This was our last class of the semester. Thanks so much for a delightful time. I found our discussions entertaining and, often, illuminating. I hope you enjoyed the course as much as I did.
FINAL PROJECT
Your final portfolio is due during Finals Week. You must turn in a collection of eight flash stories and/or prose poems. These pieces should be thoughtfully and thoroughly revised.
Turn in your portfolio to my office, Reed Hall 135.
Deadline: 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 10. This is the second-to-last day of Finals Week.
Good luck!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Class 13
HOMEWORK FOR THE LAST CLASS:
1) FGCU Student Evaluation of Instruction -- please fill out your course evaluations immediately! And please spend a good amount of time on it. We have never offered this kind of course before, and so your feedback will be an important factor in deciding whether we will offer something like this again. Plus I value the feedback of my creative writing students as I continue to hone my own teaching practices. Please fill out the written part of the evaluation as thoroughly as you can.
2) Read Letters to Wendy's & write a Reading Response
3) Creative Assignment: Create a work that follows a grammatical system but does not make rational sense. Play with language, a la Gertrude Stein.
4) Bring a revised piece in to workshop.
P.S. Here are some of the things we looked at today:
"Venus of Urbino" by Titian
"Olympia" by Edouard Manet
"The Clarinet Player" by Pablo Picasso
"The Convergence of the Twain" by Thomas Hardy
"Be Drunk" by Charles Baudelaire
Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously by Noam Chomsky
1) FGCU Student Evaluation of Instruction -- please fill out your course evaluations immediately! And please spend a good amount of time on it. We have never offered this kind of course before, and so your feedback will be an important factor in deciding whether we will offer something like this again. Plus I value the feedback of my creative writing students as I continue to hone my own teaching practices. Please fill out the written part of the evaluation as thoroughly as you can.
2) Read Letters to Wendy's & write a Reading Response
3) Creative Assignment: Create a work that follows a grammatical system but does not make rational sense. Play with language, a la Gertrude Stein.
4) Bring a revised piece in to workshop.
P.S. Here are some of the things we looked at today:
"Venus of Urbino" by Titian
"Olympia" by Edouard Manet
"The Clarinet Player" by Pablo Picasso
"The Convergence of the Twain" by Thomas Hardy
"Be Drunk" by Charles Baudelaire
Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously by Noam Chomsky
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Class 12
Today we discussed the "lyric argument," a technique used in many of the poems we read for today. Whereas the classic prosaic argument proceeds using hypotaxis (that is to say, its connections are explicitly made: A and B and C therefore X), the lyric argument proceeds using parataxis (that is, in a list, where the connections not explicitly made and the conclusions ambiguous: A, B, C, X).
Poems like "Vespers," "Women's Novels," and "Footnote" also proceed using antithesis: a duality between two things.
Poems like "Of Flesh & Spirit," "The Exodus," and "An Anointing" could be considered "braided arguments," in that they are a series of thematically linked stanzas.
In class we did two writing assignments to help you get started on this week's homework assignment:
1. ANTITHESIS
Set up a duality of competing desires (Men want X / Women want Y; Kids want X / Adults want Y; Liberals want X / Conservatives want Y, etc.). Make a list, using antithesis, and use this as the basis for a poem.
2. BRAIDING
First pick a theme, a "big" theme: love, death, birth, sex, and so on. Now write five stanzas:
The first stanza should be a narrative, a story involving this theme.
The second stanza should be an observation about society, with regards to your theme.
The third stanza should be a memory you have involving your theme.
The fourth stanza should provide some history of your theme.
The fifth stanza should tell a joke about your theme.
Now keep going, as you see fit.
HOMEWORK
1) Read "Syntax and Grammatical Inversion" & write a Reading Report.
2) Write a prose poem that uses lists, antithesis, or a "lyric argument."
3) Bring a revised peice to class for workshop.
IMPORTANT NOTE!
We meet on Tuesday of next week, not Wednesday.
Poems like "Vespers," "Women's Novels," and "Footnote" also proceed using antithesis: a duality between two things.
Poems like "Of Flesh & Spirit," "The Exodus," and "An Anointing" could be considered "braided arguments," in that they are a series of thematically linked stanzas.
In class we did two writing assignments to help you get started on this week's homework assignment:
1. ANTITHESIS
Set up a duality of competing desires (Men want X / Women want Y; Kids want X / Adults want Y; Liberals want X / Conservatives want Y, etc.). Make a list, using antithesis, and use this as the basis for a poem.
2. BRAIDING
First pick a theme, a "big" theme: love, death, birth, sex, and so on. Now write five stanzas:
The first stanza should be a narrative, a story involving this theme.
The second stanza should be an observation about society, with regards to your theme.
The third stanza should be a memory you have involving your theme.
The fourth stanza should provide some history of your theme.
The fifth stanza should tell a joke about your theme.
Now keep going, as you see fit.
HOMEWORK
1) Read "Syntax and Grammatical Inversion" & write a Reading Report.
2) Write a prose poem that uses lists, antithesis, or a "lyric argument."
3) Bring a revised peice to class for workshop.
IMPORTANT NOTE!
We meet on Tuesday of next week, not Wednesday.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Class 11
Materials for today's class: The "Whither Prose Poetry" handout.
Notes from today's discussion:
What are the differences in expectations when a reader approaches a story versus a poem?
Reader expects a plot, beginning, middle, end, characters in a story.
Line breaks, meter, rhyme in poetry.
Meaning is on the surface in a story, but “hidden” in a poem. Requires more thought. Encourages a “mental free play.”
Full meaning in a poem is never fully disclosed.
Stories are more concrete. Poems can be more a snapshot of emotion or various abstractions, eg. Love.
What are the differences in responsibilities when a writer creates a story versus a poem?
In a story: character development, language has more breadth, concrete language, rising action, climax etc., filling in “what” details, larger focus on reader reaction
In a poem: Language has more depth, abstract thought, more pressure on each word, more “why” questions, purpose can be more “personal,” less focus on a “target audience”
Stories affected by the “cultural moment” in terms of genre, topic, subject, style, social trends. In poetry, trends tend to be slower; easier to look back; trends in form rather than subject
In poetry, the language is often more figurative; the poem seems to be spoken to you , the reader; the poet can have more “patience” to describe things, as opposed to the clarity/brevity/efficiency model of prose.
Poetry often features the struggle of language to create the intangible.
What does a story do that a poem does not? What are the essential components of a story?
Story can be digested in one reading.
Story has a plan, asks you to follow the plan, timeline
Story is external
Story isn’t necessarily “about” the writer, can be made up
Main character/protagonist, sense of yearning, movement based on their desire, conflict
What does a poem do that a story does not? What are the essential components of a poem?
Asks to be read more than once.
Poem might be immersive
Poem is internal
Poem is about the writer/speaker, relating real experience
No responsibility to “movement”: can focus on stationary object, description, emotion, etc.
Doesn’t require characters, struggle, conflict
What are the differences in the various reactions elicited by a story versus a poem?
Stories can be dissected in a “normative” way: plot, character, believability
Stories often try to entertain, whereas poems often try to enlighten
HOMEWORK
1) Read the Prose Poems for next week ("The List: Poetic Parataxis") and write a Critical Reading Response. Be sure to include in your response some of the items from today's discussion. Whither prose poetry? What does the genre let us do that other genres do not?
2) Creative Assignment: Write a prose poem that focuses, as this week's readings do, on "The Lyric Moment." In class we defined the Lyric Moment as a moment of grace or beauty; a moment that can't be improved on; a highly detailed instant; a poem that uses figurative language and heightened imagery & emotion; a poem that begins in the external world but quickly moves inward.
Notes from today's discussion:
What are the differences in expectations when a reader approaches a story versus a poem?
Reader expects a plot, beginning, middle, end, characters in a story.
Line breaks, meter, rhyme in poetry.
Meaning is on the surface in a story, but “hidden” in a poem. Requires more thought. Encourages a “mental free play.”
Full meaning in a poem is never fully disclosed.
Stories are more concrete. Poems can be more a snapshot of emotion or various abstractions, eg. Love.
What are the differences in responsibilities when a writer creates a story versus a poem?
In a story: character development, language has more breadth, concrete language, rising action, climax etc., filling in “what” details, larger focus on reader reaction
In a poem: Language has more depth, abstract thought, more pressure on each word, more “why” questions, purpose can be more “personal,” less focus on a “target audience”
Stories affected by the “cultural moment” in terms of genre, topic, subject, style, social trends. In poetry, trends tend to be slower; easier to look back; trends in form rather than subject
In poetry, the language is often more figurative; the poem seems to be spoken to you , the reader; the poet can have more “patience” to describe things, as opposed to the clarity/brevity/efficiency model of prose.
Poetry often features the struggle of language to create the intangible.
What does a story do that a poem does not? What are the essential components of a story?
Story can be digested in one reading.
Story has a plan, asks you to follow the plan, timeline
Story is external
Story isn’t necessarily “about” the writer, can be made up
Main character/protagonist, sense of yearning, movement based on their desire, conflict
What does a poem do that a story does not? What are the essential components of a poem?
Asks to be read more than once.
Poem might be immersive
Poem is internal
Poem is about the writer/speaker, relating real experience
No responsibility to “movement”: can focus on stationary object, description, emotion, etc.
Doesn’t require characters, struggle, conflict
What are the differences in the various reactions elicited by a story versus a poem?
Stories can be dissected in a “normative” way: plot, character, believability
Stories often try to entertain, whereas poems often try to enlighten
HOMEWORK
1) Read the Prose Poems for next week ("The List: Poetic Parataxis") and write a Critical Reading Response. Be sure to include in your response some of the items from today's discussion. Whither prose poetry? What does the genre let us do that other genres do not?
2) Creative Assignment: Write a prose poem that focuses, as this week's readings do, on "The Lyric Moment." In class we defined the Lyric Moment as a moment of grace or beauty; a moment that can't be improved on; a highly detailed instant; a poem that uses figurative language and heightened imagery & emotion; a poem that begins in the external world but quickly moves inward.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Class 10
ANNOUNCEMENT: There are new readings for the last four classes. Disregard the schedule I gave you with the syllabus. Download the new schedule here. Note that we're done with the Flash Fiction Reading Packet now, and moving on to the Great American Prose Poems anthology.
We began today's class with a small workshop of the story due today. I asked everybody to write short letters to their colleagues identifying favorite moments and moments that could use revision.
Then we talked about the "Metafiction" stories we read for today, focusing primarily on "Borges and I." For an interesting perspective on this story, check out John Perry's lecture.
IN-CLASS WRITING: Write the story of writing one of the stories for this class. What is the story based on? Who is it based on? When did you write it? Why? What choices did you make? What choices were most difficult? What do you regret?
HOMEWORK:
1) Read the "Investigating the Moment" prose poems from the Lehman anthology & write a Reading Response.
2) Write a flash story that uses techniques of metafiction discussed in class. Possibilities include: Writing the story of writing a story for this class (as we did for the in-class prompt); writing a story where you, as a writer, are a main character; writing a story about the usage of language in storytelling.
We began today's class with a small workshop of the story due today. I asked everybody to write short letters to their colleagues identifying favorite moments and moments that could use revision.
Then we talked about the "Metafiction" stories we read for today, focusing primarily on "Borges and I." For an interesting perspective on this story, check out John Perry's lecture.
IN-CLASS WRITING: Write the story of writing one of the stories for this class. What is the story based on? Who is it based on? When did you write it? Why? What choices did you make? What choices were most difficult? What do you regret?
HOMEWORK:
1) Read the "Investigating the Moment" prose poems from the Lehman anthology & write a Reading Response.
2) Write a flash story that uses techniques of metafiction discussed in class. Possibilities include: Writing the story of writing a story for this class (as we did for the in-class prompt); writing a story where you, as a writer, are a main character; writing a story about the usage of language in storytelling.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
I'm Reading Tonight!
I'll be reading some of my fiction tonight at 7 p.m. at the FGCU Bookstore. It's the kick-off reading of the Sam Pepys Reading Series, and I hope to see you all there!
My reading will be followed by an open-mic, so please do bring some writing you'd like to share.
My reading will be followed by an open-mic, so please do bring some writing you'd like to share.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Class 9
We began today talking about your creative responses, about which myths you worked with and the strategies you employed to write about them.
We then did a short writing exercise designed to get you writing more in images & detail rather than abstraction. Here's the exercise: Draw an alien. Now describe the alien in words so that someone else could draw the same thing you did. The idea is that you have to describe something so closely and accurately that someone else can see what you see.
We then talked about this weeks' readings, looking closely at how each author works with irony. We also discussed the different kinds of irony:
Situational Irony: When the outcome of an action is the opposite of what was expected and/or desired.
Dramatic Irony: When the audience or reader is aware of something that the character is not.
Verbal Irony: When what is said is the opposite of what is meant. Or when the message is undermined by the presentation.
Ultimately, irony is about discordance, tension, and discrepency. Each of the stories we read this week uses irony to achieve its effect.
Finally, we broke up into groups to discuss two important questions:
1) Why were this week's stories told using the Flash Fiction form?
2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Flash Fiction form?
HOMEWORK
1) Next week we'll discuss the answers you came up with to those two questions. Please post your answers as comments in the posts below.
2) Write a Flash Fiction piece that uses juxtaposition and irony.
3) Read the stories for "Metafiction: Stories About Storytelling" & write a Critical Response
We then did a short writing exercise designed to get you writing more in images & detail rather than abstraction. Here's the exercise: Draw an alien. Now describe the alien in words so that someone else could draw the same thing you did. The idea is that you have to describe something so closely and accurately that someone else can see what you see.
We then talked about this weeks' readings, looking closely at how each author works with irony. We also discussed the different kinds of irony:
Situational Irony: When the outcome of an action is the opposite of what was expected and/or desired.
Dramatic Irony: When the audience or reader is aware of something that the character is not.
Verbal Irony: When what is said is the opposite of what is meant. Or when the message is undermined by the presentation.
Ultimately, irony is about discordance, tension, and discrepency. Each of the stories we read this week uses irony to achieve its effect.
Finally, we broke up into groups to discuss two important questions:
1) Why were this week's stories told using the Flash Fiction form?
2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Flash Fiction form?
HOMEWORK
1) Next week we'll discuss the answers you came up with to those two questions. Please post your answers as comments in the posts below.
2) Write a Flash Fiction piece that uses juxtaposition and irony.
3) Read the stories for "Metafiction: Stories About Storytelling" & write a Critical Response
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Class 8
We began today's class with a mid-term assessment. Kind of like the course evaluations you do at the end of the semester, except this one's at the halfway point.
We talked about mimetic forms a great deal, and then about the utility of myth.
HOMEWORK
Write a flash fiction piece based on myth, fable, legend, or folk tale. Use one of the two strategies discussed in class: 1) Allowing an Old Myth New Life, or 2) Defamiliarizing a Common Myth. Both these strategies are discussed in the handout I gave you in class, which can be downloaded here.
We talked about mimetic forms a great deal, and then about the utility of myth.
HOMEWORK
Write a flash fiction piece based on myth, fable, legend, or folk tale. Use one of the two strategies discussed in class: 1) Allowing an Old Myth New Life, or 2) Defamiliarizing a Common Myth. Both these strategies are discussed in the handout I gave you in class, which can be downloaded here.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Class 7
We began today's class looking at a few great sentences from your homework assignments. Then looked at a couple things to remember for your future writing.
1) Keep verb tenses consistent. I'm seeing this a lot, this switching from present tense to past tense (or vice versa) in the middle of a sentence, paragraph, or story. This tells me you're not copy-editing thoroughly enough. Pick a verb tense and stay consistent!
2) Avoiding cliches. Two phrases I'm banning for the rest of the term: "We looked deeply into each other's eyes" (or variations thereof) and "Tears streamed down her face" (or variations thereof). I'm banning them not only because I see them too often, but also because they're inaccurate. Think about the last time you actually stared into someone's eyes. People don't really do that. It's creepy. Or think about what someone who's crying actually looks like--the tears aren't really "streaming." We did an in-class exercise regarding these two cliches, rewriting them to be more accurate.
Then we talked about this week's reading for the rest of the class.
Interesting link: "The Cruxifiction Written as an Uphill Bicycle Race" (hat tip to Connor). This was the story referenced in J.G. Ballard's piece.
HOMEWORK
Creative Assignment: Write a story that takes the form of another kind of text. It's important that the form being mimicked is not usually a vehicle for dramatic narrative. Some possible forms suggested by our readings include:
A formal letter, such as a customer complaint letter, letter to the editor, etc.
A How-To article, instruction manual, or "For Dummies" book
An article from the sports page in a newspaper
A tour, such as an audio tour in a museum
A class reunion brochure
An anthropology or history report
An academic essay
A school test or quiz, an SAT exam
A biography
A list
Critical Assignment: Read the stories for next week. The theme is "Myth & Fable." Write a Reading Response & try to bring to class a few myths & fables that you're familiar with.
1) Keep verb tenses consistent. I'm seeing this a lot, this switching from present tense to past tense (or vice versa) in the middle of a sentence, paragraph, or story. This tells me you're not copy-editing thoroughly enough. Pick a verb tense and stay consistent!
2) Avoiding cliches. Two phrases I'm banning for the rest of the term: "We looked deeply into each other's eyes" (or variations thereof) and "Tears streamed down her face" (or variations thereof). I'm banning them not only because I see them too often, but also because they're inaccurate. Think about the last time you actually stared into someone's eyes. People don't really do that. It's creepy. Or think about what someone who's crying actually looks like--the tears aren't really "streaming." We did an in-class exercise regarding these two cliches, rewriting them to be more accurate.
Then we talked about this week's reading for the rest of the class.
Interesting link: "The Cruxifiction Written as an Uphill Bicycle Race" (hat tip to Connor). This was the story referenced in J.G. Ballard's piece.
HOMEWORK
Creative Assignment: Write a story that takes the form of another kind of text. It's important that the form being mimicked is not usually a vehicle for dramatic narrative. Some possible forms suggested by our readings include:
A formal letter, such as a customer complaint letter, letter to the editor, etc.
A How-To article, instruction manual, or "For Dummies" book
An article from the sports page in a newspaper
A tour, such as an audio tour in a museum
A class reunion brochure
An anthropology or history report
An academic essay
A school test or quiz, an SAT exam
A biography
A list
Critical Assignment: Read the stories for next week. The theme is "Myth & Fable." Write a Reading Response & try to bring to class a few myths & fables that you're familiar with.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Class 6
A couple writing tips to start things off:
1) Comparisons & Images Must Be Immediately Graspable
1) Comparisons & Images Must Be Immediately Graspable
As Chekhov wrote, good writing "should be grasped at once--in a second." Some of the comparisons I've seen in your homework assignments cannot be grasped immediately. Rather, they need the filter of the intellect to puzzle them out. For example:
“I wandered around town like a crack-addicted Alzheimer’s patient with ADHD.” (We don't really know what an ADHD crackhead Alzheimer's patient looks like or does, and so our brain needs to put all of those elements together, taking us away from the story at hand.)
“I was drenched in enough sweat to fill an Ethiopian aquarium.” (How is an Ethiopian aquarium different from a normal aquarium?)
“My feelings could reach past 7,000 miles of ocean depth.” (Why 7,000 miles? And what ocean is that deep?)
2) Unconsidered Word Choices
It's very easy, especially when writing quickly, to pass over words without fully considering them. But doing this allows small errors to creep into your work. Even very successful writers do this. In class, we looked at the first page of The Da Vinci Code as an example. Here are some examples from your homework:
“The warm air surrounded the icy blue water.” (If the water were actually "surrounded," then the air would be on all sides of it, which, in the case of the sea, is impossible.)
“As sirens faded into the skyline…” (A skyline is the line in the distance where the earth meets the sky. Sounds can fade away, but they cannot fade literally into a line.)
“The blonde kid crouched over me shadowed by the sun.” (The sun, being capable only of illumination, does not shadow anything. Rather, it is something that's blocking the sun that is doing the shadowing.)
“Her skin was as pale as a sickly moon.” (There's no such thing as a sickly moon. Rather, skin as pale as the moon would appear sickly.)
HOMEWORK
Write a flash story based on one of the following prompts:
1) Make a list of the five most beautiful things and the five ugliest things you’ve ever seen. Now try to describe one of those things in the manner of “How the Water Feels to the Fishes” or “I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone.” That is, using only metaphor.
2) Write a monologue from the point of view of a terrifying authority figure (real or imagined). This person is telling you what to do, how to live your life, etc. Try to infuse your writing with terror. Remember: “show, don’t tell.”
3) Make a list of five things you’ve done that you’re ashamed of. Then pick one and write a monologue where you explain what you did and try to defend yourself. (The details can be made up. This is fiction, after all.)
4) Write a monologue inspired by the following prompt, taken from Kim Addonizio’s Ordinary Genius: “When did you first realize what it meant to be a girl or boy? I remember the moment I was made to put on a T-shirt, after spending my early years as a happy shirtless savage running wild on the Florida beaches with my brothers. Maybe the realization arrived as you observed someone else—your mother dressing up to go out, a boy on the playground beaten up for acting “feminine.” Write about that early experience.”
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Class 5
We started class today talking about syntax, and how it's important to vary your sentence structure and try new kinds of sentences. Here's a handout you'll need. Get to know some of the various techniques for creating new kinds of syntax.
Today we talked about the "bizarre, inscrutable moment." These are stories that feature a moment of supernatural or spiritual quality, such as "Grace Period," "Brilliant Silence," or "California..." They also work by allegory—in stories like "Udders" and "Maybe a Superhero"—and personification in "The Anger of the Horses" and "How the Water Feels to the Fishes."
HOMEWORK
1) Read the selections for "Monologue, Voice, and Identity" and write a Reading Response.
2) Write your own story about the mysterious and inscrutable inspired by one of the following photographs:
Gregory Crewdson
Sven Prim
Elena Tchernenko
Tejal Patni
Today we talked about the "bizarre, inscrutable moment." These are stories that feature a moment of supernatural or spiritual quality, such as "Grace Period," "Brilliant Silence," or "California..." They also work by allegory—in stories like "Udders" and "Maybe a Superhero"—and personification in "The Anger of the Horses" and "How the Water Feels to the Fishes."
HOMEWORK
1) Read the selections for "Monologue, Voice, and Identity" and write a Reading Response.
2) Write your own story about the mysterious and inscrutable inspired by one of the following photographs:
Gregory Crewdson
Sven Prim
Elena Tchernenko
Tejal Patni
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Class 4
Key terms from today's discussion:
The Snapshot Story: Writing a story in single moments, separate in time. Each moment can be considered a single, discrete scene. Your story works like cinematic montage does, by implying relationships between each of the single moments.
Parataxis: A coordinating structure that hides the connections & relationships between elements. Such as: "The sun was shining. We went for a walk." (The walk happened because it was sunny, but that relationship is not stated explicitly.) The most famous instance of parataxis: "I came. I saw. I conquered."
Hypotaxis: A subordinating structure that reveals the relationships between elements. Such as: "The sun was shining, so we went for walk." (That the walk was made possible because it was sunny is made explicitly clear.)
Parataxis and Hypotaxis can describe the structure of a sentence, but they can also describe the structure of an entire story. Most short stories are constructed hypotactically. That is, something happens, then something else happens because of the first thing, which makes something else happen and so on in a big chain reaction. The relationships between events are made clear. But a snapshot story uses a paratactic structure, so that the relationships between all the different scene are kept invisible, waiting for the reader to tease out.
HOMEWORK:
1) Read the assigned readings for next week: "The Bizarre, Inscrutable Moment" and write a Reading Response.
2) Write a Snapshot Story called "Love: Five Examples." Use the same two characters in five scenes. Each scene should embody one of the five kinds of love:
EROS—Romance and longing. Jittery, nervous, heart-racing love.
PHILEO—Cherished friendship. The love of comfortable, familiar things.
STORGE—Affection and belonging. Love developed slowly from friendship. Or the affection one feels for groups, clubs, classes, etc.
EPITHUMIA—Desire and attraction. The strong need for self-satisfaction. A selfish, acquisitive love that desires things and/or ownership.
AGAPE—A general love for everyone. A godlike love for all things. Motherly love. Unconditional love. Or, a drunken, merry, “I love you man!” kind of love.
The Snapshot Story: Writing a story in single moments, separate in time. Each moment can be considered a single, discrete scene. Your story works like cinematic montage does, by implying relationships between each of the single moments.
Parataxis: A coordinating structure that hides the connections & relationships between elements. Such as: "The sun was shining. We went for a walk." (The walk happened because it was sunny, but that relationship is not stated explicitly.) The most famous instance of parataxis: "I came. I saw. I conquered."
Hypotaxis: A subordinating structure that reveals the relationships between elements. Such as: "The sun was shining, so we went for walk." (That the walk was made possible because it was sunny is made explicitly clear.)
Parataxis and Hypotaxis can describe the structure of a sentence, but they can also describe the structure of an entire story. Most short stories are constructed hypotactically. That is, something happens, then something else happens because of the first thing, which makes something else happen and so on in a big chain reaction. The relationships between events are made clear. But a snapshot story uses a paratactic structure, so that the relationships between all the different scene are kept invisible, waiting for the reader to tease out.
HOMEWORK:
1) Read the assigned readings for next week: "The Bizarre, Inscrutable Moment" and write a Reading Response.
2) Write a Snapshot Story called "Love: Five Examples." Use the same two characters in five scenes. Each scene should embody one of the five kinds of love:
EROS—Romance and longing. Jittery, nervous, heart-racing love.
PHILEO—Cherished friendship. The love of comfortable, familiar things.
STORGE—Affection and belonging. Love developed slowly from friendship. Or the affection one feels for groups, clubs, classes, etc.
EPITHUMIA—Desire and attraction. The strong need for self-satisfaction. A selfish, acquisitive love that desires things and/or ownership.
AGAPE—A general love for everyone. A godlike love for all things. Motherly love. Unconditional love. Or, a drunken, merry, “I love you man!” kind of love.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Class 3
We began today's class with a read-around of your creative work. After dividing up into smaller groups, everyone read their stories to each other.
We then discussed the week's reading assignment:
On "The Colonel" by Carolyn Forché:
Video of the author reading
Essays on "The Colonel"
On "The School" by Donald Barthelme:
"The Perfect Gerbil" by George Saunders
On "A Story About the Body" by Robert Hass:
Poet's Choice by Robert Pinsky
HOMEWORK:
1) Your creative assignment this week is about generating "smart surprise" through language. Follow the instructions for Waking Up Tired Language.
2) Writing a reading response to next week's stories. The theme this week is "The Snapshot Story." Read more about the "snapshot" concept here.
We then discussed the week's reading assignment:
On "The Colonel" by Carolyn Forché:
Video of the author reading
Essays on "The Colonel"
On "The School" by Donald Barthelme:
"The Perfect Gerbil" by George Saunders
On "A Story About the Body" by Robert Hass:
Poet's Choice by Robert Pinsky
HOMEWORK:
1) Your creative assignment this week is about generating "smart surprise" through language. Follow the instructions for Waking Up Tired Language.
2) Writing a reading response to next week's stories. The theme this week is "The Snapshot Story." Read more about the "snapshot" concept here.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Class 2
Today we talked about various ways to structure a story in one scene:
SYNECDOCHE – using a small thing to represent the larger thing, e.g. "I Didn’t Do That"
ACTION/REACTION – Your character reacts to something out of the ordinary, e.g. "Deportation at Breakfast"
INTERNALIZATION – your "plot" is told through the various musings of your character’s brain, e.g. "Passing Wind" & "The Commercials of Norway"
REPETITION—repeat the same scene again & again, amplifying it, e.g. "Reunion"
ABANDONMENT—build a scene and then leave it, e.g. "Blind Girls"
SHORTCUT—Use a well-known dramatic situation, e.g. "Space" & "Accident"
We then did an in-class writing exercise that will serve as the foundation for the story you'll be writing this week:
PART 1: BEGINNING WITH THE FAMILIAR
Describe a “first” (first apartment, first kiss, first date, first time driving a car, first lie, first big success, first roller coaster ride, first day of school, first day of work, etc.). Include as many details as possible, being sure to include an aspect relating to each of the five senses.
PART II: COMPLICATION
Introduce something unexpected, something one would not normally encounter at this place. This could be something big (the authorities show up and arrest someone, as in Larry Fondation’s story) or something small (someone passes wind, as in Lydia Davis’s story). It could be something in the moment or something in the past (as in Tom Hazuka’s story). It could be something that happens to your character or something that your character simply thinks about (as in Deb Olin Unferth’s story). Play around with several possibilities, then pick the one you think would make the best piece.
PART II: SYNTHESIS
Combine your setting and your complication. Figure out your ending. Write a flash fiction piece for next week, revised and ready to be read aloud. 500–1,000 words.
HOMEWORK:
Write a flash story inspired by the in-class prompt
Read the stories for "Smart Surprise and the End 'Turn'" for next week
Write a Reading Summary on the readings
SYNECDOCHE – using a small thing to represent the larger thing, e.g. "I Didn’t Do That"
ACTION/REACTION – Your character reacts to something out of the ordinary, e.g. "Deportation at Breakfast"
INTERNALIZATION – your "plot" is told through the various musings of your character’s brain, e.g. "Passing Wind" & "The Commercials of Norway"
REPETITION—repeat the same scene again & again, amplifying it, e.g. "Reunion"
ABANDONMENT—build a scene and then leave it, e.g. "Blind Girls"
SHORTCUT—Use a well-known dramatic situation, e.g. "Space" & "Accident"
We then did an in-class writing exercise that will serve as the foundation for the story you'll be writing this week:
PART 1: BEGINNING WITH THE FAMILIAR
Describe a “first” (first apartment, first kiss, first date, first time driving a car, first lie, first big success, first roller coaster ride, first day of school, first day of work, etc.). Include as many details as possible, being sure to include an aspect relating to each of the five senses.
PART II: COMPLICATION
Introduce something unexpected, something one would not normally encounter at this place. This could be something big (the authorities show up and arrest someone, as in Larry Fondation’s story) or something small (someone passes wind, as in Lydia Davis’s story). It could be something in the moment or something in the past (as in Tom Hazuka’s story). It could be something that happens to your character or something that your character simply thinks about (as in Deb Olin Unferth’s story). Play around with several possibilities, then pick the one you think would make the best piece.
PART II: SYNTHESIS
Combine your setting and your complication. Figure out your ending. Write a flash fiction piece for next week, revised and ready to be read aloud. 500–1,000 words.
HOMEWORK:
Write a flash story inspired by the in-class prompt
Read the stories for "Smart Surprise and the End 'Turn'" for next week
Write a Reading Summary on the readings
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Class 1
Wednesday 8/26—We went over the course syllabus today, looking at what you'll be expected to do this semester and how you'll be graded.
If you didn't get a syllabus, or if you lost yours, you can download one here.
We began the course talking about the nature of "plot." What is a plot, and what are the minimal requirements that make a plot. We discussed E.M. Forster's famous definition:
"The King died. Then the Queen died."
This is not a plot. This is simply a sequence of events.
"The King died. Then the Queen died of grief."
Now this would be a plot, because it includes causality. A plot answers the question "Why?"
Consider the concept of plot as you read this week's material.
HOMEWORK
Read the material for week two, as stated on the syllabus. (Most of the reading comes from the Flash Fiction Course Packet, which can be downloaded from this blog. Refer to the previous post.)
Write a Reading Response to the stories you read. An explanation of what I'm looking for from a Reading Response can be found on the syllabus.
If you didn't get a syllabus, or if you lost yours, you can download one here.
We began the course talking about the nature of "plot." What is a plot, and what are the minimal requirements that make a plot. We discussed E.M. Forster's famous definition:
"The King died. Then the Queen died."
This is not a plot. This is simply a sequence of events.
"The King died. Then the Queen died of grief."
Now this would be a plot, because it includes causality. A plot answers the question "Why?"
Consider the concept of plot as you read this week's material.
HOMEWORK
Read the material for week two, as stated on the syllabus. (Most of the reading comes from the Flash Fiction Course Packet, which can be downloaded from this blog. Refer to the previous post.)
Write a Reading Response to the stories you read. An explanation of what I'm looking for from a Reading Response can be found on the syllabus.
Flash Fiction Reading Packet
This semester, most of your readings will come from the Flash Fiction Reading Packet. You can download it here.
Please print it out and bring it with you to each class.
Please print it out and bring it with you to each class.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Welcome!
Welcome to Flash Fiction & Prose Poetry at Florida Gulf Coast University. This blog will serve as a clearinghouse of information concerning the class—homework assignments will be posted here, as well as downloadable material for class, various links of importance, and maybe some weird stuff that I just find interesting.
I'll be updating the blog almost every Wednesday, either right before or right after class. If you need to miss a class, you can check here to keep up with the reading and to find out what homework assignments you missed. The blog is here for you, so please check it often, and let me know if there's anything else you'd like to see here.
Cheers to a great semester! Welcome!
I'll be updating the blog almost every Wednesday, either right before or right after class. If you need to miss a class, you can check here to keep up with the reading and to find out what homework assignments you missed. The blog is here for you, so please check it often, and let me know if there's anything else you'd like to see here.
Cheers to a great semester! Welcome!
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