-0321363633. Edition 1 Suggested: Steering the Craft, Ursula K. LeGuin, Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott, Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg
Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship. Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Blogsite
www.rpiwrite.blogspot.com. Assignments, schedule changes, links to readings, resources and portals to collaborative work can be found at www.rpiwrite.blogspot.com. No username or password needed.

Course Work
3 Short Stories 40% of the total grade Since content often dictates form and revisions should evolve unrestricted, story lengths are open except for these parameters, which will be strictly adhered to: One story is under 600 words; any other is over 2,500 words; one is between. Stories should be newly composed during the semester and revised after workshops. Rough drafts will be turned in as well as final. Magazine 15% Editorial guilds create one issue of a literary magazine with stories from the class and beyond. Magazines are ranked by a panel of RPI writers from outside the class. Grades follow the order of the ranking but intervals are chosen by the professor based on magazine guidelines (i.e., top two receive A and B or A and A - ). Magazines must accept a specified number of short stories from in-class writers (approximately 20; specific number announced once # of magazines is determined). Magazines make a presentation-pitch about a genre, style or theme to be showcased in their magazine. This presentation is ungraded. The goal is to attract a high quality and quantity of submissions. Individual Publications 15% Each students magazine publication record translates into a letter grade thus: 0 publications = D . 1 = C . 2 = B - . 3 = B+ . 4 = A . 5 = A . Poetry, short non-fiction, and visuals count as publication (max of 4 can count and .5 rounds up). Short stories accepted by non-RPI magazines count as 2 publications. Writers are limited to 2 short stories in their own magazine; more may be published but only 2 count toward the individual publication grade. Magazine submissions may have been written prior to the class. Stories written for class may be submitted. Response & imitation note/blogbook, with guided reading 30% Respond to all assigned reading with quotes, analysis, evaluation, freewriting and creative imitation (prompts provided). Use your response to guide discussion of one reading or to facilitate a writing exercise/freewrite. Guided discussion may planned or spontaneous, alone or in pairs
Any system that helps you understand the world around you is valuable to the writer: natural history, biology, ethnology, physics, geology. . . . You must have knowledge to make the nets in which other knowledge is caught. Damon Knight, Creating Short Fiction

Format of Assignments
Stories, magazines and blog/notebooks may be in hard copy or soft (electronic). If hardcopy is turned in, spacing should be double or 1 spaced with one-inch margins and readable font (10-12 pt). Include name and date on the first page and page numbers on all subsequent pages. No title page needed. Turn in soft copy to gordoe3@rpi.edu. Rough drafts for workshopping will be posted from the blogsite to a shared google.doc.

Grading
Grading criteria are given with story guidelines. Assignments receive letter grades. To compute final grades, I translate letters into numerical scores as follows:

A = 100 A- = 95 B+ 90 B = 85 B- = 80 C+ = 75

C = 70 C- = 65 D+ = 60 D = 55 F = 50

Scores are multiplied by the assignments percentage value and the results are totaled. The total then returns to a letter grade: 64-69=C 95-100 = A 59-63=C90-94 = A55-58=D+ 85-89 = B+ 50-54=D 80-84=B 53 or lower = F 75-79=B70-74=C+ Questions about grades should be discussed during office hours or at a mutually convenient appointment. Unresolved questions can be taken to the LL&C Department Head.

Policies
Academic Integrity Procedures to be followed and penalties to be levied for breaches of academic trust such as plagiarism are outlined in The Rensselaer Handbook. Students should Reading that portion of the handbook and hold themselves and their classmates to the highest standards of integrity. Plagiarism will have one of three results, depending on whether the cause appears to be lack of understanding or lack of honesty, and on how extensive the plagiarism is: 1) The assignment fails but can be revised, usually within a week of being returned; 2) The assignment fails, with no revision option; 3) The student fails the course. Institute policy dictates that courses failed for breaches of academic integrity may not be taken pass/no grade.

Participation
This is an experiential class. Time spent writing, revising, and discussing your work and that of classmates cannot be made up. Those hoping for a high grade should attend most classes. Five or more absences will affect the final grade. The blog/notebook is a partial measure of participation.

Conferences
Conferences for revising will be held at least once. Missing a conference counts as an absence and may affect the storys final grade. Schedule additional conferences as needed.

Late Policy
Rough drafts are due for workshopping on specific dates (see schedule below). A late rough draft or no rough draft lowers the final grade directly by letter and indirectly by limiting feedback. Final drafts that were workshopped will be accepted up to a week after the due date without penalty and later than that with letter penalty.

Week

Date

Topics & Readings


Readings are listed on the day theyll be discussed. See blog for Response & Imitation suggestions

Due
subject to (announced) changes

1 2 3 4

8/27 8/30 M 9/3 no class 9/6 M 9/10 9/13 M 9/17 9/20

Intros Generative writing techniques Holiday Skim non-rpi zines. Choose one to read & present Have read Intro & part 1 Knight and Carvers Cathedral Have read Faulkners Barn Burning Have read Knight pp 31-83 and Chopins The Story of an Hour and LeGuins Those Who Walk Away from Omelas Writing marathon Form editorial groups pseudonym & email for magazines

M 9/25 9/27

Workshop and revise


in-class revision and copy-editing Have read Knight 84-102 & Atwoods Happy Endings Have read Baldwins Sonnys Blues Magazine work zines present/pitch. Submissions open Have read Knight 105-122 and a story tba Writing marathon Have read Knight pp 122-139 Workshop and revise In-class revision and copy-editing Have read Knight pp 143-153 & Andersons Hands Have read Knight pp 154-159 & Londons To Build a Fire Have read Knight 160-170 and Hemingways A Clean, WellLighted Place & Hurstons Sweat Optional Parts 4 & 5 of Knight. Work on zines. Read story TBA Work on zine Work on zines. Read story TBA Thanksgiving break Writing marathon Workshop and revise In-class revision and Work on zines Celebratory reading No final in this class

Rough story #1 due Final story #1 due Blog/notebooks collected 8 entries

6 7 8 9

M 10/1 10/4 10/9 (Tue is Mon) 10/11 M 10/15 10/18 M10/22 10/25

Magazines open for submissions

Rough story #2 due Final story #2 Magazines have 7 non-editor pieces

10 11

M10/29 11/1 M11/5 11/8

Blog/notebooks collected 10 new entries

12 13 14 15 16

M11/12 11/15 M11/19 11/22 no class M11/26 11/29 M12/3 12/6 last class 12/10

Magazines have 14 non-editor pieces

Rough story #3 due Final story #3 due Magazine issue due Blog/notebook due - about 20 total Final story #3 due

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