ENG 242 Creative Writing 3 credits I. Course Description: Study and practice of techniques used in fiction, poetry, and drama. Students will read, examine, and critique various styles, forms, structures, and tropes of imaginative writing through review of works of literature. Students will also produce original imaginative works in poetry, fiction and drama. II. III. IV. Prerequisite: None Rationale for Course Level: This course fulfills Humanities elective requirements and intended for a second-year student. There are no prerequisites since it is offered on a three-year rotation with other electives and students may elect to take it earlier in their academic career. Suggested Textbooks: Bernays, Anne and Pamela Painter. What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers. New York: Longman, 2009. V. Other Requirements and/or Materials for the Course: None. Student Learning Course Objectives: Institutional Learning Goals: Students will: 1) Demonstrate competency in reading, writing, oral communication, and numerical literacy 2) Be able to evaluate information 3) Consider multiple perspectives from the diversity of human experience Course Student learning outcomes: 1) Students will create poetry incorporating basic elements such as meter, rhythm, rhyme, and stress. 2) Students will explain the basic elements of drama such as acts, scenes, and characters. 3) Students will examine and critique various styles, forms, structures, and tropes of imaginative writing. 4) Students will create a piece of fiction writing including basic elements such as point of view, plot, characterization, and setting. 5) Students will create a piece of drama incorporating basic elements of drama such as acts, scenes, and characters.
VI. Suggested Course Outline: Week 1 Introductions Writing Journey Maps Poetry Handouts Journals Read Bernays Part 13, p. 261-262 Playing with Poetry Week 2 Structure, Meter, Rhyme and Scheme Read Poems (Handouts) Poetry Writing Tips Week 3 Types of Poems Read Poems (Handouts) Intro Poetry Portfolio Assignment Week 4 Types of Poems Week 5 Types of Poems DUE Wednesday, Sep. 26: Poetry Portfolio Poetry Slam in class Wednesday Week 6 Elements of Drama Read Bernays Part 4, p. 73-74 Creating Conversations Week 7 Read script handout Watch film (TBD) Week 8 Week 9 DUE Wednesday, Oct. 24: One Act Play Reader s Theater presentation of student works Week 10
Read Bernays Parts 1, p. 5-6 and 6, p. 111-113 Getting Started Plot Week 11 Read Bernays Parts 2, p. 31-32 and 5, p. 89-93 Characterization Week 12 Read Bernays Parts 3, p. 55-56 and 7, p. 133-134 Putting it all together Week 13 Read Bernays Part 8, p.143 Tips and tricks Week 14 Read Bernays Part 10, p.197-198 Rewriting and revision Week 15 Handouts on publishing (e-books, print, Writers Market, and more!) Query letters Exam week Dec. 10 & 12 -- Publishing VII. Suggested Course Evaluation: Assignment Points % of grade Poetry portfolio 50 11% Poetry Slam 25 6% One Act Play 50 11% Readers' Theater 25 6% Short Story 1 50 11% Short Story 2 50 11% Story publishing 25 6% Query letter 25 6% Journals (min. of 20; 5 points each) 100 22% Attendance/participation 50 11% Extra credit option (assignment TBD) 15 3% Total points 465 103% Grading Policy Grades will be determined by the following scale: 94-100 A 82-80 B- 69-67 D+ 90-93 A- 79-77 C+ 66-63 D 87-89 B+ 76-73 C 62-60 D- 86-83 B 72-70 C- 59-0 F
VIII. Bibliography: On Language, Grammar and Style Hacker, Diana. The Bedford Handbook. Sixth Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin s, 2002. Kane, Thomas S. The Oxford Guide to Writing: A Rhetoric and Handbook for College Students. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. Murray, Donald M. The Craft of Revision. Third Edition. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1998. Williams, Joseph M. Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace. Sixth Edition. New York: Longman, 2000. On Creative Writing Bishop, Wendy. Working Words: The Process of Creative Writing. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, 1992.5 DeMaria, Robert. The College Handbook of Creative Writing. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991. Jason, Philip K. and Allan B. Lefcowitz. Creative Writer s Handbook. Third Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999. Minot, Stephen. Three Genres: The Writing of Poetry, Fiction, and Drama. Sixth Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1998. Fiction Collections and Anthologies Cassill, R. V. and Richard Bausch, eds. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Shorter Seventh Edition. New York: Norton, 2006. Charters, Ann and Samuel, eds.. Literature and Its Writers: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Boston: Bedford, 1997. Charters, Ann, ed. Major Writers of Short Fiction: Stories and Commentaries. St. Martin s Press, 1993. Driscoll, Jack. Wanting Only To Be Heard. Amherst, Massachusetts: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1992. Gwynn, R. S., ed. Fiction: A Pocket Anthology. Third Edition. New York: Longman, 2002. Kennedy, X. J. and Dana Gioia, eds. An Introduction to Fiction. Seventh Edition. Longman: New York, 1999. Oates, Joyce Carol, ed. The Oxford Book of American Short Stories. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Oates, Joyce Carol and Christopher R. Beha. The Ecco Anthology of Contemporary American Short Fiction. New York: Harper Perennial, 2008. Fiction On Fiction and Fiction Writing Bailey, Tom, ed. On Writing Short Stories. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Bell, Madison Smartt. Narrative Design: Working with Imagination, Craft, and Form. New York: Norton, 1997. Bernays, Anne and Pamela Painter. What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers. Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. Burroway, Janet. Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft. Fifth Edition. New York: Longman, 2000. Cohen, Richard. Writer s Mind: Crafting Fiction. Lincolnwood, Illinois: NTC Publishing, 1995. Diogenes, Marvin and Clyde Moneyhun. Crafting Fiction: In Theory, In Practice. Mountain View, California: Mayfield, 2001. Graves, Donald H. Experiment with Fiction. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1989. Leebron, Fred and Andrew Levy. Creating Fiction: A Writer s Companion. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1995.
Macauley, Robie. Technique in Fiction. New York: St Martins, 1987. Schoen, Steven. The Truth About Fiction. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000. Stern, Jerome. Making Shapely Fiction. New York: Norton, 1991. Poetry--Collections and Anthologies Allen, Donald & George F. Butterick, eds. The Postmoderns: The New American Poetry Revised. New York: Grove, 1982.6 Benedikt, Michael, ed. The Prose Poem: An International Anthology. New York: Dell, 1976. Collins, Billy. Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry. New York: Random House, 2003. Creeley, Robert. Just in Time: Poems 1984-1994. New York: New Directions, 2001. --- and David Lehman, eds. The Best American Poetry 2010. New York: Scribner, 2010. Dacey, Philip and David Jauss. Strong Measures: Contemporary American Poetry in Traditional Forms. New York: HarperCollins, 1986. DeRoche, Joseph. The Heath Introduction to Poetry. Sixth Edition. Lexington, MA: Heath, 2000. Ellman, Richard and Robert O Clair, eds. The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. Second Edition. New York: Norton, 1988. Friebert, Stuart and David Young. The Longman Antho1ogy of Contemporary Poetry. Second Edition. New York: Longman, 1989. Harper, Michael S. and Anthony Walton, eds. The Vintage Book of African American Poetry. New York: Vintage, 2000. The Hudson Book of Poetry: 150 Poems Worth Reading. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2002. Hunter, J. Paul, Allison Booth, and Kelly J. Mays, eds. The Norton Introduction to Poetry. New York: Norton, 2002. Parini, Jay. The Wadsworth Anthology of Poetry. Boston. Thomson Wadsworth, 2006 Paschen, Elise and Rebekah Presson Mosby, eds. Poetry Speaks (Expanded, w/ audio CD s). Naperville, IL. Sourcebooks, Inc,. 2007 Poulin, A., Jr. and Michael Waters, eds. Contemporary American Poetry 7th edition. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Vendler, Helen. Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology. Boston: St. Martin s Press, 1997. Poetry On Poetry and Poetry Writing Addonizio, Kim. Ordinary Genius, A Guide for the Poet Within. New York: Norton, 2009. Behn, Robin and Chase Twichell, eds. The Practice of Poetry. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Bishop, Wendy. Thirteen Ways of Looking for a Poem: A Guide to Writing Poetry. New York: Longman, 2000. Bly, Robert. American Poetry: Wildness and Domesticity. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. Boland, Eavan. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms.. New York: Norton, 2000. Drake, Barbara. Writing Poetry. Second Edition. New York: Harcourt, 1992. Friebert, Stuart and David Young. A Field Guide to Contemporary Poetry and Poetics. New York, Longman, 1980. Goldberg, Natalie. Writing Down the Bones. Boston: Shambala, 1986. Kennedy, X.J. and Gioia, Dana, eds. An Introduction to Poetry, 13th ed. New York: Longman, 2010. Kowit, Steve. In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet s Portable Workshop. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House, 1995.
Mason, David and John Frederick Nims, eds. Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006 McCorkle, James, ed. Conversant Contemporary Poets on Poetry. Detroit: Wayne State University. Press, 1990. Myers, Jack & Michael Simms. The Longman Dictionary of Poetic Terms. New York: Longman, 1989.7 Padgett, Ron, ed. The Teachers and Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms.New York: Teachers and Writers Collaborative, 1987. Preminger, Alex and Terry V.F. Brogan, Eds.; The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. Strand, Mark. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. New York: Norton, 2001. Turco, Lewis. The Book of Forms, A Handbook of Poetics, 3rd Edition. Boston: University Press of New England, 2000 Wallace, Robert and Michelle Boisseau. Writing Poems. Fifth Edition. New York: Longman, 2000. Syllabus Prepared By: Sarah Prielipp, English Instructor, M.A. Created July 2012