Course Requirements Craft of Fiction – Fall 2007

 

 

Requirements for the course consist of:

·         Fifteen one-page "response" papers to texts read outside of class; (20%)

·         two brief papers on the two novels read; (20%)

·         two original short stories, rough drafts and revisions; (40%)

·         In and out-of-class writing exercises; (15%)

·         daily oral participation. (5%)

 

One-page Response Paperettes: (15)

Almost every short story read outside of class will be the subject of a one-page "response" to be written prior to class. Usually they will be read aloud and discussed, then they will be used as take-off points for further discussions of the story. They will be graded. What I will look for in these is how they reflect your diligence in reading the story, your willingness to think about the problems you encountered in reading them, and your ability to find tentative answers to your own questions. "I was just lost," or "I was very confused," are perfectly sensible places to begin, but you don't want to stop there.

 

Brief analytical papers: (2)

Each of the novels chosen for the course (Jazz and Time's Arrow) contains aspects of craft that all student writers should profit through studying. Both stories are told in an aggressively non-linear mode, and both provoke fascinating questions about point-of-view as well. Each of these papers should be addressed to digging into either (or both) of those two aspects (structure and point of view), addressing any or all of the following questions: how has the "traditional" mode of story-telling been abandoned here? Why? What are the effects of the writer's choices on the reader's experiencing the story? What would be lost to have told it in a more conventional fashion? What has been lost by not telling it that way?

 

Original Short Stories: (2 rough drafts, 2 revisions)

Short story #1: Reprise of Song

Take a very familiar narrative – fairy tale, folk tale, urban legend, B-movie plot, etc. -- and reconceive and refurbish it. Consider the following elements of the story (setting, point of view, structure, plot, tone or voice) and think of ways to alter them to achieve new effects from the material.

 

Short Story #2: Using New Concepts

Write an original short story consciously putting to use at least one new concept learned in the course (crots, time alterations, metafictional hi-jinks, etc).