CALENDAR

Please note the class schedule is subject to change.  You are responsible for keeping up with any assignment changes.

UNIT I: Introduction: What Is Creative Nonfiction? / Flash Nonfiction Writing (4 Weeks)

 Week 1: Introduction to creative nonfiction / genre, ethics, and craft

Weeks 2-3: Exploring the craft of creative nonfiction / finding your material

Week 4: Cultivating a voice and writing for an audience / revision work

 Unit 1 Assignments: writing portfolio of flash non-fiction, approximately 10-15 pp.; separate reflective essay (2-3 pp.) Due 10/5/2017.

 Objectives:

• Students will read about and discuss their understandings of the genre of creative nonfiction, the tools of the craft, and some of the ethical considerations involved in writing within this genre.
• Students will be exposed to a range of voices, writing styles, and approaches to the genre of creative nonfiction, and begin practicing critical reading strategies that will help them negotiate their own choices as writers.
• Students will engage in brainstorming and writing exercises designed to help them uncover their “burning questions” and cultivate greater awareness of their surroundings, their life stories, their ideological and ethical positions as writers, and the impact of their rhetorical choices in shaping their writing.
• Students will write more prolifically than ever before. Volume is more important at this stage of the writing process than polished prose.

Calendar (approx. 4 weeks):

 Week 1: Introduction to creative nonfiction / genre, ethics, and craft

Thur 9/8:  Focus: Genre

Welcome Back! Introduction to the Course Syllabus; What is CNF?

Reading and unpacking: “Why I Write?” by Terry Tempest Williams; Brett Lott, “Toward a Definition of Creative Nonfiction” (PDF)

Writing Prompt: Why do you write?

Homework: 1) Read the course syllabus & student manual. 2). Read and annotate Brett Lott, “Toward a Definition of Creative Nonfiction”. What is CNF? ; 3) Read “The Body of Memory,” Tell It Slant: Ch.1 pg 3-16 and make note of at least one strategy of using each of the five senses to inspire your writing.

Fri. 9/9: Focus: Craft ( Handout: Notes on Craft)

Reading and unpacking:  “Twenty Ways to Talk about Creative Non Fiction” pdf (80-84); “Where to Begin,” Tell It Slant: xiii-xvi; “; “Three Voices” by Bhanu Kapil  In Short 45-47 ( How does the author use three different “voices” to reveal what kind of woman she is or wants to be?); share strategies elicited from “The Body of Memory”.

Writing Prompt: Recall the neighborhood you grew up in, and describe the environment—the houses, buildings, landscape, and people.  Use your five senses to tap into concrete details of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.  Then, try crafting a scene—something that happened—in which you are the main actor in that world.

Homework: Read Tell It Slant: xiii-xvi; Lee Gutkind, “The Creative Nonfiction Police?” In Fact, xix-xxxiii; Mimi Schwartz, “Memoir? Fiction? Where’s the Line?” (PDF)

Monday 9/12  No Class

Tue 9/13: Focus: The ethics of truth-telling

Reading and unpacking: Mimi Schwartz, “Memoir? Fiction? Where’s the Line?”;  Lee Gutkind,   “The Creative Nonfiction Police?” In Fact, xix-xxxiii;  “Leap” by Brian Doyle (pdf). What makes the narrative believable? What kind of truth does the narrative reveal? ( Hulu 9/11 The Falling Man documentary)

Writing Prompt:  Brainstorm some of the historical and cultural events that have come to define your generation in the way that 9/11 defined the consciousness of the generation before you.  Write about how you’ve witnessed this major event or cultural shift, how it has impacted you, your family, your community, your generation.

Homework (Read one of the following and we’ll jigsaw the essay discussion) : 1) Read the essay, “On the Street” (In Short, 144-145). In her essay, Vivian Gornick says she feels “stricken” after the death of a writer she knew only casually (only through chance encounters “on the street”).  The woman Gornick mourns was not exactly a friend, but an important (though marginal) presence in her life.  Scan your own “landscape of marginal encounters” and write about a person you know who interests you greatly or is very important to you, but who nonetheless exists only as a peripheral presence in your life.  Focus on what you don’t understand about this person.  What mystery do they hold in your eyes?

2)  “The Basics of Good Writing in Any Form,” Tell It Slant: Ch. 13: 163-180 ( Provide an observation and example for each basic strategy discussed in the chapter)

3) Alec Wilkinson’s essay “Call Guy” (In Short, 146-148) grows out of an overheard telephone conversation that also proved a bit scandalous and would have certainly embarrassed the woman in Apt. 7C had she known he was listening.  Try capturing a short bit of an overheard conversation, and write down (as precisely as possible) actual fragments of the dialogue exchanged.  Then use analysis and detective work to define the relationship between the speakers and the context, tone, and subject of their conversation.  What was at stake in this conversation?  In what ways does their conversation speak to some larger cultural truth?  Use your imagination to speculate on parts of the conversation you may not have been privy to.  Consider the ethics of representing this conversation, and make decisions in your writing that allow you to represent it in the most ethical way possible. 4) Read Joan Didion, “On Keeping a Notebook” (PDF)

 Weeks 2-3: Exploring the craft of creative nonfiction / finding your material

 Week 2

Wed. 9/14 Focus: craft ( Review Notes on Craft)

Reading and unpacking: “The Basics of Good Writing in Any Form,” Tell It Slant: Ch. 13: 163-180;

David Huddle, “Museum Piece,” In Short pp. 183-184 ( How is the lady in writing portrayed?)

Writing Prompt:  In the essay “We Are Distracted” by Michael Shay, he portrays his “ADD” son Kevin through scene construction (rock climbing), setting( outdoor vs indoor), characterization, and dialogue. Write a character sketch of someone you know who impresses you as eccentric, weird, interesting, intense, or simply memorable—perhaps someone very close to you, someone you feel conflicted about, or someone who stands out as a unique individual.  Describe the person’s physical appearance, posture, facial expressions, hand gestures, way of moving or walking, nervous ticks, and significant behaviors or activities.  Think about this person’s general disposition, moods, and manner of speech (both the tenor of voice and the particular words and expressions this person would use).  Try to call up a few specific interactions with this person, and see if you can use your character description as a way into a scene.

Homework:1) Continue working on your character sketch based on the prompt. 2) Read Mimi Schwartz, “The Special Power of Present Tense” (PDF)

 Thur. 9/15 Focus: tense

Reading and unpacking: Mimi Schwartz, “The Special Power of Present Tense” (PDF) (Why do we use present tense in CNF? What effects does it have reader the reader?); Jerome Washington, “Blues Merchant,” pp. 85-86 ( Why does the author choose to use present tense to portray Blue Merchant? If we changed the present tense to the past, how would that change the tone or any other effects?)

Writing Prompt: Write a paragraph describing a place you remember from your childhood that   holds great meaning for you even now—whether joy, pain, or some other quality.  Don’t explain the meaning of this place, but try to reveal it through detailed description. Use present tense. How does using present tense change your way of remembering and describing the experience?

Homework: Read and annotate Scott Russell Sanders, “The Singular First Person” (PDF) (What does it mean to write in the “ singular first person” in CNF?) ;Mimi Schwartz “ Voice Lesson”( pdf)

Fri. 9/16 Focus: Point of View, Voice

Reading and unpacking: Scott Russell Sanders, “The Singular First Person” (PDF) ( Why does Sanders consider writing essays as a “risk”? What does he mean by stating that “In the era of prepackaged thought, the essay is the closest thing we have, on paper, to a record of individual mind at work and play”(4)?; Stephen Dunn, “Locker Room Talk,” In Short pp. 149-151 ( What risk does the author take in this piece? How does the author reveal his singular voice on a specific issue?) According to Schwartz, what creates voice?

Writing Prompt: As an individual, it’s only natural we find ourselves in discord with some our friends’ views on certain issues. Describe an incident or reoccurring issue that has bothered you because you don’t seem to go with the “flow”. Describe in details the incident or issue. What caused the discomfort? Discord? Who else were involved? What was their reaction? What did you learn from this experience? Use the language and depiction that are singularly yours to reveal the dilemma we all encounter.

Homework:  1) Continue searching for your “ burning question” through writing; 2)Read Tracy Kidder, “Making the Truth Believable” (PDF)( How does the point of view matter in writing CNF?); 3) Read “Three Spheres “ by Lauren Slater In Fact 3-23

Discussion Questions based on “ Three Spheres” by Lauren Slater

1. Who are the characters and what do you know about them?
2. Identify scenes that correspond to each sphere. How does the author use various scenes to move the story horizontally?
3. What’s the purpose of the initial intake notes?
4. How does the author portray a conflicted character through a blended doctor-patient image?
5. How does the author use writerly techniques to create “I”? ( self as a character, as described in Lopate’s piece)
6. How does she move between past and present? What effects does the movement have on the reader?
7. What’s the purpose of specific places used throughout the essay?
8. What tension/conflict does the author explore to keep the story moving? When and where is it revealed first? How does she iron out the conflict in the end?
9. How does Slater use language ( i.e. doctor’ jargons) to shift her voice?
10. How does Slater trek the borderline between fiction and non-fiction?
11. Ethically, how does she select report or details that are within the boundary of a doctor-patient confidentiality?
12. What makes us believe her story? To what extent is her story believable? Why?
13. How do we write about secrets? What can we learn from her piece? ( i.e. academic distance, sensibility, making ethical decision, narrative voice showing vulnerability / authenticity)
14. What kind of connections can we make with other readings such as thematic connection, character connection or craft connection?

Week 3

Mon.  9/19 Focus: Point of View

Reading and unpacking: Tracy Kidder, “Making the Truth Believable” (PDF)( Why does it become necessary to use a 2^nd or 3^rd person point of view in CNF?); In “ Three Fragments” by Charles Simic, In Short 191-192( How does the author use different points of view to tell a war story? Why does he make such a choice?)

Writing Prompt: Write about your earliest memory of being “yourself.”  Stay in the 1^st person point of view.  Imagine yourself back in your small body, and feel what it was like to be that little person.  Go back to that moment in time, and try to recreate it in the form of a scene.  Use your five senses to tap into concrete details of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.  Try to remember what you were doing in that moment and describe your actions.

Homework: 1) Go back to the scene you rendered in response to Prompt #3, and rewrite it in the 3^rd person point of view.  Don’t just translate the scene sentence by sentence, but REWRITE the scene without the first draft in front of you.  Think about what you can see from this other point of view, what you can say, what other forms of knowledge you’re privy to, what you know about the other characters involved in the scene, what you know about the history and context shaping this moment. 2) Review the essay Lee Gutkind’s “The Creative Nonfiction Police?” In Fact:  pp. xix-xxxiii; 3) Read “ Mix-Blood Stew” by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Discussion Questions based on “ Mixed- Blood” Stew by Jewell Parker Rhodes

1. Examine the diction of “Slave Auction”.
2. What details are specific references to “truth”?
3. How are child’s curiosity and mother’s shame juxtaposed?
4. Chunk up the scenes that move the story horizontally.
5. List five characters and each group focuses on one character. Identify lines that suggest action, or reveal quirks in the character.
6. How does Rhodes inject historical context in her essay?
7. How does her personal story reflect history?
8. How do we use documents or artifacts to explore our past ( discover personal story)?
9. How does the author use dialogues in this piece?
10. How does Rhodes end her piece? How does she explore the ethical implications and lyricism through the ending?

Tue.   9/20 Focus: Ethics of revelation, fact-checking, tone, and writing for an audience

Reading and unpacking: Lee Gutkind, “The Creative Nonfiction Police?,” In Fact:  pp. xix-xxxiii; “ Last Shot” by Tobias Wolff, In Short 57-59;  “ Mix-Blood Stew” by Jewell Parker Rhodes ( How are facts presented in the two essays? Are they presented differently? How?)

Writing Prompt: As a class, we will come to an agreement to write about an event with which we are all familiar. Write about the truth that you know about the event. You may consider describing the “river teeth” of the event or what Virginia Woolf calls “shocks of memory” or Karen Blixen ‘s “I will answer” or Bret Lott’s “ my truth”.

Homework: 1) Read “ My Mother in Two Photographs, Among Other Things” In Short 138-141; 2) and bring in 3-4 family photos( individual family member or family together) for a writing activity tomorrow. Read and annotate “Writing the Family,” Tell It Slant: Ch. 2 ( 17-24)

 Wed.  9/21 Focus: Writing the Family

Reading and unpacking: Tell It Slant: Ch. 2 “Writing the Family,” 17-24 ( How to negotiate some tricky issues involved in the family topic? Why is it crucial to approach the big issues by focusing on the smallest details? How can you combine the objectivity of a researcher with the subjectivity of the biographer?)

Writing Prompt: Read Aleida Rodriguez’s essay, “My Mother in Two Photographs, Among Other Things” (In Short, 138-141).  Then, choose your own photograph—or, perhaps two or three photos that are loosely related in your mind.  Describe the person/people in the photo(s), including what they look like, what they’re doing, who they’re with, and the setting or context for the photo.  How well does this photograph represent the individual(s) it depicts, and what makes you say so?  What’s the occasion for this photo?  What meaning does it hold for you now?  What’s happening just before or after the photo is taken?  What’s happening outside the frame?  What information doesn’t the photograph supply that you think is crucial to completing this description or character sketch?  Who is missing from the photo and why?

Homework: 1) Read four essays collected in Short–“The Fine Art of Sighing” by Bernard Cooper 301-303, “Growing up Game” by Brenda Peterson 115-119, “Buckeye” by Scott Russell Sanders 247-250, “ Hands” by Ted Kooser 128-130. Write down your observations of how each author uses small details to portray the family member.2) Think back to the way your family dealt with one of these subjects: money, sex, race, or religion.  What were their attitudes, and how did they strike you?  Where do you think these attitudes came from?  How did they teach you, or try to teach you, to share their sensibilities or abide by their rules?  What did they say, or communicate silently?  Write a scene in which you recall a family encounter around one of these issues.  As you write, pay special attention to describing the setting (time and place) and characterizing the members of your family in question.  Recall distinctive mannerisms, ways of speaking, lines of dialogue, actions, reactions, facial expressions, moments of conflict or shock, etc.

Thur.  9/22-Fri. 9/23  Focus: Writing about the family

    Reading an unpacking: the class will be divided into four groups and each group will focus on one of the essays : “The Fine Art of Sighing” by Bernard Cooper 301-303, “Growing up Game” by Brenda Peterson 115-119, “Buckeye” by Scott Russell Sanders 247-250, “ Hands” by Ted Kooser 128-130 ( How does the author use small details to reveal something significant? What do we know about “ I” through the narrative? How is the portrayal of “ I” and family members interwoven to reveal something much larger?

Writing Prompts: Pick one of the prompts to respond-

1. Write about a family ritual ( such as a family dinner described in Charles Simic, “Dinner at Uncle Borris’s,” 85-91).It could be something as simple as sitting down to a meal, going to church, going camping, or cleaning the house. Or it could be a ritual you suspect most families do not practice but that is/was unique to your family. In either case, describe your family’s special way of engaging in this ritual.  Step through the motions of the ritual in your mind.  Consider each person’s individual task, and their special way of completing that task.  What’s the history or basis for this ritual?  What do you like about it / hate about it?  What does it mean to others in your family?
2. Write about a food you loved growing up that’s particular to your family or your heritage. Who made it, or where did you get it?   Describe what it was like to make this food, to watch someone else make it, or to go to the place where you’d eat it.  Describe the experience of anticipating this food and eating it.  What ceremonies or rituals were attached to it?  How did it smell before you ate it?  Who else would be there with you when you’d have this food?  Would it be something you’d make/get in order to give away or in order to eat yourself?  As you recall all this, pay attention to the dialogue of your memory.   Is there anything coming to mind that has nothing to do with the food itself?

 Homework: 1) Read Tell It Slant: Ch. 12: “The Particular Challenges of CNF,” 145-162 and brainstorm ideas for revision; 2) Incorporate some ideas from the essay to revise a piece you have written 3) Share it with your writing group; 4) Read and comment on your group members’ work.

 Week 4:  Cultivating a voice and writing for an audience / revision work

 Mon.  9/26 Focus: Writer’s Workshop (Handout: Strategies for Productive Workshopping)

Reading and unpacking: Tell It Slant: Ch. 12: “The Particular Challenges of CNF,” 145-162 (What are some of the strategies we have elicited from the essay to help us revise? (Tap into memories of language, specific remarks, voices, stories, songs, sayings, etc.)

Conversation on workshopping: As a class, generate Dos and Don’ts for revision workshop. Review “Strategies for Productive Workshopping” (handout)

Share writing in small groups:  Use your notes and be guided by the Dos and Don’ts rules during the workshop. You may consider using a timer to monitor your time so everyone has a chance to receive comments about his/her work.

Homework: 1) Read Noah Lukeman, “The Comma” (PDF); 2) Continue revising your work by taking your classmates’ comments into consideration; 3) Read “Three Spheres “ by Lauren Slater ( Pay attention to word choice, use of punctuation, and choice of verb tense).

Tues.   9/27  Focus: The Beginning, Diction, Syntax, punctuation

Reading and unpacking: Deneen L. Brown, “To Begin the Beginning” (PDF)( How do you make the beginning of your essay “ the first note of a song” or the beginning of a journey?

Writing Prompt: Examine the beginning of “Three Spheres “ by Lauren Slater, In Fact 3-21 , “Mix-Blood Stew” by Jewell Parker Rhodes and “LZ Gator, Vietnam, Feb. 1994” by Tim O’Brien In Short 60-61. How effective ids each beginning? Why? In what way does the beginning suggest deeper layers that are yet to be revealed? Use ideas from our discussion to revise the beginning of your selected essay.

 Homework: 1) Visit Tropes and Schemes” (Teaching Resource / http://rhetorica.net) to help you with revision; 2) Create a story board based on one of the essays- “Three Spheres “ by Lauren Slater, In Fact 3-21 or “ Mix-Blood Stew” by Jewell Parker Rhodes 382-394. Place a one-sentence summary of each important scenes in a box. Then describe how the author moves from scene to scene (horizontal movement). Once you have understood how the author moves horizontally through scenes, observe in between the scenes: How does the author use self as a “historical actor” or reveal his/her inner voice? How does s/he frame the narrative in a way that it logically delineates to deeper reflections or goes inward (making pack with the reader or vertical movement)? Bring the illustration to the class to share. Guiding questions for each essay will be provided.

Wed.  9/28  Focus: complicate 1 piece of writing ( Handout: Craft Questions)

Reading and unpacking: “Three Spheres “ by Lauren Slater, In Fact 3-21; “ Mix-Blood Stew” by Jewell Parker Rhodes; “The Way Essays Work” pp 93-94 Tell it Slant

Share the illustrations in a small group of “horizontal movements” and “vertical movements” in

Writing Prompt: How can we complicate an essay by moving a narrative both horizontally and vertically?

1. How can we use the other writers as mentors to help shape your own writing?
2. Identify traits and examples in Slater and Rhodes’ essays to help shape your writing.

We will use this activity to revise one of the pieces you have done. You will incorporate distinctive craft to develop the narrative movements both horizontally and vertically. You will need to tell the story as well as making a “pack with your reader”.

• Read the two essays- “Three Spheres “ by Lauren Slater, and “ Mix-Blood Stew” by Jewell Parker Rhodes, and analyze how each writer develops both horizontal and vertical movements at the same time. Identify the specific craft each author uses to make his/her moves. Pick one of the essays you enjoy the most and illustrate the author’s moves by identifying key scenes and moments when the author “packs with the reader”.
• First, create a storyboard and place a one-sentence summary of essential scenes in each box. Then describe how the author moves from scene to scene (craft).
• Once you have understood how the author moves horizontally through scenes, observe in between the scenes: How does the author use self as a “historical actor” or reveal his/her inner voice? How does s/he frame the narrative in a way that it logically delineates to deeper reflections or goes inward (making pack with the reader)?
• Select strategies that are appropriate for your essay development and incorporate them in your revision.
• Save the 1^st draft, at least one revised version and the final work. Write a reflection on how you have come to the final draft of the piece. You may reflect on how you decided to frame your narrative, add tonal range or lyricism to your piece, etc.

Homework: 1) Expand and complicate your writing by adding either horizontal or vertical movement or both.2) Share your revised essay with two of your classmates, one of whom will focus on diction, the other syntax and punctuation. Bring in your comments for the 2^nd workshop.

 Thur.  9/29 Focus: Revision- word choice, punctuation and syntax

Share in class the moves each author makes horizontally and vertically, which makes the writing multidimensional

Revision Workshop: In a group of three, share your comments on diction, syntax and punctuation.

Homework: Work on portfolio 9– flash non-fiction, approximately 10-15 pp.; separate reflective essay (2-3 pp.)  Due 10/5/2015.

 Fri.  9/30 Focus: Portfolio

 Discuss the contents and format for the writing portfolio

Unit 1 Assignments: writing portfolio of flash non-fiction, approximately 10-15 pp.; separate reflective essay (2-3 pp.)  Due 10/5/2015.

                Discuss Unit 1 Critical Reflection

                Share the grading rubric for the portfolio

Homework: Complete your writing portfolio for Unit 1.

 

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