CRW 3110 Syllabus



Week 1 (May 9-13)

M: Introduction to the course. Discussion of course policy sheet and syllabus. Class webpage at www.oocities.org/wcnesbitt
T: Chapter One Sources of Fiction (5-19). "How to Become a Writer" by Lorrie Moore
W: Chapter Two Setting (25-42). "Bullet in the Brain" by Tobias Wolff
T: Chapter Three Character (48-66). "Good Country People" by Flannery O'Connor
F: Three lies.

Week 2 (May16-20)

M: Chapter Four Plot (71-91). "What You Pawn I Will Redeem" by Sherman Alexie
same story, different link
T: Chapter Five Point of View (99-119). "How to Tell a True War Story" by Tim O'Brien
W: Chapter Six Dialogue and Scene (127-145). "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway
T: Chapter Seven Beginnings and Endings (151-172). "Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot" by Robert Olen Butler
F: Bring in a photograph, magazine ad, or other visual text. We will spend some time looking at and writing about these.

Week 3 (May 23-27)

M: Chapter Eight Description and Word Choice (177-195). "Aren't You Happy for Me?" by Richard Bausch
Cliches and fuzzy intensifiers to avoid
T: Chapter Nine Voice (200-219). "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" by Richard Wright
W: Chapter Ten Revision (225-240). radical revision.
"No One's a Mystery" by Elizabeth Tallent and "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid
T: Workshop 1.
F: Bring in a cd. We will spend some time listening to and writing about songs the class has brought in.

Week 4 (May 30-June 3)

M: No class Memorial Day.
T: Workshop 2.
W: Workshop 3.
T: Workshop 4.
F: Movie Day. Bring in a movie. We'll watch a scene without the sound, write about what's going on, and then watch the scene again with the volume on. It would be best if you picked a movie that we haven't all seen before.

Week 5 (June 6-10)

M: Workshop 5.
T: Workshop 6.
W: Workshop 7.
T: Workshop 8.
F: Bring in a cd and/or or a movie. Same things as the other two Fridays.

Week 6 (June 13-17)

M: Detailed information on the portfolios that are almost due.
Original exercise or new conclusion. Typed ahead of time. Rewrite the last paragraph of one of the stories from our syllabus or bring in a writing exercise not from our book that we could do in class. Maybe it's an exercise you did in another class or something you made up. We may spend some time doing some of these exercises in class.
T: Evaluations bring a #2 pencil. Hopper or Dali. Hopper or Dali. Typed ahead of time. Take a look at these links. One is Edward Hopper's Nighthawk's and the other is Salvador Dali's "Autumn Cannibalism." Pick one picture and imagine it captures just an instant in time. What is occurring right at that moment? Write a detailed account of that instant. I'm looking for a narrative, not an analysis
W: Bring in the final draft of your story and radical revision. Our goal today is to do nothing but proofread. We are looking for issues of micro revsion (236-238) including grammatical errors, awkward sentences, cliches, and word usage issues. Don't fix these thing for the reader, but let him or her know exactly what the problem is.
T: Exercise Portfolio with book review or book chapter Due. Portfolios lose a letter grade per weekday that they are late.
F: Fiction Portfolio Due.

When am I workshoppping?