Creative Writing: Fiction
Class Information
Instructor: Corin, Lucy
Time: MW 12:10-1:30pm
Location: 248 Voorhies
Description
Admission to the course is by application as described on the department website. This creative writing course will introduce students to primary elements of literary practice and craft. You should love short stories, because we will be reading and writing short stories (not novels, though working in short form teaches you a lot about working in other forms). Whether you are writing about real or wholly imagined things, about young people or old people, animals or vegetables, here you will practice writing in the spirit of making something of lasting beauty and significance (even if we are all beginners for the rest of our lives). We not very much interested, in this class, in formulaic writing, or learning to produce what might be popular or broadly marketable; we are interested, rather, in finding what writing can help us do as we try to understand ourselves and engage inventively with our world via language (and if we're loved or paid for it, hooray!)
You'll be exposed to thinking about elements of craft like scene and summary, the role of physical detail, the nuance of point of view, creation of character, control of time, etc. but this quarter I want to focus on what happens when you try to locate your own "fingerprint" in your writing: what makes your writing yours.
Grading
the bulk of your grade with be determined by contract, that is, you earn points by completing assignments appropriately and on time. You can earn up to an A- in this as-objective-as-possible manner. A and A+ grades are reserved for students doing truly outstanding work beyond (in quality rather than quantity) the contractual aspects of the course, as determined by your professor.
Texts
PDFs supplied via Canvas