Creative Writing Syllabus

November 17 – December 4

Tuesday 11/17
Class: Sharing and workshopping excerpts from Portfolio II pieces in small groups
Assignment: Work on Portfolio II. Bring in your work to class on Thursday (I have reserved laptops for Thursday’s class).

Wednesday 11/18 – No Class

Thursday 11/19
Class:  Work period for Portfolio II.
Assignment: Complete Portfolio II due Friday 11/20.

Friday 11/20

Class: Portfolio II due. Work on final portfolio piece in class.

Assignment: Begin to shape your character/dialogue exercise (Exercise # 10) into the first draft of a story. In your initial writing, give particular focus to developing characters and letting them come into focus on the page through the techniques we have discussed in class. Please note: If you do not want to use Exercise # 10 as a starting point for your final piece, you may also choose to write from other characters or ideas that have emerged this trimester (including any other exercise we have completed). However, your writing should reflect work with “character” and ways to reveal, develop, and convey character on the page. The more material you have to share when you workshop, the more meaningful feedback we can provide.

Note that for this final portfolio, I will not be collecting a first full draft to comment on. If you would like me to read your draft, you must speak to me and set up a time during the week of 11/30 or on Reading Day, Monday December 7th. Your final piece should be at least 6-7 pages long.

Monday 11/23
Class: Sharing drafts and responding: (Bruno and Taylor)
Assignment: Continue to work on shaping your piece.

Tuesday 11/24
Class + first 20 minutes of lunch: Sharing and responding (Leilei, Jake, Olivia)
Assignment: Continue to work on shaping your piece. Look for moments where there seems to be more to explore, moments that are yet untapped.  Then on a separate document begin at least 1 focused free write based on the markings you made. This may mean exploring the details of a particular character or a central idea or focus. Generate more images, details, memories, physical description, interactions that emerge from your characters and initial writing. You may choose to write from several moments you have marked on your draft. This is focused free write # 8 (at least 2 pages, handwritten).  After you have written this free write, work on incorporating some aspect of your free write into your piece.  Work for at least an hour on your piece.

Wednesday 11/25: No Class

Monday 11/30
Class: FFW # 8 due. Sharing and responding: (Kelly, Jordan)
Assignment: Continue to work on your draft. If you would like to meet with me to discuss your draft you must set up an appointment with me.

Tuesday 12/1
Class + first 20 minutes of lunch: Sharing and responding:  (Meiling, Rachard, Elena)
Assignment: Continue to work on your draft. If you would like to meet with me to discuss your draft you must set up an appointment with me.

Wednesday 12/2 – No Class

Thursday 12/3
Class:  Sharing and responding (Ben and Kai)
Assignment: Continue to work on revising and shaping your piece. If you would like to meet with me to discuss your draft you must set up an appointment with me. Bring in ONE copy of your piece for peer editing tomorrow.

Friday 12/4
Class:     Peer editing and conferencing.
Assignment: Revise your final piece according to the feedback you have received. Complete your final portfolio. Prepare to read any selection of your work (from over the course of the trimester) for 5-7 minutes at the exam. Practice and time your reading!

Monday 12/7 — Reading Day: Office Hours TBD.
Your Final Portfolio is due at our exam date.  Prepare to read your work for 5-7 minutes.

Portfolio II checklist fall2009

Creative Writing: Short Fiction
Jane Belton

Syllabus – Trimester I 2009
https://blog.lrei.org/jbelton

Monday 11/9
Class: Finish workshopping. Peer editing
Assignment: Work on revising your piece according to peer feedback. Your final piece should be 4-6 pages long.

Tuesday 11/10
Class: Complete Exercise # 9: Soap Opera Dialogue in class
Assignment: Read and annotate Hemingway’s “The Sea Change.” As always, try to make note of his habits as a writer. Also note the moments that pull you in and push you out. Complete Focused Freewrite # 6: In a 1-2 page freewrite, explore your observations about Hemingway’s style and/or habits as a writer and about how he reveals character, tension, and conflict in this story.

Wednesday 11/11: No Class

Thursday 11/12
Class:    FFW # 6 due. Discuss effective use of dialogue to reveal characters and tensions.
Homework: Read excerpts of Richard Price’s Lush Life. Pay particular attention to how he uses and incorporates dialogue. Complete Exercise # 10, which has TWO parts.  Part I: Spend at least 1 hour observing and recording different people and conversations over the weekend. In your notebook, record details, gestures, actions and interactions, and dialogue you overhear.  Invent and imagine as you observe as well, and write down your imaginings.  Once you have observed several sets of people, reread your work, and underline or highlight specific details about characters that draw you in, that make you want to know more, that intrigue you. Part II: Choose ONE of the character sketches or dialogue snippets you recorded. Then work on shaping, expanding, and developing this into your next story. One way to do this is to imagine the subtext beneath the dialogue you overheard; imagine the story that is being told and the story that is not being told, the motivations, desires, tensions, or fears beneath the surface. Imagine the scenes that led up to this moment, and the scenes that will ensue. Your exercise should clearly delineate between Part I and Part II (at least 3 handwritten pages).

Friday 11/13 – Parent Conferences

Monday 11/14
Class: Hand back drafts. Conferences/work period
Homework: Continue to work on your portfolio II. Bring in an excerpt (1 page at the most) from your Portfolio II piece you want specific feedback on in terms of language, word choice, character, etc. You might bring in the opening of your piece, or a short scene/interaction you want  more specific feedback on. You may want to schedule a meeting with me to talk about your Portfolio II piece.

Tuesday 11/17
Class: Sharing and workshopping excerpts from Portfolio II pieces in small groups
Assignment: 1) Work on Portfolio II. You may want to schedule a meeting with me to talk about your Portfolio II piece. 2) Begin to shape your character/dialogue exercise (Exercise # 10) into the first draft of a story. In your initial writing, give particular focus to developing characters and letting them come into focus on the page through the techniques we have discussed in class. Please note: If you do not want to use Exercise # 10 as a starting point for your final piece, you may also choose to write from other characters or ideas that have emerged this trimester (including any other exercise we have completed). However, your writing should reflect work with “character” and ways to reveal, develop, and convey character on the page.

Wednesday 11/18 – No Class

Thursday 11/19
Class:  Sharing and responding (Portfolio III pieces):
Assignment: Complete Portfolio II due Friday 11/20. Continue to work on shaping your portfolio III piece.

Friday 11/20
Class: Portfolio II due. Sharing and responding (Portfolio III pieces):
Assignment: Continue to work on shaping your final piece.

If you were not in class today, you did not see the “objects” I brought in to inspire Exercise 7.  Therefore, choose a specific object in your home or wherever you are (a specific mug, a figurine, a specific dog or cat toy, a mirror, a book) as the object you will use in this exercise.  The object should be specific enough that there is some detail  (ie. not just a blank sheet of paper, but a crumpled sheet of paper with words on it, for instance).

Creative Writing: Short Fiction
Jane Belton

Syllabus – Trimester I 2009
https://blog.lrei.org/jbelton

Monday 10/19
Class: Exercise 6 due. Discuss “Kew Gardens”: perspective, description, what binds the characters together, and how small details gain significance. Exercise 7: “Significant Objects”: Each of you will choose a “significant object” in class. Choose two characters who you feel are very divergent and have very different perspectives. Then write a narrative (or two interweaving narratives from each perspective) in which both characters encounter the “significant object” you have selected. The characters need not be in the same place or time, but the object must come into their view/thoughts at least once in the piece.
Assignment: Finish Exercise 7 for Tuesday (2-3 pages, typed, double-spaced).

Tuesday 10/20
Class: Exercise 7 due.  Read excerpts of “Chrysanthemums” and other pieces. Discuss setting.
Assignment: Complete Reading (TBA). Complete Setting Exercise (Exercise # 8): Describe a setting from the perspective of someone who has just experienced some sort of change or realization.  The change can be a loss or perhaps even a gain. The place can be a room in a house, an empty barn, a beach at night, a hospital room, a spaceship, a post-apocalyptic city, etc. Think about what things have changed in this space and what things are changing in the moment in which the scene takes place. Try to convey the changes or shifts in the character through the description space without referring directly to those words (“change”, “realization”, “loss”).  How can the description of the setting convey those feelings?  How can the character’s interaction with the setting convey those feelings? In your exercise you might choose to write a scene in which the setting is explored as the backdrop, rather than writing pure “description” without characters (2-3 pages).  Ultimately, this setting piece should serve as inspiration for your next portfolio piece, so as you write, pay attention to the risks and challenges you still want to explore in your writing.

Wednesday 10/21 – Friday 10/23: Minimester

Monday 10/26
Class: Focused workshop on setting exercise: moments that pull you in, moments for expansion and exploration.
Assignment: Read and annotate Jhumpa Lahiri’s “A Temporary Matter.”  What devices does Lahiri use to convey the subtext or tension in the relationship between husband and wife? Explore a specific passage in the story that revealed some striking aspect of their relationship. How does her use of “setting” help to convey or add to those tensions? Use your freewrite to explore what you might gain from that passage about writing that you would like to work on in your own piece. In other words, how can this piece, or that specific passage you’ve chosen, teach you as a writer? (This is focused freewrite # 4).

Tuesday 10/27
Class: Focused freewrite # 4 due. Discuss Jhumpa Lahiri’s “A Temporary Matter”. Lessons we can learn from the piece.  Beginnings; weaving memory and present action; using the space the characters inhabit to convey meaning, subtext, tension.
Assignment: Begin your next portfolio piece from your setting exercise. Bring in an early draft (at least 4 pages, for Thursday)

Wednesday 10/28 – No Class

Thursday 10/29
Class: Sharing and responding.
Assignment: Revise and shape your piece according to feedback from your peers.

Friday 10/30
Class: Sharing and responding
Assignment: Revise and shape your piece according to feedback from your peers. Complete focused freewrite # 5: Part I: What aspects of the character or characters in your story resonate most with you? Which characters or which aspects of the characters do you connect with most? Why? Which characters do you feel most distant from? Why? Part II: Now explore the contents of one or more of your characters’ bags/backpacks/purses/briefcases/suitcases. What is inside? Regardless of whether you plan to use any of this freewrite in your final piece, you must complete this freewrite.

Monday 11/2
Class: Sharing and responding
Assignment: Revise and shape your piece according to feedback from your peers.

Tuesday 11/3
Class: Sharing and responding
Assignment: Revise and shape your piece according to feedback from your peers.

Wednesday 11/4 – No Class

Thursday 11/5
Class: Sharing and responding
Assignment: Revise and shape your piece according to feedback from your peers

Friday 11/6
Class: Sharing and responding
Assignment: Revise and shape your piece according to feedback from your peers. Bring TWO COPIES of a full draft of your work to class on Monday for peer editing.

Monday 11/9
Class: Peer editing

CW Syllabus Sept 10-22