Fall 2006
Online E-Campus GE Course
E- Mail: soldofsk@email.sjsu.edu
Office: FO 106
Phone: 924-4432 Hours: T, TH 1
Virtual Office Hours: W
COURSE CONTENT
Introduction
to Creative Writing (English 71) is a 3-unit lower-division course designed and
administered by the Department of English & Comparative Literature at
This
section of ENGL 71 will be taught as a an online course and will be offered
through E-Campus using the
Describing
how writers read, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison writes:
"Writing and reading are not all that distinct for a writer. Both exercises require being alert and ready
for unaccountable beauty, for the intricateness or simple elegance of the
writer's imagination, for the world that imagination evokes. Both require being mindful of the places
where imagination sabotages itself, locks its own gates, pollutes its
vision. Writing and reading mean being
aware of the writer's notions of risk and safety, the serene achievement of, or
sweaty fight for, meaning and response-ability." In a sense the class will teach students to
be both creative writers and creative readers.
The course
will be taught using a combination of small group threaded discussions and
whole-class writing workshops (organized as threaded discussions). To prepare
for each writing assignment, students will read published works of creative
writing by professional (and occasionally student) writers which each student
will closely analyze in his/her journal/notebook, answering questions (or doing
exercises) based on the reading. In the
writing workshops, creative work by class members will be analyzed and
critiqued for revision by all class members as well as the instructor. The critiques will be posted on the ENGL 71
Web CT bulletin board which only class members will have passwords to
access. All students are required to
post contributions to these discussions—their own small group and the whole
class workshop—in the form of praise and/or revision suggestions.
When contacting the instructor with questions or to
submit your work, please use the mailbox for ENGL 71 on
THE ONLINE
CLASSROOM
All classroom
activities will be conducted online on the
All other interaction between students, and between students
and the instructor (and the graduate assistants working in the course) will
take place in the
Each
student will receive a password with which to log on to ENGL 71 on
Each
student will be assigned to a writing group (of no more than 5 or 6). Students will post (as Word files) early
drafts of their poetry, creative non-fiction, and fiction to be read and
commented upon by members of their small group.
Comments and/or suggestions will be tracked in the word files or
attached as notes to the students’ works. After you receive your comments, you
will revise the work (and post it to the workshop board when it is your group’s
turn in the workshop). When your work is
posted to the workshop board, it can be read and critiqued by all the members
of the class. You will have more
opportunity to revise the work after your receive critiques from your
classmates. You can continually revise
your work after you have received initial critiques from your peers and should
you wish from the instructor. You will
then send to your instructor a portfolio of finished work in each genre,
following a calendar of deadlines listed in the syllabus.
Ø Decipher
and understand the form and content of assigned literary works;
Ø Comprehend
the historical and cultural contexts of assigned literary works;
Ø Recognize
the accomplishments of and issues related to writing by men and women
representing diverse cultural traditions;
Ø Acquire
through both individual and collaborative/workshop efforts of a written and
oral nature the skills necessary for reading, discussing, analyzing,
interpreting, and—most importantly—emulating and writing works of poetry,
creative non-fiction, and short fiction;
Ø Communicate
such skills with clarity and precision;
Ø Develop an
appreciation of literary works as expressions of human intellect and
imagination, and as representations of diverse human cultures;
Ø
Develop the ability to write literary works that
express intellect and imagination and that represent diversity in human
cultures;
Ø Respond to
literature through clear and effective communication in both written and oral work;
Ø Read and
respond to texts with both analytical acumen and personal sensibility;
Ø Appreciate
how literary works illuminate enduring human concerns while at the same time
representing their particular cultures;
Ø Write
works of poetry, creative non-fiction, and short fiction that are of interest
and value to the writer, to other students in the course, and to a diverse
reading audience.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Gwynn,
R.S., Poetry: A Longman Pocket Anthology
Lamott,
Anne, Bird By Bird
REED Magazine Vol. 59
Schaefer,
Candace, and Diamond, Rick, The Creative
Writing Guide
Sedaris, David. Me Talk Pretty One Day
Wolff, Tobias, The Vintage Book of
Contemporary American Short Stories
Houston,
James D.
Houston,
Jean Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston. Californians: Searching for the
(Other
titles to be listed later)
WEB SITES
VIRTUAL OFFICE HOURS
The
instructor will hold virtual office hours on most Wednesdays,
COURSE PROCEDURES
The class
will consist largely of three separate activities: 1) Reading assignments designed to teach
students about the craft and the process of creative writing: poetry, creative
non-fiction, and fiction. Also reading
samples of published poetry, non-fiction, and fiction by established writers
and also by students. 2) Small group
work: students to post drafts of their work as threaded messages on the WebCT
discussion board. Group members will
analyze and discuss drafts of writing assignments, often facilitated by a
graduate teaching assistant who will guide discussions of new work as well as
on previously critiqued work being revised.
3) Online workshops: in which class members (in an order
determined by Writing Group) will post their work for all students to analyze
and discuss.
Each class
member is required to turn in new work on a weekly basis to be discussed by
his/her small writing group. Also each
student is responsible for contributing constructively to the critiques of
their classmates' writings both in small groups and in the whole-class
workshop. The critiques will be offered
as comments tracked in the texts of the creative work that students post (as
Word files). Students will be able read the comments and suggestions made by
his/her classmates as comments on the Word files he/she will find attached to
the WebCT discussion postings.
·
The class will be divided into small writing groups
of up to 5 students. Each student will
post new work or revisions of work weekly (according to the class calendar) as
Word files (attached to threaded messages) for group members to respond to and
critique.
·
Group members will send back comments on the work
posted in the bulletin board designated for their group. The small group is to provide students an
informal environment to read and comment upon each other’s newest
works-in-progress. Groups will often be
moderated by a teaching assistant (a graduate student in creative
writing).
·
Authors can include in their postings questions they
would like the group to respond to regarding the work they have posted.
·
Every group member is required to participate in the
discussions of fellow group members’ work. You are required to post at least
one response to each new (or revised piece) that is posted. Class members who are “wallflowers” (not
participating) will receive less credit for this portion of the course in their
final grade.
·
The instructor will eavesdrop and sometimes send
messages to the group or to individual group members.
·
You may post a new threaded message anytime during
the semester to your group containing a new poem, work of non-fiction, or
fiction which you wrote in addition to the writing assigned.
·
You are urged to post new work to your group members
following the calendar posted on the Greensheet (aka the course syllabus).
·
The whole class will discuss as a workshop the poems,
articles/essays, and stories posted by a particular writing group whose turn it
is to be critiqued in the workshop that week, (according to the workshop
calendar that will be determined the first week of class). The works posted for the workshop will also
be critiqued by the instructor. The instructor
will initiate the workshop by posting a request (as a threaded message) for
members of a designated writing group (whose turn it is to have their work read
and discussed) to post their writing on the discussion bulletin board.
·
When it is your group’s turn to have writing discussed
in the workshop, you must respond to the instructor’s threaded message asking
for you to post your work on the workshop bulletin board, designated by the
name of the assignment. It is best that
you have post a draft of the assignment which your small group members have
already discussed, and which you have already begun to revise. Attach a Word file(s) containing your work to
the message you post on the discussion board.
·
When posting poetry assignments, you may also want to
send an MP3 file of yourself reading your poem.
·
When your writing is discussed, remember you are not
the text you have posted; the text has a life and identity of its own. You merely wrote it. The criticism and/or praise your text
receives is not criticism or praise of you but of your work.
·
When your work is being discussed, pay careful
attention. You should not try to defend
or explain your text. You must assume
that your readers are sympathetic and intelligent. You also must assume that your readers who
may see your work in a book or periodical will not have the opportunity to
converse with you about it. Everything that it is about should be apparent to
anyone who reads it carefully.
·
As a critic in the workshop, you are responsible for
helping your classmates see both the strength and weakness in their work. You should be even handed. Ideally, one half of the discussion of any
work should be praise, the other half criticism.
·
Also remember that each person in the workshop,
including the instructor, has his or her own taste in literature. To help each other learn to write more
professionally, try to distinguish between that which you like and/or dislike
because it's an issue of taste as opposed to what might be an issue of craft.
TURNING WORK IN
Students are required to post their work (new work or
revisions) to their writing group on a weekly basis. If you post work sporadically or all at once,
you will lose the opportunity for it to be discussed by your group and you may
miss your turn in the workshop schedule.
At the end
of each unit of the three genre units, students are required to send in their
completed manuscript (for that genre) to the instructor by attaching it as a
word file and submitting it under the Final Portfolio of the appropriate
genre. The instructor will provide brief
written comments on each piece of writing turned in. You will get your work back with the instructor’s
comments in approximately one to two weeks after you have turned it in. You may revise any work you have received
back from the instructor and turn it in again (with the instructor’s
permission).
You will
know from the class calendar when it is your group’s turn to have posted work
discussed by the class workshop.
Students are responsible for posting their work in sufficient time to
allow class members to read it post their comments. Each student is responsible for posting at
least one comment on a piece of writing (not his/her own) that has been
submitted for the workshop.
WRITING REQUIREMENTS/DUE DATES
Poetry:
(week of) August 23 – October 2
Poetry
manuscript due: October 4. (You may turn in re-writes of
your poems at the end of the term.)
You are
required to turn in a minimum of five poems during the semester: Your
final poetry manuscript must include the following content and form
requirements. (You can determine your
own style of punctuation and capitalization in works of poetry; however, you
must be consistent within each piece you turn in.)
POETRY:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
·
To
decipher and understand the form and content of published works of poetry.
·
To
imitate the style and form of poems written in free-verse and in traditional
forms and meters.
·
To
comprehend the historical and cultural contexts of poetry written in free-verse
and traditional styles and forms.
·
To
recognize the accomplishments of women and men writing poetry within diverse
cultural and historical traditions as well as in experimental forms.
·
To
write poems in clear, concrete, and fresh language containing images.
·
To
write poems whose images are objective and whose images are subjective in a
modern literary style.
·
To
write a poem that tells a story in an appropriate narrative style using the
techniques of modern or traditional verse.
·
To
write a poem which contains an allusion to a particular historical, literary,
artistic, scientific, or popular figure, work, or event.
CONTENT
REQUIREMENTS
·
A poem based upon the Ghazal—a form made up of couplets,
each couplet combining an abstract line and a line containing a visual image.
(Each couplet should also be independent of the others.)
·
An image poem that describes an old photograph of
yourself or a family member. Or a poem
that describes an object in yours or your family’s home.
·
A poem that tells a story in a character’s voice (not
your own) which may infer or describe an aspect of your cultural identity.
·
A poem that makes an allusion to literature, art,
science, history, or popular culture. Or
a poem that constructs a symbol.
FORM REQUIREMENTS
·
Three open form poems written in unrhymed free verse
(including the Ghazal).
·
One poem written in rhymed or unrhymed iambic
pentameter using regular stanza lengths (2, 3 or 4-line stanzas).
·
One metrical poem written in traditional patterned
verse: a sonnet (English or Italian), sestina (
·
Working in small groups, each group member is required
to comment all the poems posted by other group members (on the Web CT Small
Group bulletin board).
·
In the weekly whole-class workshop, each student is
required to comment on all poems posted by other class members (on the Web CT
Workshop bulletin board).
·
Click on the following links to learn the “ground
rules” how to discuss and comment on
poems:
http://www.writing-world.com/poetry/crit.shtml
http://thunder.sonic.net/poetry/albany/workshop/groundrules.html
Creative
Non-Fiction: (week of) October 9 – November 6
Non-fiction
manuscript (final draft): due November 8)
You are required to turn in one
non-fiction article or essay, four to ten pages in length (1,000 - 2,500
words). The general topic for this piece
must concern some aspect of the place where you (or a family member—if you
don’t want to write about yourself) grew up.
The work must contain facts that you discovered by doing research at the
library or on the Internet. Attach a
list of references you used to the end of the article. (You need not write out
a formal bibliography or works cited list). You may also conduct an interview,
and turn in a tape or transcript of the interview with the finished text. This
piece may be in the form of:
·
A
familiar essay about a friend or a family member.
·
A humorous essay or satire.
·
A memoir based on personal experience.
·
Travel, or nature, or history writing.
·
A profile of a public, literary, scientific, or
historical figure from your home town.
To
complete the non-fiction assignment, you are required to do preliminary
research. Interview a family member or
friend. Go to the library or use the
Internet to gather source material from other writers. You must acknowledge in
the body of your text the source(s) of the material you found while doing your
research. You may write and turn in the
non-fiction at any time during the semester, but it will only be discussed in
workshop for a limited period during the semester. You may
not substitute non-fiction for the fiction requirement.
NON-FICTION: LEARNING OBJECTIVES
·
To
do research in the library and/or on the Internet on a town, city, region, or
country where you (or your parents) grew up.
Or to interview a family member or friend regarding his/her place of
origin.
·
To
write a fact-based article or essay in clear, concrete, fresh language which in
some manner discusses your own or a family member’s place of origin.
·
To
decipher and understand the content and form of published non-fiction articles
and essays by established and student authors.
·
To
write an article or essay based on your own or a family member’s experience in
which factual background information is presented in a clear, concrete, and
compelling manner.
·
To
recognize the accomplishments of women and men writing essays and non-fiction
articles within diverse cultural and historical contexts.
·
To
write a fact-based article or essay in an appropriate literary voice and style
following a manuscript format acceptable (for most) periodical publication
(MLA, APA or
CRITIQUING
NON-FICTION ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
·
You are required to post a draft of your non-fiction
article or essay on your Small Group discussion bulletin board (as an attached
file).
·
You are required to read and post responses to drafts
of non-fiction articles or essays posted by other members of your writing
group.
·
Selected writing groups will post their non-fiction
articles and essays on the Workshop bulletin board for all class members to
read and critique. (Post articles and
essays as attached Word files.)
·
Critical responses should among other things indicate
the level of the writing’s interestingness, grammatical clarity, and how well
the piece incorporates factual background material.
Fiction:
(week of) November 13 – December 11
Fiction
manuscript (final draft): due December 15
You are
required to complete one of the following for your fiction unit grade:
·
The two Flash Fiction pieces (short short-stories) 2
to five 4 pages in length (500 –1,000 words).
If you write two Flash Fiction pieces, each should be written from a
different narrative "point of view."
·
One short story 6 to 14 pages in length (1,500 -3,500
words).
·
NOTE: Stories
should emphasize character development over plot. No romance fiction, fantasy, or “space-opera”
science fiction unless you have the instructor’s permission. No sensationalized
or gratuitous violence. You are strongly
discouraged from killing off your protagonist.
Also, don’t try to write a character’s life-history in one short story.
FICTION:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
·
To
decipher and understand the form and content of published works of fiction by
established authors and students.
·
To
comprehend the historical and cultural contexts of stories written from within
diverse cultural and historical perspectives, including English translations of
stories originally written in another language.
·
To
recognize the accomplishments of women and men writing fiction within diverse
cultural and historical traditions as well as in experimental forms.
·
To
imitate the style and form of stories written in first-person and in other
narrative points-of-view—second-person, third person, omniscient, etc.
·
To
write stories that contain clear, concrete, and freshly described settings
which contribute to overall development of the characters and the narrative.
·
To
write stories containing well-developed three-dimensional main character(s),
character(s) for whom the author has conceived a detailed back-story.
·
To
write stories containing emotionally compelling and linguistically interesting
dialog.
·
To
write stories containing effectively structured, story arcs which follow a
pattern of rising action, climax, and dénouement.
·
To
write stories in which the main character must make a difficult decision or
identify and solve a problem which has no apparent solution.
CRITIQUING
FICTION
·
Each
writing group member is required to post (in response to the appropriately
titled threaded message) drafts of his/her short-short stories and short stories
to his/her writing members.
·
Each
writing group member is required to post at least one response to each threaded
message containing drafts of other group members’ short-short and short-short
stories.
·
Each
student is required to post at least one story to the workshop bulletin boards
(in response to the appropriately titled threaded message) for the whole class
to read and discuss.
·
Each
student is required to post at least one response to the short stories posted
on the workshop bulletin boards during the fiction workshop.
PRE-WRITING ACTIVITIES
These activities
will help you to better understand craft and techniques used in the genres
of poetry, creative non-fiction, and fiction that you will be mastering during
each week. The weekly pre-writing activities
will appear as files for you to open each week as the course calendar unfolds.
The weekly pre-writing activities files will often contain links to
web sites where you will read more about various skills and literary techniques
that you will be expected to incorporate into the creative writing assignments
you will complete for this course. In
addition, you will find links to pages containing examples of poetry, creative
non-fiction, and fiction that demonstrate the craft and techniques of creative
writing you will be learning. Some
of the pre-writing activities files will also contain interviews and even
sound and video files of writers reading from and talking about their work. The writing exercises called for in the pre-writing
activities files are to be done in your journal/notebook.
KEEPING A JOURNAL/NOTEBOOK
Each class member is required to keep a
journal/notebook in which you complete pre-writing exercises and activities
assigned for the class. In your
notebooks, you will also be assigned exercises from The Creative Writing Guide. You can receive extra credit for reading
additional works of poetry, creative non-fiction, and fiction beyond the
assigned reading. If you do extra
reading, document what you have read by
writing your impression of each work in your journal/notebook. Also quote from lines and/or passages which
you found particularly effective or instructive for you own writing. You are urged to develop drafts of new
material or simply write what is going in your imagination as you respond to
ideas and work presented by others in the course. In addition, include in your notebook a
record of the research you conducted to write your non-fiction assignment.
Your
journal will be graded “
You will turn
your journal/notebook in three times during the term:
·
First due date (with your poetry manuscript) OCTOBER
9.
·
Second due date (with your non-fiction piece) NOVEMBER
13.
·
Third due date (with your fiction manuscript) DECEMBER
15.
GRADES
Grades
will be based on the quality and quantity of writing you do as well as the
quality and constructiveness of the criticism offered during the
workshops.
Creative
writing, though subject to the instructor's individual subjectivity, can be
evaluated according to general standards used to determine how well a piece of
writing works. These include: 1) Textual
and/or technical competence and eloquence.
2) Imaginative risk. 3) Energy
and freshness of language. 4) Effective
use of metaphor and other forms of figurative language. 5) Clarity and precision of detail. 6) Capacity for mixed feelings and
uncertainty. 7) Effective use of
grammar, syntax, rhythm; also meter, rhyme, and other elements of poetic style
and form. 8) Naturalness and
believability. 9) Appropriateness of
style to subject. 10) Compelling
audience interest.
Final
grades will be the product of the following factors:
·
Poetry 20%
·
Non-fiction 20%
·
Fiction 20%
·
Small
group and workshop participation 20%
·
Journal/notebook 15%
·
Library/Internet Research
5%
Grades given conform to the English Department and university grading
policy. The Department of English is
committed to the differential grading scale as defined in the official SJSU Catalog (“The Grading System”). Grades issued must represent a full range of
student performance: A = excellent; B = above average; C = average; D = below
average; F = failure.
GRADING
STATEMENT: In English Department
courses, instructors comment on and grade the quality of writing as well as the
quality of ideas being conveyed. All
your writing should be distinguished by correct grammar and punctuation,
appropriate diction and syntax, and well-organized paragraphs.
PLAGIARISM
is the unacknowledged or improper use of sources. Penalties for plagiarism in this course will
be applied in accordance with university policy. No instance of suspected plagiarism, however
slight or accidental, will be ignored.
DISABLED
STUDENT SERVICES: Any student needing
special assistance should contact Disabled Student Services, located in
Administration 110, and discuss with the instructor the sort of assistance
involved.
TEST YOURSELF
Each week, you will complete a brief self-graded quiz which
will help you better understand the concepts, techniques, and examples of
creative writing by published professional and student writers which you have
been assigned to read during the week.
The quiz is self-correcting. The instructor will see a report of what
your original score was on the quiz after you graded your answers. It should only take you two or three attempts
to answer all the questions correctly.
By the end
of the term, students in the class should be able to demonstrate the following
skills: 1) Understanding of form and content of assigned literary works. 2) To
write a poem in free-verse (under 30 lines) in length. 3) To write an imitation of a Modern
contemporary poem. 4) To write a sonnet,
sestina, or villanelle. 5) To write a
short story with at least two three-dimensional characters. 6) To write a short story in which a
plausible conflict is developed through well-paced rising action, climax, and
dénouement (falling action). 7) To write
a story in which the outcome of the conflict leads to the protagonist having an
epiphany. 8) To write a non-fiction
narrative or essay based on research done in the library, on the Internet,
and/or based on interview(s) with a human subject(s). 9) To recognize and appreciate the writing
style of at least five modern and/or contemporary poets, poets both men and
women and representing a diversity of cultural backgrounds. 10) To recognize and
appreciate the writing style of at least three modern and/or contemporary
authors of creative non-fiction, writers both men and women representing a
diversity of cultural backgrounds. 11) To recognize and appreciate the writing
style of at least four modern and/or contemporary authors of literary short
fiction, writers both men and women representing a diversity of cultural
backgrounds.
COURSE
CALENDAR
See Course Calendar File