English 217: Introduction to Creative Writing
7-Week Summer Session
Dr. Andrew Smith
English Dept. phone: none available this semester. Use email and the course bulletin board.
Office Hours by email: asmith@hcc.mass.edu
asmith@hcc.mass.edu (Please submit ALL assignments to the course bulletin board. Let's reserve my email address for questions that you don't feel comfortable asking in the more public bulletin board forum.)
Required Texts
For your convenience, you may use the following link to order Kowit's textbook:
In the Palm of Your Hand
Other Required Resources
Course Objective The major objectives of English 217 are to teach the student, through directed readings and writing, to continue to appreciate the literary components, complexity, and craft of creative writing, to successfully explicate selected poems, creative nonfiction essays, and short fiction in online discussions, and to create finished creative works of publishable quality.
Introduction The objective above sounds terribly drab and sterile--a catalog description. Consider, then, our exploration of creative writing in light of what others have said about reading and writing:
(Quotations excerpted from Donald Hall's To Read a Poem.)
The business of a creative writing workshop is the writing (outside of class) of original creative works by students, and a critical discussion (on line with the instructor and perhaps a small group of students) of those creative works. The class critique is aimed toward revision of those works. During the summer session I expect a minimum of two fiction or non-fiction essays, and two poems to be turned into the workshop from each of you. I will NOT accept 4 pieces of creative work all in the last few weeks of the summer session. It’s best to simply make it a practice of turning in some creative work every week. Re-writes are highly encouraged and you may turn in thorough re-writes as "new" creative works. You may turn in other re-writes to me on an individual basis. If you are "blocked" you should meet with me and I will suggest some strategies and subjects to get the flow of verse going again. By the way, true writer's block is nothing less than THINKING, but at some point thereafter, your instructor and peers expect something more tangible: a hard copy of some writing.
Week to week, you will want to be self-motivated and to turn in your creative works and your comments for other writers in the class. You are expected to thoroughly prepare responses to any other student’s work that you’ve read for the upcoming online class meeting so that you may participate in the discussion and offer suggestions for revision. Your participation in the course is worth 60% of your final grade. Exercises and independent pieces of writing comprise 40% of your final grade.
This class is ideal for those who are just starting out in creative writing and who want to have feedback on some of their early work. It’s my hope that you will be more interested in improving your writing than getting an "A."
One of the best ways to improve your own writing is to read lots of creative works by others. We will read poetry, short stories, and essays often and then discuss them in our online class or one-on-one through email. I may send you handouts on poetics, writing and publishing, and will expect you to be ready to discuss your responses to those handouts. Also, there may be small assignments for each workshop participant regarding preparing a response to a particular reading assignment. Have your texts available every time we meet online when we converse through our course BULLETIN BOARD. You will also prepare a short biographical presentation on a particular writer and his or her work, explaining what you find most unique about and central to the writer/work; concentration should be on style, theme, and subject.
We will try to improve our critical thinking and understanding of creative works, how they work and are best written, so that we may improve the writing and revision of our own creative works. Please offer your comments and responses without worrying whether you are 100% "correct"; as long as you are sincere and your responses have been well considered (and of good will) you will learn something for yourself in an exchange of comments, and you will be a good audience for the writing under discussion.
Not every comment will be helpful or right, but the writer will use some of your suggestions for the next draft of his/her writing. I will also return a copy of your creative writing with my suggestions. Put your name on every copy of your work, have a title (even if it's lousy or just a holding place). Remember, titles are reader cues; they give us direction.
Grades It’s neither possible nor ethical for a professor to grade student work based upon "creativity." Who is to say what is creative and what is not? Yet, it is possible and appropriate for me to evaluate the effort and craft involved in your writing. Last-minute, late-night submissions will exhibit writing analogous to Swiss Cheese. Mind you, I like Swiss cheese, but would appreciate it more if there were fewer pockets of air and more substance.
To repeat: Participation is 60% of your final grade. Exercises and independent pieces of writing are 40% of your final grade.
You will have the opportunity to view your course grades throughout the summer session, as they will be clearly posted on the WebCT on-line course pages. Your grades are private; no one other than you and I has access to your record for this particular class. Not every assignment or exercise will be graded, but I will not announce which ones will or will not be.
Attendance and Timely Submissions Although this is an online course that will never meet on campus, you will have to exercise significant personal discipline in attending class often and being involved in building the energy and enthusiasm of a creative writing workshop. I expect you to login to the course at least four days each week, during the 7-week summer session. This is an intensive course. Your involvement 5 days a week would be preferable. Consider the fact that this is a three-credit course, but it is only seven weeks in length. We have a great amount of material to cover in a relatively short period of time. NOTE: If a student fails to login to the course for a gap of greater than five consecutive days, I will drop that student--without warning--with an "AW" (administrative withdraw).
All assignments must be completed in a timely manner in order for you to receive a passing grade in the course.
Academic Honesty Although we will not have exams or formal papers in this course, there is still the danger of appropriating someone else's words and ideas as your own. If you are going to borrow text OR ideas from someone else or some other source, please be certain to give the originator/author proper attribution. There are many ways to steal the work of others. Please be especially careful with Web-based sources, which are easy to copy and paste into your own documents. I will be forced to fail students who engage in any form of academic dishonesty.
The Nitty-gritty on Assignments/Submissions All assignments must be submitted through the course bulletin board feature, unless I indicate otherwise. Please do not attach documents to your new bulletin board message to the rest of the class. Instead, simply copy the text from your poem, short story, essay, or assignment, and PASTE the text into a new bulletin board message to the class. Please, no exceptions. Make sure that you clearly identify what the work is that you are submitting (Example: Fiction Piece Number Two: "The Little Red Pony."
Two creative nonfiction (or short fiction) essays --First 4 weeks We will begin the semester by concentrating our efforts on prose. Please submit RECENT work to the workshop. Do not submit term papers or prewriting assignments from other classes. You are to write essays/fiction that are representative of YOU as a writer TODAY. You will submit your essays to EACH member of the workshop by pasting your creative work's text into a new bulletin board message.
Two poems--Second 3 weeks As we move into the last half of the semester, we will focus on the writing and workshopping of poetry. Whether you enjoy exploring this genre or not, I think you will find that the writing exercises and the attention to detail that the writing of poetry requires will make you a better writer of any genre. You will submit your poems to EACH member of the workshop by pasting your poem(s) into a new bulletin board message.
Peer Responses--All 7 weeks Perhaps the most important aspect of the workshop is the peer response. When you receive creative writing from workshop participants, you will be required to read the work carefully several times. In fact, you should STUDY the writing in order to make written comments on the document itself--between lines, in the middle of words, and at the end of each piece of creative writing. I suggest that you submit your comment in all caps and within brackets (ex: []). It's expected that you will offer a final paragraph at the end of each creative work that summarizes the strongest and weakest aspects of each work. Please offer praise where it is due, as well as kindly intended constructive criticism. Remember that we are all in this together and our collective and individual goals are to make our writing the best it can possibly be.
Biographical Paper--beginning of 7th week In addition to the essays, poems, and peer responses, you will read about and prepare a one-page biographical sketch on the life of some important 20th-century writer, stating also how that life has influenced that writer’s works, and how you think the "parent" writer has influenced others' works, including your own. You'll submit your biographical sketch to the rest of the class through a new bulletin board posting.
Bulletin Board Discussions--All 7 weeks All students will be asked to contribute to bulletin board discussions four or more times each week. Because we will not have to meet on campus, students are expected to log into the course at east 4 days out of each 7-day week. I will not always lead discussions. I want to see that YOU are actively engaged and that your peers are quick to respond to your questions and ideas with thoughtful responses of their own. Your class participation in the course will be based to a large degree on how active you are with your contributions to the bulletin board discussions.
End of the Semester Portfolio I may require each student to submit in printed form a portfolio (or collection) of all of the writing generated by that student during the summer session. The purpose for the portfolio is for both of us (student and professor) to evaluate in a holistic manner the comprehensive effort and growth that each writer experienced. Be prepared to print out, bind, and mail through the US Mail a portfolio of your work, if I request that you do so.
Class Calendar of Assignment and Events
Look for periodic (week-to-week) updates from me on the course bulletin board and the course calendar.
