Creative Writing II Schedule, Summer 2009

Last updated: June 2, 2009

 

Following each date below are reading or other assignments due for that day. In parentheses 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.

Week 1: Preliminaries

Tues. June 16 —(Introduction to course. Self-introductions.)

Wed. June 17 —

  • Read our Homepage carefully and review it often.
  • Read about Workshop.
  • Check your email and/or the Blackboard Discussion Board "Workshop Submissions " Forum daily for anything your classmates may have submitted for discussion this week. (Be sure to read that material carefully before class.)

(Kinds of "creative writing" and sample books, journals.)

Thurs. June 18 —"Art is thinking in images."—Aleksander Potebnya

Week 2: Fiction and Screenwriting

 

Mon. June 22 —

By class time, read:

(Very brief quiz. Finish film and discuss: multiple perspectives on art. Possibly begin discussion of student views.)


Tues. June 23—(Student views, assigned readings, and perspectives wheel. Begin discussion of fiction: plot and character.)

Wed. June 24—(Continue discussion of plot and character in assigned stories. Workshop.)

 

Thurs. June 25—(Workshop and exercise.)

 

Fri. June 26—

 

BRING IN DIFFERENT KINDS OF BOOKS AND JOURNALS AT SOME POINT: CHEESY, LITERARY, ETC.

 

Week 3: Fiction and Screenwriting

June 29—

June 30—

July 1—

 

 

July 2—

By class time:

(Performances sign-up. Listen to Jones on web? Review Power Point presentations on Writer's Link, spoken word poetry, and visual-new media poetry. Intensive workshop.)


July 3 —Holiday

Week 4: Fiction and Screenwriting

 

July 6—(Spoken word performances. ASSIGNMNENT IS AT THE END OF THE POWER POINT TITLED, "THE ORAL TRADITION" in Blackboard Course Documents. Workshop.)

July 7 — (Visual-new media performances. ASSIGNMNENT IS AT THE END OF THE POWER POINT TITLED, "THE VISUAL TRADITION" in Blackboard Course Documents. Intensive workshopping. Course evaluations.)

July 8—

July 9—

July 10—

 

Week 5: Poetry

July 13—

July 14—

July 15—

July 16—

July 17—

 

Week 6: Poetry

 

July 20—

July 21—

July 22—

July 23—

July 24—

 

Week 7: Poetry

 

July 27—

July 28—

July 29—

July 30—

July 31—

 

Week 8: Wrap-Up

Aug. 3—

Aug. 4—

Aug. 5—

Aug. 6—

Aug. 7—

 

—All final work (chapbook, notebook, any late exercises) is due no later than midnight. Exceptions are made only with documented evidence of serious hardship or illness.

 

Back to 323 Homepage

 

Mon. June 22 —

By class time:

·        Read in Wolff:

    • "Emergency," p. 274-285
    • "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", p. 347-365
    • "All the Way in Flagstaff, Arizona," p. 13-28

(Reading quiz. Discuss character and plot in readings. Update your own character sketches from previous week. Details of plot: elements, devices, structure, traditional and nontraditional, ways to improve. Workshop!)

 

Tues. June 23—

By class time:

  • Read in Small Box: all of Dave Eggers, and all of Sarah Manguso, 144 pp. (aprx. 24 short pages per day).
 

(Possible notebook check.)

Wed. June 24 —

By class time:

  • Read in Small Box: all of Deb Olin Unferth.
  • Be sure to post your self-profile and views on creative writing in Blackboard, if you haven't done so yet.

(Pecker—1 & 1/2 hr. Review art views from earlier in semester. Perspectives wheel. Workshop.)

Thurs. June 25 —(Attend Gov School reading at Jitters)

Discuss Pecker as fiction: plot and character. Eggers et al imitations and other exercises to date. Intensive workshopping.)

Fri. June 26—(Intensive workshopping.)

 

 

By class time:

  • Skim: Poetry and Form.
  • Read short-short poems online: Click here.
  • Read online: Kooser.
  • Read online Bidart.
  • Read online: Wright (especially "To a Blossoming Pear Tree," "Northern Pike," "A Blessing," and "On the Skeleton of a Hound")
  • Read online: Merwin
  • Read online: Olds (try to read a few)
  • Visit sound poetry sites, TBA.

    (Thoughts on the Writer's Link: career options, further education, publication. Begin work with poetry. Poetry on Wheels project and short-short poems. Crash course in poetry and form. Discuss readings. Begin discussion of new media project—worth 4 pts.—and work with spoken word poetry. Homer. Old English. Native American verse. The Beats. Slam poetry. Audio recordings. Workshop.)