Enl 322 Fall 2014 the Craft of Fiction
ENL 322 – FALL 2014 – THE CRAFT OF FICTION
TENTATIVE CALENDAR
Please note that class meets only 12 times; no make-up sessions have been scheduled by SSU.
Class runs from 1:10 to 3:50 for a 2:40 minute session. Assuming a 10 minute break, each session lasts 2:30 hours, for a total of 30 contact hours. Yet, 45 contact hours over 15 weeks is the norm for a 3-credit class at most universities.
That discrepancy has repercussions for us:
· The amount of homework is assigned accordingly. It is due when due. We have no time to return to a project because of poor time management by a student. You have at least a week between assignment and completion.
· Devote at least 6 hours each week to out-of-class activity. If you need 2 minutes to read a page of text—fairly slow—then 100 pp of reading will take you 200 minutes, a bit over 3 hours. That leaves you plenty of opportunity to write the remainder of your homework.
· A single absence constitutes the loss of a week’s work. If you are absent, please do not pretend you do not know what the homework was. This calendar is a guide: changes are posted at www.salemstate.edu/~pglasser. Check your SSU email daily.
· Chronic lateness will compromise a stellar grade. The following explanations will not be greeted with sympathy:
o “I could not find a place to park.” Leave for school earlier, please.
o “The class I take before this is way far away.” That was your choice; room locations are published with the registration schedule. Consider dropping one or the other class.
o “The computer room was out of paper,” or “There was a long line of people at the printer.” Do you homework diligently; print it well before you are due in class. Plan and manage your time.
· Two absences is cause for failure. I apologize, but there can be no compromise on this draconian stance. If you become ill, apply for a medical leave of absence and drop all your classes and or simply drop this class before Nov. 21, the last day on which you may withdraw from a class with a W.
Please never ask for “make-up work.” That penalizes your instructor, frustrates collaboration goals of the class, and suggests that a single student be assessed on a model different from his/her classmates.
Please do not assume that family traditions or a planned family trip that require you to be out on Monday, Nov. 30 are in some way excused. If you and your family need to be together at Cinderella’s Castle, we wish you well, but we cannot agree to assess one student’s work on a system different from the rest of class. You had to know your family’s plans before you registered; why did you take a class that meets only on Mondays?
DATE / ACTIVITY & ASSIGNMENTSDeliverables in RED will be assessed by your instructor / DUE
SEP 8 / Orientation: The syllabus and Policies
Glasser
Lecture and discussion: What’s fiction?
What is a Writer’s Process? Make a Mess and Clean It
Write In class: TBD (let us hope)
HW: READ in Francine Prose: Chaps One, Three and Four.
Assign Collaborative Report on F. Prose (3 students)
SEP 15 / Plot and Structure
Freitag’s Triangle
Collab Report (30 minutes) on F. Prose
Building and Imagining Character
Lecture and Discussion: Freud, Glasser, Plato and You.
Is character the sum of:
· The interaction of ego, id, and super-ego, OR
· Wants, Fears, and Needs, OR
· Reason, Will and Desire, OR
· ... what do you think?
How is character different from characterization?
WRITE IN CLASS: Exercise TBD
HW: READ in Francine Prose: Chaps Six, Seven, and Nine
Assign Collaborative Report on F. Prose (3 students)
SEP 22 / Collab Report (30 minutes) on F. Prose
Character II
Lecture and Discussion:
The Social Creation of character:
· Family
· Religion
· Society
Why do plot and structure require “rebels” or “travelers?”
WRITE IN CLASS: Exercise TBD
SEP 29 / Characterization
Dialog, gesture, and action
Lecture and discussion: Tone and Language
Lean and Evocative: Necessary and Sufficient
I Gotta Use words when I talk to you
WRITE IN CLASS: Exercise TBD
HW READ in Francine Prose Chap Eight.
HW: Assign Character Sketch employing gesture, dialog and action
OCT 6 / Character sketch draft due
Exchange and Assess, Reading aloud
HW: Assigned Readings – a contemporary fiction writer
Options will include: Steve Yarbrough, Alice Munro, Jenifer Egan, Bob Shacochis, Antonya Nelson, Rick Bass, Ron Carlson, Lee K. Abbot, Andre DuBus II, Haruki Murakami, J.D. Salinger (short fiction only), Annie Proulx, Tim Gautreaux, Sherman Alexie, et al.
WRITE IN CLASS: Exercise TBD / ± 4 pp. Draft
OCT 13 / COLUMBUS DAY HOLIDAY
OCT 20 / Lecture and Discussion: Setting
In search of style
Readings Report – analysis of a contemporary writer’s manipulation of language, selection of detail, action, and dialog, to power plot and reveal character
Character Sketch FINAL due / ± 4 pp.
± 4 pp
OCT 27 / HW: Assigned Readings and Francinc Prose’s Chap Ten
2 stories by Chekhov: “The Lady With a Dog,” Gooseberries,”
Readings Report – analysis of a Chekhov’s selection of detail, dialog, and action to power plot and reveal character.
HW: F. Prose’s Chap 11
HW: Assign the Final project
NOV 3 / Analysis of Chekhov due
Escape Date
Review
WRITE IN CLASS: Exercise TBD / ± 3
NOV 10 / VETERANS DAY HOLIDAY
NOV 17 / Project drafts first scene due and exchanged / ± 8 pp
NOV 24 / Revision/writing in class
NOV 30 / Project drafts first & second scenes due and exchanged / ± 20 pp
DEC 8 / Drop in conferences
DEC 17 / FINAL EXAM DATE. FINAL PROJECT IS DUE.
Two sequential scenes from a single story illustrating control over several elements of fiction craft, especially nuance of characterization, setting, gesture, detail, and dialog.
The completed and revised set of exercises gathered into a writer’s workbook / ± 24 pages
± 12 pages