Syllabus: Short Story Salon

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Syllabus: Short Story Salon

Topics in Intermediate Fiction Writing: Novel Salon

Shimon Tanaka Sarah Frisch

Stanford University, Spring Quarter 2018

Mondays, 6:00 p.m. - 8:50 p.m.

Email:

“A writer is a reader moved to emulation”

- Saul Bellow

“Authors would come in and talk to us. For me that was everything. . .Getting to hear authors in real-life talk about decisions they had made and why was really influential.”

- Yaa Gyasi, award-winning author of Homegoing, on her experience as a Stanford undergraduate in the Short Story Salon

Who better to discuss a book with than its author?In this course we will immerse ourselves in seven novels and meet with six authors of these books to hear about their experience drafting, revising, and sending their books out into the world. We will read as writers—for inspiration and craft—and analyze novels for structure, character development, dialogue, setting, language, and theme. We will write about, discuss, and present the novels we read, participate in Q&A with visiting authors and editors, and complete weekly in-class writing exercises designed to inform and inspire our own writing. The novels we read will be in all stages of development, from unpublished manuscripts, to galleys and books that have been out less than a week, to those that have already won prizes, including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. We will also meet with editors of local independent publishers to discuss how the experience of being edited, publishing, and connecting with readers can shape writers’ relationships with their work.

Note: Successful completion of English 90 or 91 is a prerequisite for this course.

Required Materials

• Exit West, Mohsin Hamid
• The Orphan Master’s Son, Adam Johnson
• Some of Us Are Not Here by Choice, Ammi Keller (manuscript, available as a reader for purchase in class)

• The Incendiaries, R.O. Kwon (galley, available in class)
• Eileen, OttessaMoshfegh
• Still Lives, Maria Hummel
• Sing, Unburied, Sing,Jesmyn Ward

COURSE COMPONENTS

BOOK PRESENTATIONS

Students will give presentations in small groups on each book we read. These presentations will introduce us to the author and book and provide biographical information, as well as historical and literary context, for the collection. Student presentations willinclude handouts, video clips, and any other material that gets us further interested and invested in the book and its author.

CLASS DISCUSSIONS

Each week we will discuss the novel we’ve read, do close reads of text, and analyze the book for style, character development, structure, and other craft elements that interest us. We will look at each author’s individual aesthetics,compare and contrasttheir work with the other novels we’ve read, and discuss what their work means to us as readers and writers. These are in-depth discussionsin which we approach the books as writers, exploring how each novel was crafted and discussing that craft in relation to our own work and what we can learn.

AUTHOR VISITS

For six out of the seven books we read, the author will visit for the last hour of class. (Author visits are listed on the calendar below.) Students are responsible for helping to make visiting authors feel welcome and for bringing questions to class that will shape and propel our discussions. This is your chance to meet these authors personally and to learn the stories behind the novels. You will hear about the process of drafting, revising, and publishing these novels and learn about the ideas, anecdotes, and emotions that went into the making of these texts. Ultimately you will come away with a sense of what it takes to write a novel and what it means for each writer to put a book out into the world.

In addition to our author visits, we will have an editor and a VP of Field Sales for Publishers West Group visit during one class to discuss novel writing from an editorial and publishing perspective.

CANVAS POSTS

Students are responsible for writing thorough (4-6paragraph)responses on Canvas to the books we read each week. In these posts you will identify craft elements that you would like to emulate in your own work and discuss passages where authors demonstratemastery of craft. You will also have a chance to discuss your personal responses to books and read and respond to your peers’ ideas. These posts will also include a passage of your own writing, where you identify and imitate a paragraph or series of sentences that you find particularly exciting or impressive.

IN-CLASS WRITING EXERCISES

This class does not have a workshop component, however you will still have a chance to see a bit of each other’s writing. In every class we will complete in-class writing exercises based on the novels we read that week. You will have a chance to share and discuss these writing exercises with your peers. As with all writing classes, you willbe asked to create a supportive, creative community for sharing and responding to each other’s writing.

POLICIES

Class Attendance Policy

Please keep in mind that this course only meets ten times. Students are limited to one absence out of the ten classes. With each subsequent absence after the first, your final grade will drop a full letter grade. Students with three absences will be asked to leave the course. This is a discussion-based class, and punctuality is essential. If you are more than ten minutes late to class (or leave class early) without prior permission, this will count as an unexcused absence. Repeated tardiness will also be treated as an unexcused absence.

Grading

Class Participation (60%): This course depends on, above all else, student participation. It is crucial that you arrive at each class having carefully and thoroughly read the novel for the week. Class participation includes actively speaking up in class discussions (multiple times during a class period), asking questions of your peers, and making our visitors feel welcome with your questions and interest. We are here to exchange ideas, thoughts, and stories with one another in the hope that we will learn something about our own writing and writing in general. You will be expected to participate in every discussion, support and encourage your peers, help welcome the visiting writers into our classroom, and come prepared with thoughts about the book and questions to help sustain class discussions.

Canvas Posts (25%): Required Canvas posts include responses to the novels we read, preparation for author visits, and your own creative work. We will discuss these posts in more detail in class.

Group Presentations (10%): Students will present on the novels we’re reading in groups of 2-5 students, depending on our class size. More specific instructions regarding the form and content of these group presentations will be provided in class.

Creative Writing Program Events (5%):Attend three readings in the Creative Writing Program (poetry, fiction, or nonfiction). You may also attend a Writer’s Studio or Poet’s House in lieu of one reading.A full list of CW readings can be found at and

Please do not use electronic devices during readings. To receive credit for a reading, please arrive on time and attend the event in full.

LATE ASSIGNMENTS

Late Canvas posts will receive no grade higher than a C, unless prior arrangements have been made.

VISITOR PRIVACY

Our in-class discussions with visiting authors and editors are private conversations, not public events. Please don’t record, publish, or post a visitor’s statements or photos without prior approval from the visitor.

MISCELLANEOUS

Laptop and Electronics Policy:

Laptops should not be used in class, unless they are necessary for presentations or writing exercises.

All note-takingwill be done by hand.

Cell phones and other electronics need to be silenced and placed out of sight during class. Please

also limit your use of electronics during our class break. Use the break to move around or talk to each other.

Triggering Warnings

Course material may address multiple forms of violence, including but not limited to physical, sexual, child abuse, state violence, and systemic violence derived from racism, ableism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia. At times we will be reading the novels for the first time along with the students and won’t always be able to anticipate or give heads ups about violent content. Please know that we want the course to be accessible to everybody and will work to ensure that all our students have full access to the classroom experience. We are here to support your learning and growth as writers and readers in any way we can.

Students with Documented Disabilities: Students who may need an academic accommodation based on the impact of a disability will initiate the request with the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). Professional staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which the request is being made. Students should contact the OAE as soon as possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. The OAE is located at 563 Salvatierra Walk (phone: 723-1066, URL:

The Honor Code: The Honor Code is the University's statement on academic integrity. It articulates University expectations of students and faculty in establishing and maintaining the highest standards in academic work. You can find the full text of the honor code at the following link:

Plagiarism: Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, using ideas, information or quotes from published work or online sources without providing proper citations; copying all or part of an assignment from someone else; and turning in work you did for other classes.

CALENDAR

4/2 Week One: Welcome

4/9 Week Two: Mohsin Hamid, Exit West

4/16 Week Three:Publishing: an Editor and a VP of Field Sales (Publishers Group West) in conversation.

4/23 Week Four:Adam Johnson, The Orphan Master’s Son(author visit)

4/30 Week Five: Some of Us Are Not Here by Choice, Ammi Keller (author visit, book in manuscript)

5/7 Week Six: R.O. Kwan, The Incendiaries, (author visit, book in galleys available in class)

5/14 Week Seven:OttessaMoshfegh, Eileen (author visit via Skype)

5/21 Week Eight: Maria Hummel, Still Lives(author visit)

5/28 Memorial Day: Class rescheduled for 5/30; Jesmyn Ward,Sing, Unburied, Sing(author visit via Skype)

6/4 Week Ten: Final Day