English 201------Writing Fiction

Class: Meets MWF 10-10:50, English House Seminar Room (basement)

Instructor: James Plath                  Office: English House 104

Hours: M-F 9-10 and by appointment

Phone: 556-3352

Url:  http://titan.iwu.edu/~jplath/          Email:  jplath@iwu.edu

Texts: An Introduction to Fiction, Tenth Edition, ed. by X.J. Kennedy & Dana Gioia, literary links and instructor handouts.

Suggested Reading for Independent Study

Course Objectives: This is not a hobby course, schedule filler, or easy grade. This is the basic nuts-and-bolts course on writing fiction for students serious about their writing. Students will be expected to approach the writing of fiction in workmanlike fashion, with the goal of learning characteristics and techniques, as well as formal and stylistic options. Yet, there must be freedom to experiment and fail. Writers must be readers, and each week students will be expected to read and discuss the week's reading and other elected reading. Perhaps the toughest expectation: despite taking the craft of writing seriously, students must learn to relax and enjoy the act of literary creation.

Course Requirements:

• Attendance is mandatory. More than 2 unexcused absences affects grade.
• The class will partially operate on a workshop basis, meaning that students will be responsible for reading and critiquing works-in-progress by their peers.
• All writing assignments MUST be completed for students to receive a grade for the course. Assignments are due at the beginning of class. When a student is scheduled for workshop, barring disaster, a serious draft must be presented, with copies provided for all. Hard copies must be handed out the previous class period; electronic copies must be sent two days prior to workshopping. Written assignments will be penalized one grade for every class period they are late. For grading purposes, only hard copy will be accepted  unless the student has special permission.
  
• All stories must be typed, double-spaced, with standard margins and in standard format (to be shown in class) in 12pt. Times.
• Two individual conferences required, more suggested.
• Students are encouraged to form a literary community that extends beyond the classroom, and to attend any/all of the readings and literary events in the Bloomington-Normal area.
• Since class will sometimes be held in more "writerly" locations than a seminar room, often with one class period's notice, students who miss class are responsible for phoning the instructor or classmates to find out where the class is meeting next time.
  

Grades will be determined on the following basis:

• 75 percent--Final Portfolio of at least 24pp and no more than 50pp
• 25 percent--Exercises and class participation

Tentative Schedule:

NOTE: Due dates for all short story drafts and final versions will be announced IN CLASS, based on the pace at which the class seems comfortable working; due dates for all reading assignments are the first class period every week, unless otherwise noted.

Week of Jan. 8, 10--Taking inventory; where ideas come from; setting standards. In-class handouts.

Week of Jan. 13, 15, 17--Combining "facts" and fiction. Read "Cathedral" (Raymond Carver) for Jan. 15. For the curious and insatiable, access two Carver interviews published in Clockwatch Review. Outline for fiction based on inventory due the 17th.

Week of Jan. 20, 22, 24--Stories vs. narratives:  Read "Story of an Hour" (Kate Chopin) and "Girl" (Jamaica Kincaid) for Jan. 20; read "Everyday Use" (Alice Walker) for the 22nd; story vs. narrative exercise due the 24th.

Week of Jan. 27, 29, 31--Openings: Read ALL openings (the first two pages) from stories in the text and be prepared to discuss your top five and worst five picks. Due the 31st: three of your own story openings, for workshopping.

Week of Feb. 3, 5, 7--Character: Read "The Yellow Wallpaper" (Charlotte Perkins Gilman) for Feb. 3; read "The Chrysanthemums" (John Steinbeck) for Sept. 5. Character-based or -inspired fiction (scene or story) due the 7th.

Week of Feb. 10, 12, 14--Point of view: Read "I Stand Here Ironing" (Tillie Olsen) for the 10th; read "Sonny's Blues" (James Baldwin) for the 12th; point-of-view exercise due the 14th.

Week of Feb. 17, 19, 21--Dialogue: Read "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" (Ernest Hemingway) for the 17th; in-class dialogue exercise on the 19th. No formal class on the 21st; instead, meet in assigned groups for a coffee-house class.

Week of Feb. 24, 26, 28--Plotting (linear design) Read "A&P" (John Updike) for Feb. 24 and "A Good Man is Hard to Find" ( Flannery O'Connor) for Feb. 26. Plotting exercise due the 28th.

Week of Mar. 3, 5, 7--Plotting (modular design): Read handout (tba) for Mar. 3; "The Things They Carried" (Tim O'Brien) for Mar. 5; draft of complete story due the 7th.

Week of Mar. 17, 19, 21--Settings and description: fleshing out stories (in-class lecture and exercise) for Mar. 17. Read "Shiloh" (Bobbie Ann Mason) for the 19th; "The Handsomest Drowned Man" (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) for the 21st.

Week of Mar. 24, 26, 28--Draft of second complete story due Mar. 24; workshopping

Week of Apr. 7, 9, 11--Putting together a portfolio; rewriting strategies; workshopping

Week of Apr. 14, 16, 18--Workshopping

Week of Apr. 21--Getting published

Final Exam PUBLIC READING/PERFORMANCE (tba)