English 399:001--Creative
Nonfiction
Spring 2003*TR 10:30-11:45 AM*Rob. A245
Office--Rob. A423*Office Hours--TR 3-4 PM & by appt.*Phone 703-993-1273*My
homepage
CREATIVE NONFICTION is a second-level course in the sequence of
300, 400, and 500 level courses in the English major for serious students
of nonfictional prose writing. (Students should have taken either ENGL
309 or 396 prior to this course.) In ENGL 399 we will read and discuss
some excellent short works of memoir, personal essay, and feature journalism.
All the readings will be springboards to writing; we'll do in-class and
homework exercises, plus several longer pieces. All of your writing will
constitute a portfolio that you will build through the semester. We will
also take advantage of the annual "Text
and Community" program, which includes panels, a website, and an essay
contest; this year's text is Barbara Ehrenreich's excellent memoir/ethnography
Nickel
and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. We will also take advantage
of the our writing program's spring semester schedule of readings by visiting
writers.
The world of nonfiction is broad and many-featured; there is room within
it for almost any writerly ambition or desire, as long as that ambition
or desire includes the goal of telling the truth as the conscientious writer
sees it. The overarching term is "nonfiction"--that is, writing that deals
in perceptions, people, and events that are "not made up" by the writer.
(We might call it "reality writing.") The writer and reader of nonfiction
share the tacit understanding that the work strives for accuracy, even
if the product sometimes falls short of this goal and even though we humans
are always limited in what we can know. Nonfiction writers have at hand
the many tools of the fiction writer--dialogue, shifts in point of view,
sensual description, and on and on--thus, the adjective "creative" is added;
but the nonfiction writer always strives to earn the reader's trust that
the persons and places of the work are real (though sometimes we have to
change the names) and the events indeed happened.
I have two major goals for you in this course: first, to help you improve
your ability to tell truth through your writing, by using varied techniques
and by using the tools of research; second, to give you practice in diverse
styles and genres of nonfiction, as you work toward identifying your own
favorite subjects and modes of writing. If you took ENGL 309 as the first
course in this sequence, and particularly if you took my section of 309
in Fall 2001, you'll notice similarities in the goals, structure, and readings
of this course. But because of your prior experience I will expect of you
in this course greater maturity in your prose and your greater self-awareness
as a writer.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
T Jan. 21 Introductions--"Biography"exercise
R Jan. 23 The Personal Essay--"Writing about yourself, really"; self-observation
exercise. (Have read (FG) Hampl's"Parish Streets" and Lopate's "Portrait
of My Body"; from 3M, "Beginnings" vignettes by Stone, Conroy, Calisher,
Welty, Dillard, Goodwin, Naylor; begin writer's notebook.)
T Jan. 28 Bring in revision of notebook exercise on "difficult truth" for
workshop; have read (FG) Sanders, "The Singular First Person," and Stanton,
both "Zion" and "On Writing 'Zion.'"
R Jan. 30 Observing with All Senses--exercise; have read (FG) Dillard,
"Living like Weasels" and "To Fashion a Text"; from 3M, "Beginnings" vignettes
by Gill, Settle, Shreve: "First Love" vignettes by Brown, Gurganus, Castedo;
submit brief proposal online for "personal truth" essay.
T Feb. 4 Placeand Memory, Place and Action--exercises; have read (FG)
Chavez, "Independence Day, Manley Hot Springs, Alaska"; Iyer, "Where Worlds
Collide"; from 3M, "First Love" vignettes by Dove, Kittredge, Smith.
R Feb. 6 "Place" continued; have read (FG) Lamy, "Life in Motion," and
Lott, "Brothers"
T Feb. 11 Bring in draft of "personal truth" essay for workshop (have four
copies)
R Feb. 13 Segments and Other Odd Shapes--have read, from FG, Griffin, "Oval";
Morano,"The Queimada"; Willard, "The Friendship Tarot"; from 3M, "Illusions"
vignettes by Paley, Moon, Wideman. Begin Nickel and Dimed--pay particular
attention to her choice of informants and how she uses dialogue and physical
description of settings and persons to portray character.
T Feb. 18 "Writing Speech":the Interview Article; begin discussion of Ehrenreich;
bring in revised draft of "personal truth" essay (plus first draft and
"change" reflection)
R Feb. 20 Guest writer: Scott Berg, Washington Post feature writer.
Have read author excerpts.
F Feb. 21 NOTE--send by this date email proposal (1-2 paragraphs) for interview-based
biographical essay. Specify subject, rationale, your angle, and interview
setting.
F
Feb. 21 Last day to DROP without Dean's permission
T Feb. 25 Continue discussion of Ehrenreich; exercise.
R Feb. 27 Interview article progress reports; conclude discussion of Ehrenreich.
T Mar. 4 Guest writer: biographer Meryle Secrest. Have read author excerpts.
R Mar. 6 Bring in draft of interview article (four copies) for workshop.
Week of Mar. 9 Spring Break!
T Mar. 18 Revised draft of interview article (plus first draft and change
reflection) due in class. Begin "feature journalism"project. Have read
(FG) Tompkins, "At the Buffalo Bill Museum, June 1988," and Hearne, "Can
an Ape Tell a Joke?"
R Mar. 20 Class will not meet. Work on your feature journalism proposal.
Identify popular or specialized pubication venues, print or online, to
which you'd like to direct your essay.
T Mar. 25 Bring, for workshopping, your feature journalism proposal (300-600
words, 4 copies). Specify subject, possible sources, your angle, and specific
publications that include articles such as that you are proposing.
R Mar. 27 Online (database) research workshop, location TBA.
T Apr. 1 "Feature" progress update. Have read (FG) Cliff, "History as Fiction,
Fiction as History" and 3M vignettes by Lord, Bradley (123), Phillips,
Elizabeth Spencer, Scott Spencer.
R Apr. 3 Progress update. "Integrating Research" exercise. Review Ehrenreich,
with particular attention to her methods of integrating her varied source
material.
T Apr. 8 Sentence Style exercises. Have read (3M) vignettes by O'Brien,
Garrett (166), Griffith.
R Apr. 10 Progress update. Plan contents of final portfolio. Practice the
"Reflective essay."
T Apr. 15 Draft of feature article due for workshop (four copies).
R Apr. 17 Begin "read-around" of feature articles.
T Apr. 22 Continue read-around. Revised draft of feature article due in
class.
R
Apr. 24 Complete read-around.
T
Apr. 29 "Three Minutes or Less" exercise
R
May 1 Course evaluations. Final portfolios due in class."Three
Minutes or Less" presentations.
BOOKS AND MATERIALS
Barbara Ehrenreich. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.
New York: Henry Holt, 2001.
Robert L. Root, Jr., and Michael Steinberg, eds. The Fourth Genre: Contemporary
Writers Of/On Creative Nonfiction. 2nd Ed. New York: Longman, 2002.
PEN/Faulkner
Foundation. Three Minutes or Less: Life Lessons from America's Greatest
Writers. New York: Bloomsbury, 2000.
Rather than require you to purchase additional books, I will expect you
to make photocopies (for our one-time use) of drafts of your essays for
our workshop sessions.
Your portfolio should be kept in a simple two-pocket folder. (If you have
a website, you may ask me about keeping your portfolio online. If you don't
have a website, but would like to build one, here are some technical
instructions you might use. For more support and instruction, check
out the services of the STAR center in Johnson 311.)
Keep your writer's notebook in a separate two-pocket folder (online option
also possible).
PARTICIPATION
Your full and active participation in all events of the course is key to
your success and that of the class. In-class exercises, critique workshops
on drafts, and analytical discussions of assigned readings will all be
evaluated in your participation grade, which is worth 25% of your final
grade. That means that each day's participation is worth just under 1%
of your final.
Missed exercises may not be made up.
CAVEAT: You will not receive credit for any longer essay (personal truth
essay, interview-based article, feature project), if you have not been
present for the workshop on drafts of that essay or if you have not handed
in on-time the proposal or the draft of that essay. "On time" means in
class at the beginning of class.
ASSIGNMENTS
1. Exercises (part of participation grade)
I will regularly ask you to write in class to practice stylistic techniques
or approaches to subject matter. Many of these are listed on the syllabus,
but I may ask you at any time to try out a particular technique in writing.
Often I will follow the writing exercise with a request to present these
to members of the class. These are informal, low-pressure, and (I trust)
enjoyable events, but they are nonetheless important to the growth of writers.
You should keep all exercises, some of which I'll look at, in your working
portfolios.
2. Writer's Notebook (part of final portfolio grade)
During the first week, I'll ask you to begin keeping a notebook in which
to make at least one entry per week and in which you'll collect items and
observations of interest to you as a writer. I will expect you to make
brief analytical and/or creative entries (1/2 page to a page) in response
to all assigned readings. For a given class, I may ask that your notebook
entry be of a specific character. You should regard your notebook as practice
space and as a seedbed for ideas for your longer essays. Bring your notebook
to any conferences you set up with me. I'll not read your notebook in its
entirety, but I will ask that you include in your final portfolio ten pages
of what you regard as your better or most interesting notebook writing.
3. "Personal Truth" Essay (20% of final grade)
During the first month of the course we will concentrate on that varied
nonfiction genre known as the personal essay. We will read and analyze
a good number of these by some excellent writers, and we'll do exercises
and notebook entries to get a feel for this ever-more-popular and important
genre. Your essay (at least 1300 purposeful words) will be on a topic of
your choice, perhaps an event, relationship, or important place in your
life, and among your goals for this essay will be your presentation of
a "personal truth or truths" that have emerged for you in regard to this
subject. We start with this essay because the persistent, disciplined pursuit
of personal honesty that marks the best writing in this genre also marks
most successful creative nonfiction.
4. Interview Article (20% of final grade)
During the second month, and building on the first month's work, we will
focus on how we understand and present other people in our nonfiction.
This particular essay uses the interview as the primary source of data,
and so we will study interviewing and look at some well-done interviews
to help that process. But the interview will not be your only source of
background data; you'll need to cultivate rich observation and you'll need
to bring in data from other sources to fill out your picture. Again, your
goal will be not only to present another person, but to reach a personal
truth or truths that shows your reader the importance to you of studying
this person. At least 1300 purposeful words.
5. Feature Article (20% of final grade)
Building on the first two projects and the various readings and exercises
of the course, this essay requires you to integrate a variety of source
material toward elucidating a personal truth or truths, or to substantiate
your point of view on an issue of interest to others. The focus of this
essay need not be you or another person; this is your opportunity to branch
out into other nonfiction genres. Your goals for this article will
be determined by the subject, the genre, the type of audience you wish
to address, and typical periodicals that might publish workof the type
you are creating. Since this will be a research-based essay, we will devote
some time to research sources and techniques. At least 1500 purposeful
words.
In the last week of
the course, you will adapt your feature piece to the "3 Minutes or Less"
format of the book of that name. This assignment will be good practice
for the kinds of adaptation to limitations of time and space that all working
writers are asked regularly to face. Your "3 Minutes or Less" adaptation
will be considered as part of your grade for the feature project.
6. Final Portfolio (15% of final grade)
During the semester, you should keep a "working portfolio" of exercises,
proposals, and drafts (in addition to your writer's notebook). Like the
writer's notebook, the working portfolio will be both an ongoing archive
of your work and a source of inspiration for current and new projects.
The
final portfolio, due the last day of class, will be a winnowing
of your portfolio to your best work of the semester, for my consideration.
The portfolio process gives you one more chance to revise earlier work
on the three longer projects, plus an opportunity to present your most
interesting and proficient work from your notebook. The final portfolio
will include the following items:
a. reflective essay on the contents of your portfolio and your growth as
a writer during the semester (max. 500 words)
b. your choice of the best two of the three longer essays you have written,
revised, including a brief statement of how you have improved each piece
(max. 300 words); include the previous revised draft of each essay
c. the best ten pages of entries from your writer's notebook
The process of creating the final portfolio will give you practice in the
decision-making of writers as they ready their work for publication or
for graduate school applications, grant applications, job interviews, etc.
The final portfolio puts your best foot forward, so its appearance, as
well as its content, should demonstrate your professionalism and your style.
GRADES
Grading standards
are as follows (grades to be determined at the discretion of the instructor):
A = outstanding work:
among the specific virtues, full, active, cooperative, and imaginative
participation in all activities, exercises, and projects of the course;
prose that consistently demonstrates the characteristics of effective nonfiction,
as manifest in our readings and as we develop them throughout the course;
B = very good work:
full, active, and cooperative participation in all activities, exercises
and projects; prose that almost always demonstrates the characteristics
of effective nonfiction;
C = satisfactory work:
full, cooperative participation in all activities, exercises, and projects;
prose that, with revision, almost always demonstrates the principles of
effective nonfiction;
D = almost satisfactory
work: almost full, usually cooperative participation in all activities,
exercises, and projects: prose that, with revision, usually demonstrates
the principles of effective nonfiction;
F = unsatisfactory work:
inconsistent participation in activities, exercises, and projects; or prose
that, with revision, still fails to demonstrate consistent application
of the principles of effective nonfiction.
I will give pluses and
minuses according to GMU policy.
NOTE: A written project
will receive an F if a student does not participate in every phase of the
development of the project.
NONFICTION LINKS
This part of the page for ENGL 399:001 is under construction. I'll be adding
useful links throughout the course, and ask that you bring to my attention
good sites that you discover in your searches.
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