English 100FA - Spring, 2012

Creative Writing: Advanced Fiction

Class Information

Instructor: Houston, Pam
Time: R 6:10-9:00pm
Location: 126 Voorhies

Description

Enl 100F Advanced
Spring 2012
Pam Houston
Office: 251 Voorhies
Office Hours: W:1:00-3:00/ R: 3:00-5:00
Cell Phone: 303 881 5802


This course will be an intensive and advanced fiction workshop. We will focus on what I believe to be the real artistry of fiction: the translation of the emotional stakes of the story onto its physical landscape; the way we dip our ladles into the bottomless pot of metaphor soup and pull out what we need, what we can then shape into story. We will be aiming for stories in which the language is always working in at least two ways at once, where metaphors dance between meanings like beads of water on a too hot grill. We will discuss structure, shape, point of view, dialogue, narrative strategies, and both traditional and experimental forms.
In addition to the specifics of fiction writing, we will talk about art in a larger context, and the series of decisions that make a person decide to pursue the making of art as a way of being in the world. To this end, students will be asked to think across genres and forms. In addition to the required texts each student will be asked to attend a minimum of three art events during the course of the quarter. The students must chose one of those events from the list of offerings in the Davis Theater and Dance department (see attached flyers) and the other two may be of his/her own choosing. Each student will report to the class on his/her experience at those events.
Each student will be expected to turn in three new pieces of fiction during the course of the semester (either stories or novel chapters), and turn in approximately 50 pages of workshopped and polished fiction by the end of the semester. There will be some reading and brief weekly exercises at the beginning of the semester that will become optional as we get farther into the real work.


Grading

Grading is based on (in roughly descending order of importance)a students ability to:
1. Turn in three new pieces of quality fiction during the course of the quarter.
2. Come to class prepared to talk about their fellow students' fiction and make written comments on their fellow students' manuscripts.
3. Come to class prepared to talk about the assigned readings.
4. Turn in a solid revision at the end of the quarter.
5. Atend three cultural events during the course of the quarter and report to the class on those experiences.

Texts

20 Under 40, Stories from the New Yorker
Jesus' Son, by Denis Johnson
Hand Me Down, by Melanie Thorne