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378954: Speculative Fiction and Magical Realism > Syllabus 378954: Speculative Fiction and Magical Realism WRITING-X 413.9E Spring 2021 Section 1 3 Credits 04/07/2021 to 06/15/2021 Modified 04/04/2021 Meeting Times New course material will be published on Wednesdays. Creative Responses are due by Tuesday, 11:59pm. Feedback and reading responses are due by Wednesday, 11:59pm. Description Reality is frequently inaccurate. Why not accurately depict that? This workshop is dedicated to kick-starting your imagination with the help of visualization and acting exercises, Oulipo writing prompts, and other creative techniques. We take a leap beyond the ordinary with examples on how to craft an engaging alternate reality, flesh out an enthralling non-human character, or dream up an unforgettable story line in space. At the end of 10 weeks, you have a better grip on how to apply creative writing techniques designed to help you think outside the box for your own speculative fiction story. Objectives 1. You will read and analyze seminal works in 21st Century American Speculative fiction by a variety of authors from different ethnicities, class, and gender, with the eye of a creator and not a reviewer. 2. You will develop the muscle of writing, build a writing practice, and participate in a literary community based on writing exercises, discussion threads, and engaging in feedback. 3. You will construct your own novums based on studying the ones in this course in order to write your own. 4. You will identify and practice craft techniques used in literary fiction such as Voice, Character, and Structure, to implement in your own work. 5. You will build a language of craft that is specific to Speculative Fiction after observing the genre conventions in published works and in your own pieces to explain your creative process and authorial intentions. Outcomes 1. When given a speculative story, you will be able to identify what craft techniques are being used to highlight the novum in a story, and what genre category the story falls under or uses e.g. Science Fiction, Fantasy, Magical Realism, or Speculative. 2. Develop skills in literary analysis, including comprehension of narrative fundamentals of point of view, character, voice, and structure (plot). 3. Develop the ability to critique your own writing by giving developmental edits and feedback on pieces using the craft characteristics on which these identification was based. 4. You will complete a short story not exceeding 4,000 words that will be read by your peers in a workshop and leave the course with 1 of 11 a more polished, second draft of your story. 5. Gain a skillset for completing creative/open-ended assignments. You will complete four 500-word assignments weekly for classmates to give feedback on (thus also giving feedback to your classmates.) 6. Produce writing that is original and imaginative with your own individual style and tone, and develop the commitment to writing in a short time span. Deliverables 1. Complete four 500-word assignments weekly for classmates to give feedback on as well as turn in four responses to your classmates' short weekly pieces. 2. Hand in a 4,000 word max prose piece for the final workshop. This is to be built on what you've worked on from the longer assignments. You will also have to turn in a letter of feedback to one of your peers. Evaluation Criteria Type Weight Topic Notes Minimum 5 exercises + final 700 Depending on the prompt. 100 points for turning in a creative piece and response, 50 points for a piece points reading response. Discussion & Workshop 300 Workshop Feedback & 60 points per reading discussion + comment. There are 5 stories total: Participation points Comments 300 points. 60 points per workshop feedback/per week. Breakdown A - 900-1000 points B – 800-899 points C – 650-799 points F – 0-649 points Course Policies Online Participation Active participation in the virtual classroom is one of the most important and valuable aspects of this course. This means that you’ll respond to your classmates’ posts on a regular basis. Please bear in mind when responding to your classmates that we aren’t able to communicate online the same way we do in person (through voice intonation, facial expression, and gestures). While a friendly sense of humor is always a nice touch, things like sarcasm don’t usually translate well to comments in the online classroom and can lead to misunderstandings and hurt feelings. Also, because writing courses involve exposing personal information, and it takes a great deal of trust to share one’s writing with a group, it is absolutely vital that all class members respect one another and that this remains a safe space for you to share. Disrespectful comments about a classmate’s race, religion, sexual orientation, etc., will not be tolerated. I expect that even when you disagree with one another, you will be polite in your discourse and use tact when discussing each other’s sensitive work. 2 of 11 Participation This is an exercise-based class. As such, your work and the work of your peers is very much in discovery mode. We are exploring and expanding our notions of what our work can be, rather than submitting polished drafts. Please keep that in mind while striving to offer meaningful feedback. Each week, there will be readings, discussion, and a choice of three short writing exercises. You are required to submit four exercise responses and one longer piece in total. You are required to respond to readings each week, as part of the overall class discussion to strengthen your prose. In order to accommodate everyone's work with feedback, please comment on the piece submitted above yours. I will check-in with comments and short responses/feedback to others' comments throughout the week but will hold off in providing longer and more in-depth feedback until after the deadline. This is because I do not want to color anyone's opinions with my authority and you are welcome to comment on my feedback as well. I have provided a rubric by which you would adhere to in order to give feedback. I've found it most useful to grade this way to help you practice critiquing as a writer, as well as giving specific, craft related feedback to your peers: Example of rubric: To be addressed Points Whose story is it? How is the character and narrative voice pushed and played with? What is going on plot-wise aka what is happening? 15 Drawing from the text, how did you form your opinions to how the speaker came across to you? Taking a look at language, content, 10 structure, and how information was revealed. This leads to what stuck with you after reading the piece? What resonated? What kept you reading/interested/intrigued in the work? What were some of the promises the text made at the beginning that were fulfilled 10 or left unanswered? This leads to one to three questions you have about the piece—perhaps somewhere you were confused, taken out of the story? Respond to one other classmates' response. Do you agree, disagree, feel as though they gave an insight to something you didn't expect, 15 change or deepen your understanding of the text? Late Assignments If you will be turning in late work, you will receive credit for completion but do not expect feedback from me or our class. I've designed the course so that we all have ample time to read and give responses on all of the pieces, and it would be unfair to ask everyone to wait for your entry as we move along with the course. If for whatever reason, life gets in the way (e.g. travel, work) please let me know no later than 48 hours before the deadline so that I can grant you an extension and alert the class. Again, I do not expect everyone else to comment on your work should you turn it in late, but at least I can plan to give comments. Incomplete Assignments: Since part of your grade is dependent on discussions, dialogue, and critique you will be giving others, in order to receive feedback on your pieces, you must also give feedback. Again, if you are turning in your writing exercises and long draft, but not participating in giving feedback, do not expect your peers to provide responses to your work. The Writers’ Workshop Instruction in the Writers’ Program follows the guidelines established by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) guidelines for the teaching of creative writing, which include a “challenging writers’ workshop” as a hallmark. They define this as …a seminar in which students critique one another’s work under the mentorship of an accomplished writer-teacher. The workshop is writing intensive, offering each student multiple opportunities for submission and revision of creative work. (AWP) This method of instruction is considered the gold standard for developing writers at all levels of expertise, and workshopping is a 3 of 11 key learning tool in nearly every course offered by the Writers’ Program. Workshopping teaches you to read and respond to written work from a variety of perspectives, and hearing critique of your own writing will help you understand how successfully your work achieves your goals. Every student is expected to participate fully in workshopping activities as defined by and guided by Writers’ Program instructors. Scope of Work for Instructors Each Writers’ Program instructor has signed an agreement to teach the curriculum in their course, following a syllabus of their own design with approval by the Writers’ Program director. Instructors are never obligated to read, review, critique, respond to, or otherwise address student work that has not been developed for their course or in response to specific assignments in their course.
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