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We
are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do
not seem to share this longing, which is one reason why they write so little.
--Anne Lamott
English 312: Creative Nonfiction
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Creative nonfiction
includes a wide spectrum of writing, from old-fashioned personal essays to
literary journalism to "faction"(?) to memoir, nature writing to
experimental, impressionistic bits no one has a name for. This
“fourth genre” reports on events, places, and lives using techniques
traditionally utilized by fiction writers and poets, including scene,
dialogue, setting, characterization, point-of-view manipulation, and focus on
language to dramatize events observed by the author, often through
immersion. The result, ideally, is a true story packed with
information, power, clarity, even beauty.
Aims and Goals: In this class we may write and respond to
life-changing moments, ones that don’t necessarily have to come from familiar
milestones (birth, graduation, death) but grow out of smaller irritants or
awakenings that bring on a new understanding or sometimes crisis of identity
and doubt.
We will look at where the situation of a nonfiction narrative ends and the
story begins. According to Vivian Gornick,
the situation is what happened or happens, whereas the story “is the
emotional experience that preoccupies the writer: the insight, the wisdom,
the thing one has come to say. The “creative” in creative nonfiction seems to
include the art balancing a crisp, clear, forceful narration of the factual
situation with the depth of story. For Phil Gerard, “Nonfiction is in
the facts. Creative nonfiction is in the telling.”
Questions we will consider while writing: Who tells the story? At what place
in the story should I begin? How do I get my reader's attention? What tense
shall I use? How do I build suspense?
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Three papers:
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memoir or personal essay
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a paper involving reportage, is more
audience than writer-based, and involves some research (may include
interviews or being “on assignment” or immersion)
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an essay (perhaps “braided” or lyrical) that may
involve your New River observations.
A writing journal that includes exercises from Writing Life Stories,
your river observations and other assignments. Though we will do some
exercises in class, please type (and save) these entries and bring to class
on the day they are do. All writing done for this course might be shared with
your classmates and should be written with such an awareness of audience in
mind. I will likely collect and comment on these entries.
Participation as “visiting writer” four
times during the semester, once for each of the papers (in small groups) and
once to present a final, revised piece to the class. Visiting writers will
post their piece to our class bulletin board by 5:00 the night before class.
The rest of the class (or group) will read these essays ahead of time and write
responses to these readings, using a peer review sheet. During the visiting
writer presentation, the writer may read their draft (and perhaps their
generic disclaimer) and discuss some of their writing process and goals for
the piece. Someone in the group will serve as facilitator during these
group sessions. Their job will be to 1) facilitate discussion, and 2)
synthesize the group’s written and verbal comments (and writer response) and
post these as a reply to the visiting writer’s paper. YOU MUST BE PRESENT ON
THE DAY YOU ARE SCHEDULED TO BE A VISITING WRITER, or your paper may be
penalized when submitted as a final draft.
Any class about writing is also a class about
reading. You will be expected to do all of the assigned readings and be
prepared to talk about them in class. This will require that you do careful
and thoughtful readings of the works -- a quick scanning of an essay or
article will not be sufficient. You will be expected to read each assignment
more than once, with pen or pencil in hand to make responses and take notes
as you go, to complete responses about readings, and to come to class
prepared to talk about the readings. Many of the readings will come from
handouts and are listed on the schedule. We are also producing our own texts
in the this class, and you will likely read about
fifteen essays from your peers. But be forewarned, I may (or you may) see
something and get inspired and assign additional material.
Texts:
Bill Roorbach, Writing
Life Stories (Revised Second Edition), Contemporary Creative
Nonfiction: The Art of Truth
Lee Gutkind,
In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction
Various handouts on the New River and other models of creative
nonfiction
COURSE POLICIES
Do not throw away anything you write in this class
until the end of the course. At the end of the course, you will need to
include in your portfolio the writing activities that led up to the finished
essays, and you will want to refer to earlier work in order to write your
final essays.
Also, though it is standard advice in a
writing class to not get too hung up too soon in the writing process and to
write "shitty first drafts" (SFDs), your writing will benefit more
if the draft you produce for your turn as visiting writer is written as if it
was a final version. It doesn't make sense for your reader to even comment if
the draft will need to be completely re-written. Therefore, write your SFD
early, sit it on for a few days, and then revise before you post (5:00) the
night before your turn as visiting writer.
Attendance and participation: As with any class, attendance is expected. Unlike
many classes, however, this one will include in-class writing or reading
exercises and discussion almost every session. The material covered in these
exercises and discussions will be vital to your success in writing your
essays and cannot be made up by looking at a classmate's notes. Missing class
will usually mean missing in-class assignments and discussions and that will
add up when the time comes for the final grade. Missed in-class exercises
cannot be made up.
I know I shouldn’t, but I seem to take
absences personally. After every class I give a grade for class
participation: X=absent; D=present but without book or are silent and
inattentive; C=present with book and basically attentive; B=able to answer
questions; A=present, prepared, and participating. Four unexcused absences
gives you an F for class participation (all you have to do is speak to me, I
don't need documents). More than six Xs (whatever the excuse) will result an
automatic F for the course.
Discussion: The essence of any course about writing is
communication. Consequently, a free and open class discussion is essential to
our gaining a better understanding of the work or ideas at hand. We will work
together to explore the ideas, readings, and other assignments in the course.
All classes succeed (or fail) depending on the quantity and quality of the
discussions. Your participation in class discussions and visiting writer
workshops is vital and required. This means coming prepared to talk about
readings and workshop papers, listening to your classmates' comments, and
giving all members of the class an opportunity to talk.
Conferences: You are required to have periodic individual
conferences with me in my office (at least three: one toward the beginning,
middle, and end of the course). At conferences we will discuss reading or
writing assignments for the course (or movies, baseball, or whatever). We
will work together on paper topics, discuss where you are having trouble, and
to try to figure out the best way to improve. You will get the most out of
conferences if you prepare for them--think about how your work is going, what
is working, where you are having trouble, what questions you have for me.
Then show up on time, ask questions, and take notes about what we discuss (it
is very easy to forget the details of conference we had in January if you
decide to re-write a paper in April). Attendance at conferences is mandatory.
Missing them without a prior excuse will count as an absence in the course.
GRADING
The primary basis for your grade will come
from your portfolio, which should include
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Pts
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Item
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30
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3 finished and revised essays (about
15-20 pages) and the drafts that preceded them
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5
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An introduction that reflects on the writing
(introduces it) and the writing experiences in class.
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15
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Fifteen (about) written peer review
responses to student writing
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5
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Your final notes as facilitator
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15
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Fifteen (about) journal entries
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Add to that,
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30
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Average of attendance and
participation grades.
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100
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Total
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In order to give you a sense of where you stand in the course earlier on, you
will turn in a brief mid-semester portfolio to which I will assign a
provisional grade. At this time, we will also conference and discuss your
progress up until now and your goals for the rest of the semester.
As an example of how close autobiography and fiction can be, and how their
related methods interweave, consider Philip Roth’s The Facts—which is
not the facts at all. The book purports to give the true dope on the life of
Philip Roth, as distinguished from the life of his creation, alter ego, and
stooge, Zuckerman. But in The Facts, Zuckerman, a fiction, enters
unbidden (well, no, not unbidden—invited, rather) and from the sidelines
emits challenges, ironic comments, and Bronx cheers as his author goes
through the charade of telling his true life story.
--Wallace Stegner
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