Class 6

A couple writing tips to start things off:

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.”

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

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.

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.

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