Assignments for 12/7

Bring 3-5 pieces of work (poems, stories, essays) to workshop in class.

Work on Goldberg exercises assignment: Choose one topic from the chapter called “A List of Topics for Writing Practice,” follow the instructions for that topic, and freewrite as much as possible. Next, take this material and write one poem, one story, and one essay, and if you can write a hybrid piece that uses elements from the various genres all in one.

Also, you should be talking to your group about the final group publishing project. The final class meeting is 12/14 during which time you will have the opportunity to read from your final portfolio, present your group publishing project, and think about what you will do after this class with your writing practice.

The final portfolio assignment sheet is posted on myemich under files. Please read and print this and bring questions about the assignment with you to class next week.

assignments for 11/30

1. Read the Goldberg chapters listed on the syllabus and print points to discuss to class.

2. Go through the Yedda Morrison websites below to see the art/visual work and read some of the poetry of Yedda Morrison. Print and read the poems from the dusie.org and the shampoopoetry sites to discuss in class. Bring 2 points for discussion to share in class from the visual or textual work.

3. Type up essay writing exercise (posted below)

YEDDA MORRISON

Writer and visual artist Yedda Morrison was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her books include Darkness, Chapter 1 (Little Red Leaves, 2009), Girl Scout Nation (Displaced Press, 2008), My Pocket Park (Dusie Press, 2007), Co (Collaborations with Bruce Andrews, Roof Books, 2006) and Crop (Kelsey Street Press, 2003). Morrison was a founding editor of Tripwire: a Journal of Experimental Poetics and Visual Art. She has performed and exhibited her work in the US and Canada and is represented by Republic Gallery in Vancouver, BC. She currently lives in Montreal.

Samples of work :

http://yeddamorrison.com/
http://www.dusie.org/morrison.html
http://www.shampoopoetry.com/ShampooTwentyfour/morrison.html
Review of work http://jacketmagazine.com/32/russo-morrison.shtml


Writing Nonfiction Exercise


Kim Barnes: “What is a Word Worth?”
I often speak to my writing students about "bringing their intellect to bear" as they compose their personal essays. What I mean by this is that the best literary nonfiction should work at a number of different levels, including the level of intellectual stimulation. The problem we face as writers of nonfiction is how to challenge our individual stories--how to take the narrative itself and expand its breadth and reach to encompass more of the world.
One exercise that I use to help my students achieve this goal involves building an essay from a single word. First, the students each choose one word--any word--to which they are particularly drawn, a word that resonates for them. A young man just discharged from the military chose "paratrooper"; a middle-aged woman of Scottish descent chose "bagpipes." I then require that the students write five sections of nonfiction revolving around this single word: The first, third, and fifth sections must be personal memories triggered by the word, and they must be written in present tense no matter the actual chronology; the second and fourth sections must be more analytical, intellectual, philosophical, and explore the word in a more scholarly way. I direct the students to study the word's derivation and history. They often find passages in religious texts and mythologies that inform the word's meaning in their own experience. Some discuss the word's appearance and use in contemporary literature or film.
The goal of this exercise is to weave the word's broader application into the writer's personal experience. Ideally, the five sections weave together and inform one another and bring to the essay a kind of intellectual unity as well as a greater depth and complexity.

from: http://www.chsbs.cmich.edu/Robert_Root/AWP/cnf.htm

writing exercise 11/16

• Try to identify your earliest childhood memory. Write down everything you can remember about it. Rewrite it as a scene. You may choose to do this from your current perspective or from the perspective you had at that age.

• Remember an old argument you had with another person. Write about the argument from the point of view of the other person. Remember that the idea is to see the argument from their perspective, not your own. This is an exercise in voice, not in proving yourself right or wrong.

Choose one of the above and write everything you can. Then decide whether you want to turn it into an essay or a fictional story, based on the stylistic characteristics for each genre. Transform the piece from a memory into a dynamic piece of writing.

Assignments: 11/9 & 11/16

Post your response to Bhanu Kapil's reading last week. And your fiction dialogue piece.

11/9 Rodrigo Toscano reading 6:30pm (since this is during class time, you will get double points for the response; if you don’t post a response you will NOT receive credit for attendance)

Dreamland Theater, downtown Ypsi
26 N. Washington St. (at N. Congress)

http://www.dreamlandtheater.com/
(go to the website to see map)


For 11/16

1. Post a blog response about Toscano’s performance

2. Read, print, bring the Essay Packet posted on myemich files; come prepared to discuss one or two points of interest from the packet

3. Choose one of the following writing exercises and type up a new fiction piece:

*Make a list of four qualities that describe a character real or imagined. Place that character in a scene and write the scene so that the qualities are conveyed through significant detail. Use no generalizations and no judgments. No word on your list should appear in the scene.

*Use a page from the dictionary, pull out a few words, use these to begin writing a story.

*Write a 200-word description of a place. You can use any and all sensory descriptions but sight: you can describe what it feels like, sounds like, smells like and even tastes like. Try to write the description in such a way that people will not miss the visual details. Put a character in that place and have her/him do something.

*Sit in a restaurant or a crowded area and write down the snippets of conversation you hear. Listen to the people around you — how they talk and what words they use. Once you have done this, you can practice finishing their conversations. Write your version of what comes next in the conversation. Match their style.

for Mon 11/2

1. Portfolio Due (include your strongest work from the poetry and fiction writing exercises, and then other work if you like; you should have more poetry than fiction). Include your list of Terms with the portfolio; see Terms file attached in myemich: the highlighted terms are the ones you should have definitions/examples for and include with the portfolio.

2. Goldberg Chapters listed on syllabus; bring your book, I will be checking and giving credit to those who have their books.

3. Email me one of your fiction pieces that you would like feedback on, esp. if you want to revise it for the portfolio.

4. Toscano: Rodrigo Toscano will be reading on Mon., 11/9 at 6:30. Look at his work on the following web sites and PRINT and READ the designated poems. We'll be listening to some of the work in class and talking about sound and performance, and the relationship between the written text and the performed text.

Web Sites: EPC : under Multi-Vocalic Poems, PRINT AND READ "Eco-Strato-Static"; READ "Balm to Bilk"
Also, read paragraphs 1-13 of the article on Toscano in: Jacket 38

**Also, I would again like to remind you all that both attendance and participation are part of your final grade (120 points of the total are for attendance AND participation); absences and lack of preparation for, and participation in class will result in reduced points and will affect your final grade. Reading, writing, participating, and attending are crucial to your success in this class.

Bhanu Kapil's Blog: http://jackkerouacispunjabi.blogspot.com/

assignments for Mon 10/26

1. The Kapil book Incubation is available at Ned's. Read this and bring 2-3 points of interest that you can share with the class; be specific and be prepared to discuss your points.

2. Go back and look at the Field story A I; we'll start class by talking about this story in terms of its form and structure, language, character, and plot.

3. Type up one page from the fiction postcard exercise we did in class; the story doesn't have to be finished; turn in what you can.

4. This week's terms: connotative, irony, paradox, form, genre, style, narrative and story, plot, point of view; type up a short definition and give an example (from something we've read or discussed if you can); I'll collect your list of terms so-far completed with the midterm portfolio.


Also, please note that the Kapil reading is on Tue 11/3; info is on the syllabus; you should plan to attend.

for Mon 10/19

1. Read the stories by Evanson and Field (Proulx is optional); print and bring these to class; type up 2-3 paragraphs that explain (specifically) 1-2 points of interest for each story and post this on the blog.

2. Read the Goldberg chapters listed on the syllabus and the Burroway (pdf posted on myemich)

3. Do the fiction writing exercise from the Burroway packet: p74, #4; use this as a starting point for a potential piece of fiction writing. First do some freewriting in which you list as many concretete and sensory details and etc. Next, think about using these details to write a story in which you have a character or two, in a place/space where something happens (it can be anything subtle or grand). Turn in one typed page on Monday.

4. The Midterm Portfolio Assignment sheet is also now posted on myemich, under files.

quick reference page for rhythm, meter, and feet in poetry

http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/meter.html

for Mon 10/12

1. Define and give an example for the terms: rhythm, foot, meter, rhyme from the terms handout.

2. Bring 3-4 typed poems to exchange and workshop in class. Also, remember to hold on to the drafts of poems so that you can include both early drafts and final revised poems in the portfolio that will be due in a few weeks.

3. Read the fiction packet #1 (short short fiction) and the Burroway on writing fiction (print this and start reading through what you can; we’ll talk about it over the next few classes).

4. Writing exercise: write a poem “about” or inspired by an abstract term (such as excitement, happiness, peace, truth, beautiful, anxiety). You cannot use this term anywhere in the poem. You should use images, concrete and sensory details, metaphor and simile instead of abstractions.

Please remember that attendance and participation make up part of your grade. If you are missing class or leaving early on a regular basis this will affect your grade. Additionally, when you are absent you miss assignments and discussion that help you to do the assignments and work for the class.

for Mon 10/5

Find the list of terms that is attached to the syllabus. The assignment for the terms is to define and give an example for each of the following, from the list: hyperbole, syntax, metaphor, simile, lyric, stanza. We'll be discussing and defining this list over the course of the semester.

Also, the writing exercise we did in class was from a handout. I will be in my office before class, or can distribute the handout in class if you missed it, and then you can at least write a poem, from the exercise, to include in the midterm portfolio.

This week we will be discussing Roberson's City Eclogue, and you should post 3 things on your blog that interest you about the book. Read all of it if you can, but specifically focus on some sections or pieces that are interesting to you.

for next week

1. type up the 3 poems from the writing exercise in class: make a list of 20 intriguing, concrete words from anywhere in the sonnet poem packet; delete the five weakest words; write 3 poems in which you use at least 10 of the 15 words in each poem (you might think of it as writing 3 versions of the word poem, using the same 10-15 words)

2. read the poetry packet, posted on myemich for this class; post your 2-3 points of interest on anything from the packet on your blog for this week's response and bring those points to class fro discussion

3. read the Goldberg chapters listed on the syllabus from Writing Down the Bones (also available as a pdf on the course site via emich

Welcome to Creative Writing

This is the class blog. Links to class members' blogs are listed to the right. Weekly class and blog assignments may be posted here, but don't rely on this space only for understanding what is happening in class from week to week; make sure to keep notes and write down assignments as they are announced in class on Mondays.