Great Basin College ~ Nevada

Course Syllabus

ENG 221~ Writing Fiction – “Section 1001”

Ely Campus

~ Fall Semester, 2013 ~

Instructor: Carissa Boak

Section: 1001

Office Hours: By appointment.

Phone: (775) 289-3589

Skype: Carissa.boak@skype

E-mail: carissa.boak@.gbcnv.edu

Office Hours: By appointment

Location of Class & Time: Online

Length of Semester: Monday, August 26th, 2013 through Friday, December 13th, 2013

IMPORTANT DATES:

Holidays: Labor Day: September 2rd, Nevada Day: October 26th, Veteran’s Day: November 11th, Thanksgiving—November 28th and 29th, Finals Week December 10th-14th, grades due December 17th

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Texts:

SHORT STORIES

Crutcher, Chris. Athletic Shorts: Six Short StoriesGreenwillow Books; 2002 ISBN-13: 978-0060507831

Gaiman, Neil. Fragile Things. Harper; 2010 (IBSN-13 978-0060515232)

Atwan, Robert. The Best American Essays 2011 (ISBN-13: 978-0547840093)

WRITING GUIDE:

Bell, James Scott. The Art of War For Writers: Fiction Writing Strategies, Tactics, and Exercises; 2009 Writer’s Digest Books ISBN-13: 978-1582975900

Supplies:

Flash Drive

Notebook/Journal

Course Description

In this intermediate fiction workshop, the primary focus will be on your writing. Of natural course, most of the class time will be dedicated to discussing your work and exchanging critiques and ideas on how to improve upon a draft and your writing skills in general.

Through in/out of-class writing, primary text (which is your writing for the class) and assigned readings, discussions and presentations, we will examine the basic structure of the short story, as well as the basic elements of fiction such as characterization, dialogue, plot, theme, and viewpoint. Additionally, we will be taking a critical look at humor in fiction, form and style, and the last but certainly not the least, the fundamental grammar and language of fiction writing.

The secondary focus of this workshop will be on you, the writer.

Using the above quotations as springboard for a class symposium, we will be asking ourselves two questions: (1), Why do we write? And (2), Why write fiction in particular? During the first two weeks students will be encouraged to carry out a personal investigative analysis of what motivates, inspires, or inform their writing. The goal of this exercise is to assist students in their continued effort to develop a unique voice, language, and style that are original and totally unique to their personal aesthetic.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

You should be prepared to do a decent amount of reading—at least one short story a week. And as you can tell from the above list, you will read a wide range of short stories, to highlight the critical areas in your writing that need improvement.

Practice is emphasized over theory in this workshop, and you are expected to write and re-write at least one original short story. For the final project, you are expected to turn in a 25 – 30 double-paged story or novel extract.

WORKSHOP and DISCUSSION ETIQUETTE

A workshop and discussion is all about the work, the writing, and not about its participants. And that is exactly why it is called workshop and not personality shop. In this workshop your critique is expected to be about the work and not about its author, even if the author informs us that the material is autobiographical. Workshops will be held online. Everyone works at a different pace, everyone wants to write something that is meaningful to them. Anyone being rude or disrespectful to someone else will be asked to leave.

A writing workshop is a place where writers gather with the specific goal of not only bettering their own work, but also helping other participants to do so as well. The golden rule, therefore, is: treat your colleagues and their work as you would like you and your work to be treated. With respect and with the sole aim of helping them improve their work and writing skills. You are welcome to criticize constructively. You are not allowed to attack someone personally.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

 READING AND ANALYSIS – Engage in questions of justice, value, spirituality and meaning raised by literary texts in sophisticated written and oral responses.Measured by responses to quizzes and assignments outside of the creation of your short story portfolio.

 CRITICAL THINKING – Practice close reading, make sound interpretive arguments based on textual evidence, and make thinking visible through written and oral responses.

 CREATIVITY – Refine creativity through repeated cycles of problem-solving, risk-taking and experimentation.Measured by progress with writing the short story.

 TECHNICAL COMPETENCE – Utilize the library and other media resources, when relevant and useful, to the creation of literary writing. Develop the professional habits of a writer: revision, developing community, public reading, and submission for publication. This may also include the use of social media.

 A FINISHED PRODUCT – Produce a portfolio of work, which has progressed beyond the draft of apprentice stage most common in workshop, and can be reasonably called finished.

PLAGIARISM

GBC takes plagiarism very seriously. As an instructor I am required to report any case of suspected plagiarism to the department chair. So, please, just don’t do it. The repercussions to your grade and personal and artistic reputation is simply not worth it.

GRADES

Class participation and your critical response to assigned reading and primary text will carry 50% of your grade. The remaining 50% will be split between your home writing assignments (20%) and the effort you put in the final draft of your work (30%).