Fall 2004

E 325 • Creative Writing: Fiction

Course Description

This Creative Writing course will begin by focusing on the mechanics (structure, narrative voice, dialogue, character development, etc.) within selected fiction, allowing you to study the different elements you will use later as you write your own short stories.

Grading Policy

After reading assigned stories, you will be responsible for writing three Response Papers (2-3 pages in length) on at least one of the elements you felt the author used effectively or ineffectively, as the case may be.

You will also be responsible for writing two short stories (8-10 pages in length). I will respond to your first story directly, providing you with a written critique. Your second story will be discussed within a workshop setting.

Aside from your handwritten comments on your classmates’ work, you will be responsible for writing a detailed critique (1-2 pages, typed, double-spaced) for each workshop story. These reviews are due on the day the story is discussed. I will collect your written critique at the end of the class and then hand it to the student the following week. Come to class prepared to discuss the assigned reading, whether it is a selected work or a workshop story. Attendance is required.

3 response papers 20%
Classroom participation/Critiques 20%
2 stories 60%
There will be no final exam.

Texts

R. V. Cassill, ed., The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction (5th ed., Longer)

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