Syllabi
E355K
Advanced Creative Writing
TH 6-9
University of Texas at Austin Extension
Fall 2004
Instructor: Scott Blackwood, M.F.A.
Email: blackwood@mail.utexas.edu
Phone: 232-2730
Office Hours By Appointment
Description:
Good fiction writers don't simply write what they know; they write from a tradition of storytelling. Our goal in this class is threefold: to improve your work, to broaden your understanding of the literary context in which you're writing, and to gain insight into the working lives of other writers so that you're not simply fumbling in the dark.
This course will be run as a workshop / seminar. The workshop component of the course will proceed this way: You will each have three chances to be workshopped in class. Your workshop pieces should be about 10-20 pp. long; two should be new work, the third either new or a major revision. If you are working on something long, we can schedule your workshops accordingly--e.g. all three workshops may scheduled for the same day if necessary. You will be expected to comment on each other's work with honesty, thoughtfulness and tact. After class, I will meet with the authors of the works discussed to help make sense of the discussion and to suggest relevant reading.
| Texts: |
| Mystery and Manners |
Flannery O'Conner |
| Selected Stories |
William Faulkner |
| The Elephant Vanishes |
Haruki Murakami |
| Progress of Love |
Alice Munro |
| Packet -- Short Story Readings and Selections from Writers at Work (Paris Review Interviews) |
Requirements:
For this class to function successfully as a workshop and seminar, everyone must participate in the discussions. We will develop a writer's vocabulary to talk about stories and fiction aesthetics in detail. You will also be asked to write (type) and turn in commentaries on your peers' stories. By the end of the course you will have written and/ or revised three full-length stories (roughly 30 pages, 12point, double- spaced).
| Class Participation |
20% |
| Peer Responses |
20% |
| 3 complete stories (Approximately 30 pages, with one possible complete revision included; grade based on mastery of course goals.) |
60% |
| |
Story 1 |
15% |
| |
Story 2 |
20% |
| |
Story 3 |
25% |
Attendance:
Attendance is required; poor attendance (missing more than two classes) will lower your grade by one letter grade. If you must miss class, leave notice in my office: Undergraduate Writing Center (471-6222)
Prerequisites:
E341, E325 (introduction workshop course) or permission from instructor, credit for E306 and E316K or equivalent.
Academic Honesty: All work, obviously, must be your own.
Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University Extension program or the University. Since such dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the integrity of the University, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced
Calendar
| Week 1 |
"Why Write?" |
| Aug 28 |
Faulkner's Nobel Prize Speech
Selection from As I Lay Dying
Selection from Annie Dillard's The Writing Life |
| Week 2 |
"Aims of Fiction" |
| Sept 4 |
Psychology and Form
Flannery O'Conner's "The Nature and Aim of Fiction" p. 63"
Ray Carver's "What we Talk about When We Talk about Love" |
| Week 3 |
"Beginnings" |
| Sept 11 |
Discuss Opening of "Dry September" Workshop |
| Week 4 |
"Character" |
| Sept 18 |
O'Conner's "The Nature and Aim of Fiction" and selection from Milan Kundera's "Art of the Novel" (Packet) Workshop |
| Week 5 |
"Dialogue" Munro's "Miles City Montana" and Murakami's "The Elephant Vanishes" |
| Sept 25 |
Workshop |
| Week 6 |
Dialogue Exercise, Workshop |
| Oct 2 |
| Week 7 |
"Point of View: Types of Distance" Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" and Murakami's "The Wind Up Bird..." |
| Oct 9 |
Workshop |
| Week 8 |
"Writer's on Revision" |
| Oct 16 |
Carver's "The Bath" and "A Small Good Thing" Workshop |
| Week 9 |
Workshop Munro's "Progress of Love" |
| Oct 23 |
| Week 10 |
Revision Exercise, Workshop |
| Oct 30 |
| Week 11 |
"Fictional Place and Time" |
| Nov 6 |
Wolff's "Bullet to the Brain" Workshop |
| Week 12 |
Workshop; Faulkner's "Red Leaves" and Murakami's "Barn Burning" |
| Nov 13 |
| Week 13 |
"Pacing" Readings from Paris Review |
| Nov 20 |
Workshop |
| Nov 27 |
Thanksgiving |
| Week 14 |
Reading from "Sense of an Ending" |
| Dec 4 |
Ending: Munro's "Fits," "Miles City Montana"
Faulkner's "That Evening Sun" and "Dry September" Workshop |
