English 3420/4420 Fall Syllabus

Intermediate Fiction Writing http://research.uvsc.edu/mortensen/3420

• The Best American Short Stories: 1999.  Ed. Amy Tan.  New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. 

• Bass, Rick.  The Watch.  New York: Norton, 1989,

• Brown, Rebecca.  The Terrible Girls.  San Francisco: City Lights, 1990.

• Busch, Frederick.  Letters to a Fiction Writer.  New York: Norton

• A copy of the Spring, 2008 Touchstones Literary Journal (in the English Dept.).

• Xeroxes of your stories for class workshops as needed.

• The Internet since our calendar and other handouts are there.

• A good dictionary (of course; I have a large one by my computer at home).

• A writer's journal of some kind for daily observations and other writing exercises (your choice: smaller travels better, but larger is easier to write in; some people like to make their journals).
• Some way to make backups of your work!
• IF WE MEET IN A COMPUTER LAB--You must also sign up for the co-requisite ENGL0500 which is a $10 fee for the maintenance of the lab and for course photocopying (you were likely automatically registered for this).  A $2.00 fee has also already been assessed within this for photocopying.  
• Computer access--we will also use this Web site for additional links, writing, and email, so you will need to have access to technology (all of you can use the Open Lab computers in SC 116; SB101; AD007; SC215).  Go to the Center for Student Computing Web site for more information at http://csc.uvsc.edu/openlab/.
• Handouts will be given to supplement our readings and our understanding of writing craft, or may be provided in the library's Electronic Reserve at  http://eres.uvsc.edu/.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

In Best American Short Stories, Amy Tan tells us a number of stories about her past in order to explain her  choices in the collection.  What are fictional tastes based on?  Your father reading fairy tales to you?  Your need to collect green paper?  Your inability to get over a broken, 16-year-old heart?  Your subjectivities, or what I like to call your fetish-obsessions, are the very places you need to look into to find your deepest, best, most original work.  Some authors are obsessed their whole lives with a single subject, like their father never giving them love, or their clashing sexualities, or their love of the west.  What are your obsessions?  Of course even if you can figure out what you really want to write about, you need to be aware that only time and practice, as John Gardner (one of the gurus of traditional fiction) says, can really make us better writers.

One of Lee's (and everyone else's) rules: Reading makes you a better writer. 

Amy Tan's advice to read a story a day is something every writer should take to heart.  In this class, you will learn more about the art of fiction by not only consuming the work of Tan's best  short story writers of 1999 (they're really good), but you will also be exposed to two amazing contemporary authors, Rick Bass, a magical western writer (no, not the genre of Westerns), and Rebecca Brown, a gothic, macabe, romantic writer (no, not the genre of Romance).  You will also read about writing from one of the most interesting avant-garde writers, John Barth, who can remind the overly serious modern fiction writers that literary playfulness is important.

One of Lee's (and everyone else's) rules: Writing practice makes you a better writer. 

Though you may be the type that doesn't need "practice", we will play with a number of writing exercises that will help you stretch yourselves, learn more about elements of writing stories, learn more about language-based and experimental writing, and also help you find story ideas, a big problem for some writers.  These exercises, along with other observations, ideas, and reactions, will be kept in your Writerly Journal (a thing most writers have).

One of Lee's (and everyone else's) rules: Critiquing others and being critiqued makes you a better writer.

How do people learn to write?  In all kinds of ways, but often writers pay good money to have other people read and comment on their work.  These peer and professional comments can really help accelerate your ability to see your work through different eyes, eyes that are not in love with every word on your page.  It will be scary for those of you who have never done it, but we will be respectful, and we will hope that you always try to learn from the comments, whether you use them or not, whether you like them or not.  Giving critiques to others also hones your ability to see your own work more clearly--some of you have never given critiques, so you will find yourselves really stretching in this class, and that's very good for you as a writer.

One of Lee's (and everyone else's) rules: Incubation makes you a better writer. 

After writing a story, I like to let it sit for at least a day or so (longer if I've been revising the story a lot).  I don't look at it, don't look at comments about it, but I often think about it.  Sometimes I dream about it, and then find that crucial idea I couldn't see a few days before.  When I come back to the story, it is also much clearer to me.  I can begin to really notice where the pacing is off, where the description is too heady, where a character's motivation isn't sound, where the voice and language lag.   In this class, you will automatically be forced to incubate as you write new stories and leave the first ones in a drawer for a while.  You may have a month from the time you write your first story to the time when you need to turn a revision in to me, so use the time between drafting to avoid looking at the piece you most want me to see.

One of Lee's (and everyone else's) rules: Revision makes you a much better writer. 

Some people draft and revise in their heads, then begin writing something that seems perfect and as if it popped onto the page without pain.   Most authors, however, go through the heartache, fun, and intensity of multiple revisions before they feel a piece is finished.   My first drafts almost always suck, though I often like them anyway.  My real awareness of the piece comes after I have revised it so many times I lose count (15, 20, 30 times, who knows).  Be aware that I'm not talking about editing grammar here.  Deep revision often seems to come from questions like: What is this character's real weakness?  What subtle problem with  this scene is stopping the narrative?  This dialogue is an easy out--what are they really trying to talk about?  The language is overtly and simplistically poetic--how can I tone it down and yet retain my style?

One of Lee's rules: Passion and attention and courage make you a better writer.

These things are hard, but I have to say them.  No hot writer I know can be lackadaisical.  Paying attention to the world, to all the subtleties in your work, is essential, but these are not things I can teach.  Having the courage to write no matter what is also a must especially when we are not in love with the piece we are currently working on.  I can't teach you this either.  You just have to plug along and do the work no matter how bad it might seem (I have to do this too).

INSTRUCTOR'S RULES

1. Attendance is, of course, essential: Your voice adds greatly to our community of writers in a workshop, and when you are not here, our class, and our learning, are hugely, and obviously, diminished.  You can miss 2 class periods without penalty.  After that, your grade will go down.  If you miss more than 3 classes, you will not pass this class.  If you arrive late 3 times, this will also count as one of your absences.  You are allowed to make up a maximum of 2 absences with extra credit assignments (see below).

• If you do arrive late, or miss a class, please do not interrupt class to give me excuses or ask me what's going on.  Consult with a responsible class mate afterward to see what you missed.  Exchange phone numbers (this can also help later if you wish to form an outside workshop after class).

2. Your active participation with readings, in-class discussions, workshops, Internet exchanges, and in-class writing is the best way for you to learn more about writing.  Intelligent discussion helps to expand your mind, and your mind is your most important creative writing tool.  Do not be shy.  Please think and speak actively in this class.

*3. Respect and Maturity are absolutely necessary, especially when we will be looking at diverse writing by those who accept criticism as if it were a dagger in the spine. I will assume you are all mature adults and treat you accordingly until you show me otherwise. You dictate the level of respect.

4. Writing Assignments must be turned in the day they are due or you will lose 5 points. 

Always keep a photo copy and disk backup for yourself. Always keep your work saved on multiple diskettes.  Endorse assignments in using publication submission format.  For fiction, double space everything except your personal information (unless you are experimenting).  Place this information in the top left corner like this:

Last Name 1 Your Name Your Full Address Your Phone Number Word Count: XXX Title of Story       This is the beginning of your story.  Please double space so that we can write a lot of comments in the margins and between lines.  This is standard publication format.  If, however, you actually want to play with your formatting, line breaks, paragraph styles, etc., after you put in the usual page info at the top, you may format as you like.

5. I advise you to word process your creative work (duh).  All of you can use the Open Lab computers in SC 116; SB101; AD007; SC215.  Go to the Center for Student Computing Web site for more information at http://csc.uvsc.edu/openlab/.

6. Be sure to pay attention to your course Calendar and keep up with the work.  Also watch your E. Mail for news, clarifications, assignments, and updates.  Your on-campus Groupwise E. Mail system is available at: http://www.uvsc.edu/it/email/index.html.  Off campus, you can send me E. Mail at mortenle@uvu.edu. 

7. I will be available for consultations with you during hours or by appointment (see above).  Please come talk with me about your ideas, creative endeavors, or things you don't understand about any of the experiments we are doing.

8. Students with Disabilities - If you have any disability which may impair your ability to successfully complete this course, please contact the Accessibility Services Department (WB 146; 863-8747). Academic accommodations are granted for all students who have qualified disabilities. Services are coordinated with the student and instructor by the Accessibility Services Department.

9. If you have not had a College Writing I course yet or its equivalent, or if you have not had 2250 or 225H, please see me.

10. Remember, no children are allowed in classrooms at UVSC--please visit the Wee Care Center.

11. Final exams cannot be taken early.

GRADING

Every "Point" (or move toward favorability) Counts (subject to change)!   YOU WILL LIKELY BE GRADED ON A PERCENTAGE OF THE WORK YOU COMPLETE, AS WELL AS THE QUALITY OF YOUR WORK.

• 5-7 story drafts - 500pts

• 2 story revisions - 150pts

• Weekly Reading Reactions (1-2 pages, word processed, double-spaced critical reactions to the authors we are reading) - 200pts

• Writerly Journal (in-class exercises, out of class exercises, observations, drafts, story ideas, eavesdroppings) - 75pts

• A 2 page, double-spaced Touchstones Journal review  - 50pts

Other Assignments:

Computer Labs: The CSC computer openlabs (SC116; SB101; AD007; CS215) are open for you to do your work. 

Writing Lab: (LA 201) Tutors are available to help you learn more about grammar--though creative writing often breaks grammar rules as well.  You can also use their on-line OWL lab though most tutors will focus on genres other than creative writing.  Lab personnel will not fix or edit errors. They will mark some spelling, grammar or punctuation errors, but they will not correct these errors. They will make general suggestions about how you can learn to fix the problems on your own. If I have to send editors perfect work, you have to "send" me perfect work as well for your final drafts.

PLAGIARISM

EVALUATION OF WRITTEN WORK

Ok, so either I make A LOT of comments on your work, or give your work a grade, and you feel bad, or I don't make very many comments or don't give you a grade and you feel cheated.  Usually I prefer to make a lot of comments and not give you grades (grades on works-in-progress seem punishing and silly).  Sometimes I do give grades, but they seem false.

I make A LOT of comments on your work.  These comments are based on my bias toward tightly revised, cliché-free language, consistently interesting voices, playful experimentation, believability, strangeness, as well as comments focused on the writing elements we discuss in class.  These comments do not reflect the kind of grade you will get in my class.  It is very difficult to finish an outstanding, perfect piece of writing in one semester.  Most of us will continue to revise the pieces we create in here for many years to come.  Often I will only give you my grade estimate for your overall performance at the midterm and then at the end of the course.  You can always ask me for a grade estimate as we go through the course.

However, your final grade does have to reflect your writing ability.   Attending class each day, participating, being a thoughtful critic, reading well, doing your write-ups, having a lot of generated work (that also takes some risks), and making good, brave revisions can certainly put you in a higher grade category, so do not feel like there is no hope even if your writing is still inexperienced (or boring).

Here's UVSC's grading policy with which we might differ.

Email Me Your definition of fiction Now at mortenle@uvu.edu

Copyright © Lee Ann Mortensen 2008

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