Creative Writing II Schedule

Hybrid Course, Spring 2011

Following each date below are reading or other assignments due for that day. Also following each date are tentative activities and topics for the class period. If you miss a meeting, you should 1) get full notes and updates from several classmates; and 2) check with me again if you have specific, informed questions. Because this schedule is very flexible and subject to change, and because it's a workshop course, it's vital that you attend regularly and keep up with current announcements. Be sure as well to check your email and this online schedule regularly for changes and updates.

Jan. 14—

• Introduction to course.
• Introduction to fiction project.
• Snow event narrative. How find/make a story in any event or sequence of events?
• Post your self-profiles to Blackboard. Include brief discussion of your favorite quotation in Skittish Libations.

Jan. 21 —

Instead of meeting this week, please do the following:

1. Go into our Blackboard Discussion Board and find the "Self Profiles" Forum. Follow the instructions there. I.e., make an entry in which you tell us a bit about yourself, briefly discuss your favorite Skittish Libations quote, and explain what, for you, "creative writing" is and is for.
2. Read over our Fiction Project assignment and feel free to begin working on it.
3. Follow any instructions listed below for the 25th, under "Before Class."
4. Watch out for yellow snow and have a great holiday.

Before Class

• Read our Homepage and browse around Harmonious Confusion.
• Read about Workshop.
• Check your email and/or the Blackboard Discussion Board "Workshop" Forum for anything your classmates may have submitted for discussion this week. (Be sure to read that material carefully before class.) And feel free to submit something yourself!!!!!!
• Read Carver's, "Cathedral."
• Read Oates' story.
• Read O'Brien's, "How to Tell a True War Story."
• Read through Style to get a sense of how different writer prose styles can be.

In Class

• PLEASE BRING A LAPTOP.
• Share faves from Skittish Libations.
• Work with readings.
• Elements of fiction: style, character, plot. Take a look at two documents to help you develop characters in your stories: Character Tips and Characterization (U. of Berkeley).
• Discuss Fiction Project.
• Eat Snow #4.
• Workshop?

Before Class

• Read Munro's, "The Bear Came Over the Mountain."

In Class

• Workshop.

Deadline for submission to Northern Eclecta ?

March 11 —

Before Class

• Read: Poetry and Form and all links.
• Read short-short poems online: Click here.
• Read online: Kooser.
• Read Jones poems .
• Complete Poetry Project #1.

In Class

• Poetry Project #1 due.
• Verbal music: sound, rhythm, meter, traditional forms.
• The short-short poem and Poetry on Wheels.

March 18—SPRING BREAK

March 25—

Before Class

• Work on Poetry Project #2 draft.

In Class

• Semester review.
• Discuss chapbook assignment and samples.
• Draft of Poetry Project #2 due. Bring 2 copies.
• Begin discussion of Poetry Project 3: Spoken word poetry and the oral tradition. Audio recordings.
• Listen to Jones on web?

April 1 —

Before Class

• Look around Writer's Link.
• Thoroughly explore the Electronic Poetry Center and UBUWeb.

In Class

• Responses to Writer's Link: career options, further education, publication.
• Continue work with Poetry Project #3: Concrete/new media poetry and the visual tradition.
• Performances sign-up.

Before Class

• Complete Poetry Project #2.

In Class

• Poetry Project #2 due.

Before Class

• Work on performance, chapbook, and portfolio.

In Class

• Discuss and work on portfolios.

April 22 —Holiday Recess

Before Class

• Work on performance, chapbook, and portfolio.

In Class

• Portfolio checklist.
• Intensive workshopping/conferencing.

April 29—

Before Class

• Work on performance, chapbook, and portfolio.

In Class

• Performances.
• Intensive workshopping/conferencing.

May 6 —

Before Class

• Work on performance, chapbook, and portfolio.

In Class

• Performances.
• Wrap-up workshopping/conferencing.
• Course evaluation.

May 9 —All final work is due no later than midnight. Exceptions are made only with documented evidence of serious hardship or illness.

You need to hand in the following hardcopy items:

• Portfolio with
  
  1. manilla envelope (no name on front);
  2. reflective letter;
  3. miminalist version of chapbook;
  4. minimalist version of notebook.
     
• Separate copy of complete, full-version chapbook.