Creative NonfictionEnglish 399:001

Spring 2005
MW 10:30-11:45 AM
107 Thompson

Professor Chris Thaiss
Office–Rob. A423
Office Hours–MW 9-10 AM & by appt.
Phone 703-993-1273
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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 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 2003, you’ll notice some 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
M Jan. 24 Introductions–“Biography”exercise

W Jan. 26 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.)

M Jan. 31 Bring in revision of notebook exercise on “difficult truth” for workshop; have read (FG) Sanders, “The Singular First Person”: Blew, “The Art of Memoir”; and Stanton, both “Zion” and “On Writing ‘Zion.'”

W Feb. 2 Observing with All Senses–exercise; have read (FG) Dillard, “Living like Weasels” and “To Fashion a Text”; Balcita, “Dumpling”; from 3M, “Beginnings” vignettes by Settle and Shreve: “First Love” vignettes by Brown and Castedo; submit brief proposal online for “personal truth” essay.

M Feb. 7 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.

T  Feb. 8  Last day to drop classes with no tuition liability.

W Feb. 9 “Place” continued; have read (FG) Lamy, “Life in Motion,” and McClanahan, “Goodbye to All This.”

M Feb. 14 Bring in draft of “personal truth” essay for workshop (have four copies)

W Feb. 16 No class. Continue to work on revisions of the “personal truth” essay.

M Feb. 21 Segments and Other Odd Shapes–have read, from FG, Root, “Collage, Montage, Mosaic, Vignette, Episode, Segment”; Morano,”The Queimada”; Willard, “The Friendship Tarot”; from 3M, “Illusions” vignettes by Paley, Moon, Wideman. Turn in revised draft of “personal truth” essay (plus first draft and “change” reflection).

W Feb. 23 “Writing Biography”:the Interview-based Profile Article–Guest writer Beverly Lowry: author of many books, including Crossed Over: A Murder, A Memoir. Have read author excerpts.

F Feb. 25 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. 25 Last day to DROP without Dean’s permission

M Feb.  28  More biography: have read, from FG, Blew, “The Unwanted Child”; Gilb, “Northeast Direct”; Offutt, “The Best Cake Made Both of Us Sad.”

W Mar.  2  Biographical article progress reports; have read from FG Rawlings, “Virtually Romance: A Discourse on Love in the Information Age.”

M Mar. 7 Guest writer: Scott Berg, Washington Post feature writer and GMU faculty member. Have read excerpts of his writing.

W Mar. 9 No Class: Continue to work on drafts of biographical article.

Week of Mar. 14 Spring Break!

M Mar. 21 Workshop: Bring four (4) copies of your complete draft of biographical article to class.

W Mar. 23 Begin “feature journalism”project. Have read (FG) Tompkins, “At the Buffalo Bill Museum, June 1988”; Root, “Knowing Where You’ve Been”;  and  Saltzman, “How to Play.”

M Mar. 28  Revised draft of biographical article (plus first draft and change reflection) due in class.  We’ll work on your feature journalism proposal. Have identified popular or specialized publication venues, print or online, to which you’d like to direct your essay. Bring to class a copy of such a publication or a print-out of the splash page of an online publication.

W Mar. 30 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.

M Apr. 4 Online (database) research workshop, Innovation Hall 318.

W Apr. 6 “Feature” progress update. Have read (FG) McPhee, “The Search for Marvin Gardens” and 3M vignettes by Lord, Bradley (123), Phillips, Elizabeth Spencer, Scott Spencer.

M Apr. 11 Progress update. “Integrating Research” exercise. Review Tompkins, Saltzman, McPhee, and other writings with attention to their methods of integrating the varied source material.

W Apr. 13 Sentence Style exercises. Have read (3M) vignettes by O’Brien, Garrett (166), Griffith.

M Apr. 18 Progress update. Plan contents of final portfolio. Practice the “reflective essay.”

W Apr. 20 Draft of feature article due for workshop (four copies).

M Apr. 25  “Three Minutes or Less” Exercise.

W Apr. 27 Begin “read-around” of feature articles. Revised draft of feature article (plus “change” memo and first draft) due in class.

M May 2 Continue read-around.

W May 4 Course evaluations. Complete read-around. Final portfolios plus “Three Minutes or Less” exercises due in class.

BOOKS AND MATERIALS Robert L. Root, Jr., and Michael Steinberg, eds. The Fourth Genre: Contemporary Writers Of/On Creative Nonfiction. 3rd Ed. New York: Longman, 2005.

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 instructionsyou 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 biographical 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-based Biographical 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 an important source of data, and so we will study interviewing and we’ll study some skillfully-done biographical essays that include interview material. 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 next-to-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 “personal truth” and biographical essays, 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)–this reflective piece should analyze what you feel you have accomplished, what you feel you still need to work on, and how you estimate your strengths as a writer at this point;

b. your choice of the better of the two longer essays you wrote before the feature article; this chosen essay must be revised and you should include a brief statement of how you have improved the piece (max. 300 words); include the previous revised draft of the essay;

c. the best ten pages of entries from your writer’s notebook;

d. your feature article (which you will have submitted the previous week)

 

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.