Please note that this is an overview of the class lineup and the units covered. Due dates and assignments are subject to be changed and/or added to. A more detailed breakdown will be provided in class. Textbook is TO SHOW AND TO TELL by PHILLIP LOPATE & BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 2018, edited by Hilton Als. Additional readings & guidelines will be posted on Moodle.
Dates
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Reading Assignments & Homework
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UNIT ONE: Exploring creative nonfiction, descriptive writing, and the Micro-Essay
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Week One
Mon Jan. 21 - Intro to Creative Nonfiction + In-class writing prompt
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Buy textbooks (Anglo-American Book store) & a notebook; begin thinking about potential essays you might write.
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Wed Jan. 23
Discussion +
In class writing (“People I Know” etc.)
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Bring handouts to class; Read “The Fox Who Came to Dinner” (Auvinen) & “Untamed” (Sedaris), choose an image, line or scene from each and be prepared to discuss why you chose them and how the two authors handle like material differently.
*Begin “Lists” in notebook (continue adding to all term)
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Week Two
Mon Jan. 28
Discussion + In class writing
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Guidelines for Snapshot /micro-essay (in class); Read Into (Lopate) + handouts “Turbulence” (Sedaris) & “Skunk” (Dyer);be prepared to discuss.
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Wed Jan. 30
Workshop
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Micro-essay due; Workshop – See Guidelines
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Week Three
Mon Feb. 4
Workshop
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Workshop, continued. (Please read the remaining essays and be prepared to offer both written and oral critique to your colleagues.); Read: “Nonfiction Today” (Lopate, p 3)
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Wed Feb. 6
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UNIT TWO: The Personal Essay & Exploring voice-driven writing, mining the memory + incorporating character & dialogue
Read: “On the Necessity of Turning Oneself into a Character” (Lopate, p. 17)
And “All the Home You’ve Got” (Danticat, BAE)
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Week Four
Mon Feb. 11
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Read: “The Art at the End of the World” (Julavits, BAE); choose a section or aspect of the essay and be prepared to do a close reading/informal presentation of it in class.
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Wed Feb. 13
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Read: “How Do You End an Essay” (Lopate, 64) + “Land of Darkness” & TBA (BAE)
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Fri Feb. 15 makeup class
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TBA; make up for April 22
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Week Five
Mon Feb. 18
Workshop
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Essays due; see guidelines + bring copies
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Wed Feb. 20
Workshop
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Workshop; read and be prepared to offer critique on remaining pieces
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Week Six
Mon Feb. 25
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Personal Essays that double as Profile pieces; read “Play It Like Your Hair’s on Fire” (Gilbert) & “Lucky Jim” (Gilbert, handouts)
HW: write a list of five potential profile pieces you’d like to do and sketch out an approach for each (pay attention to whether or not interviews / research are necessary) – bring to class
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Wed Feb. 27
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“No Direction Home” & “My Father’s Cellar” (BAE); be prepared to discuss
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Week Seven
Mon. Mar 4
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Personal Essays that double as Profile pieces & Incorporating Dialogue Read: “Love and War” (Steavenson, handout) +
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Wed. Mar 6
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Profiles Due
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Week Eight
Mar 11 & Mar 13
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SPRING BREAK
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Week Nine
Mon Mar 18
Workshop
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Profiles due; see guidelines
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Wed Mar 20
Workshop
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Workshop: read & prepare written + oral critiques
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Week Ten
Mon Mar 25
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Intro to Travel Writing: Writing About Place whether you travel there as a tourist, live there, or have no choice but to spend time there. Read: “Shipping Out” (Wallace, handout)
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Weds Mar 27
List of 10 Due
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Write a list of 10 Locations: 5 places you “know” (have visited, lived in, or otherwise passed through) & 5 places you’d like to travel to along with a brief description of the essay you could write about each of the 10. Bring to class. The last five can be “dream destinations” e.g. “I’ve always wanted to drive the Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible” or I’ve always wanted to see Angkor Wat”(etc.)
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Week Eleven
Mon Apr 1
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Reading TBA
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Weds Apr 3
Workshop
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Travel Essays Due; see guidelines
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Week Twelve
Mon Apr 8
Workshop
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Workshop: read & prepare written + oral critiques
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Weds Apr 10
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Memoir & Reflective Essays
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Week Thirteen
Mon Apr 15
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TBA
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Weds Apr 17
Workshop
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Final reflective essay due; see guidelines
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Week Fourteen
Mon Apr 22
NO CLASS
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Weds Apr 24
Workshop
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Week Fifteen
Mon Apr 29
LAST CLASS
Portfolios Due
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Final Portfolios DUE (Digital; see guidelines)
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Weds May 1st
NO CLASS
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Final Exam
DATE TBD
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No exam for this class; we will meet & read the final memoir pieces or any selection you choose and offer a final critique
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SNAPSHOT or “MICRO-ESSAY” GUIDELINES
Creative Nonfiction Snapshot
Objective: Generating creative nonfiction from the world around you
Page Count/ Word Count:350-500 words
Format: Double-spaced in a 12-point font, numbered pages, stapled, titled
Bring copies for workshop: Number TBD
Due Date: See Schedule
Revision Due: Final Portfolio
TOPIC: OPEN
Considerations:
You will now be writing in the 1stperson exclusively and whatever thoughts you state are your own.
When it comes to nonfiction, you make a pact with your reader that what you write is the truth as you know it, as you see it, as you experienced it. Your prose, however, need not be so focused on the trajectory of plot, though structure will still be important.
Logistics:
For this assignment I would like you to spend time in a new part of Rome. Choose a site or location to visit such as Castel Sant Angelo, MAXXI museum, the Palazzo Barberini or any one of the areas of Rome you have not yet experienced. Go alone to one of these places, wander, sit and write (inside or out). From this experience try to generate a descriptive, nonfiction snapshot or a series of short descriptive passages describing the location. Write in your sketchbook in journal form, using the first person point of view. Be descriptive. Allow yourself to free associate and riff without editing the words too carefully.
Example:Try to recreate the experience of your outing if possible. Say you decide to visit Villa Borghese, but you take the wrong bus. As you sit on the bus and have the experience, perhaps you recall other times you were lost, in other cities. Or perhaps you jump off the bus and this opens the door to a different essay or even an essay about how you tried to find Villa Borghese, but failed.
Note: In the end, your nonfiction snapshot can contain anything you want it to. The key thing to keep in mind with nonfiction is that you are telling the truth as you see it. Regardless of whether your “journey” ends up being the actual snapshot is less important, than the quality of prose, but I still want you to take the prompt seriously and document it in your notebook. Then, if you end up writing about your love of espresso, or Piazza Trilussa, so be it, but the experience will inform the rest of your nonfiction and become a component of your sketchbook.
PROFILE GUIDELINES
Due Date: March 5th
Revision Due: Portfolio
Format:MLA, Titled, typed, stapled, DS, 12-point font, numbered pages, name in header
Page/Word Count: 5-7 pages (1800-2000 words)
Copies for Workshop:6
Objective: To profile another person either someone close to you or formerly unknown to you, whom you interview. If you choose to do the second, see below for more tips.
Assignment: Choose someone that you would like to profile and write a 5-7 page portrait of that person. Your essay must include quotes within the body of the article. The amount of research will depend upon your chosen subject.
Considerations:
·Voice—Analyze how important your role is to the profile? How present do you (as author) want to be within the context of the narrative? Look to the profiles that we have reviewed in class as examples of how different authors include themselves within their profiles. Some are journalistic style interviews – and you are welcome to do that, if you like. Others are personal memoirs that double as a profile of a person close to the author.
·Structure—How do you want to structure the profile? Consider how best to introduce the subject. Do you want to begin in the present moment – who / what / where, etc. -- and then move into background info? Or would it be better to begin with the backstory before presenting the subject.
For example, “Play It Like Your Hair’s On Fire” uses description and background information for several paragraphs before it introduces Tom Waits, himself. Other authors use different techniques. Take a look at the various profiles and assess what works best and why.
·Style & Tone—What is the best tone to use?Serious? Playful? Irreverent? Humble? Consider the way that tone will impact the reader’s view of the subject and what you hope to achieve by writing with the tone. Should the writing style be simple and pared down or more ornate and elaborate? Both your subject and the structure will help determine the style to a degree, but ultimately it is best to be true to your own writing style and use language that your are comfortable with.
·Research before the Interview or Writing Profile—How much research is necessary? How will you be able to do the research? Where will you locate your sources? Consider what is truly feasible given time constraints and so forth. Even if you are profiling a person you’ve known your whole life, you may need to do research: for example, say you want to write about a grandparent who survived a particular war or hardship; you might want to do research (both by asking others and looking up facts connected to those events).
·Research after the Interview or While Writing —Certain issues may come to light during your interview that will later require fact-checking and additional research. Be sure to leave yourself enough time to do the necessary research to make your article shine. You may also want to do follow interviews or questions. Your profile may be personal, but while writing it you may realize that you haven’t got all the information you need to do the subject justice.
·Interview Questions for the Subject/Interviewee—If you do interviews, try to structure your queries in such a way that the subject will respond at length rather than with a “yes” or “no” answer. Ask questions that require descriptive, thoughtful responses.
·Interview Questions for people connected to the subject—Who else might be able to bring the profile to life? Consider the people who might have access to intimate, historical, or relevant details about the subject and who would be willing to share those ideas with you.
·Recording Device (necessary?)—To assure that you quote accurately it is best to record any interview that you do. If you cannot record you will need to take copious notes. In the case of writing a journalistic profile for a particular publication, you will need to read back the selected quotes to your subject for accuracy.
NOTE: As discussed in class, if the person is no longer living, then you may need to interview people who knew him or her.
Guidelines: Travel Memoir
Due Date
Revision Due: Portfolio
Page Count/Word Count: 5-7 pages (approx. 1800-2000 words)
FORMAT: 1stperson POV, MLA titled, typed, 12 point, DS, numbered pages, stapled
Topic: Open (See below)
Copies for Workshop: 6
CONSIDERATIONS: Although the subject matter is open, the essay must recount a different or new “location.” Please do not write about a location you’ve already covered (in detail) in some other essay. Decide what you want to focus upon and what the slant is – for example travel memoir can encompass food and “actual” travel, such as destination travel, but it may also simply be an essay rooted in “place.” You can write about a location you visited once, a place you have returned to over and over again, or even a somewhere you have lived, so long as the location is, in and of itself, germane to the story you wish to tell. Remember, too, that you do not need to love a place to write about it. Sometimes when travel goes wrong interesting stories occur.
Feel free to incorporate quotes, research, or any information that is pertinent to your piece. Research is encouraged, particularly to underscore the “authenticity” of the piece, and/or of your assertions about the place, however it is not required. Keep in mind that this is not an academic essay, but a personal essay that should be steeped in your own experience and reflections. As with all the other writing we have been doing, setting can become a character. Details are of the utmost importance. Description and descriptive language are what will make the writing sing.
Do not feel obliged to solve the problems of the world in one essay. Narrow your focus rather than broaden it. Consider various options for how you might structure the piece (In sections? In time frames? In letter form? In diary form? etc. – even if it needs a beginning, middle and end there are still unorthodox ways of approaching that). The voice you choose (along with the tone, the sentence structure, the cadence) will impact the work greatly. Remember that even in travel you can portray characters and use dialogue to move the “story” forward.
Keep in mind that this is NOT a “How-To” for visiting a particular destination, nor is it a guidebook entry. Look to the essays we have read thus far for inspiration. Peruse the Travel Section of a favorite newspaper or the travel issue of a favorite magazine. Travel writing runs the gamut.
FINAL ESSAY GUIDELINES
Due Date:April 23rd(electronic copy in Final Portfolio)
Format:MLA, DS, 12-point, Numered pages, titled, stapled, etc.
Word Count/Page Count:7-8 pages (approx.. 7500 words)
Copies: 6
Considerations: Your final essays can be about any subject you choose. You have written a variety of personal essays of varied lengths, including travel and profile writing. For the final essay, you can return to any of these genres or move beyond them to write about a personal essay or memoir about any subject that interests you. Strive to incorporate description, dialogue, and to showcase the skills you’ve garnered in the workshops – employing a coherent structure and a consistent voice. There is no limit to the number of subjects or styles you might choose –
FINAL PORTFOLIO GUIDE
OBJECTIVE:To Submit a semester’s worth of polished creative nonfiction
Due Date:SEE SCHEDULE
Electronic submission NOTE:Submit by due date via JCU Email: [email protected]
If the file is too large, submit as attachment or Google Doc or to Dropbox to the following mail: [email protected]
Format:
A) Typed, Double-Spaced, Times New Roman or other legible font.
B) Please include a title page (cover sheet) & Table of Contents
C) Title each piece and keep each piece separate from one another.
D) At the end of each piece, drop down and include a ‘process analysis’ (labled). This is a brief description of your approach to each piece & revision. You may single space the process analysis.
E) NOTE: Save in WORD format (NO PDF’s) & put your surname in file name e.g. “CW352_Portfolio_name.doc.”
PORTFOLIOS SHOULD INCLUDE **
Please note that the portfolio guideline is subject to change depending on production levels, changes, etc.
1 Micro-Essay (approx. 500 words) + process analysis
2 Essay 1 (5-7 pages or 1800-2000 words) + process analysis
3 Profile + process analysis
4 Travel Essay + process analysis
5 Final Memoir + for the final piece, please also include
6 Homework & Free-writes (comprehensive list TBA)
6 (Optional) Any extra nonfiction you’d like to include – up to 12 pages