English 100F-2 - Spring, 2021

Creative Writing: Fiction

Class Information

Instructor: Corin, Lucy
Time: TR 10:30-11:50

Description

Admission to the course is by application. All readings will be provided via PDF, MSword doc, or link. Typically, we will meet synchronously on Zoom via Canvas, although we will have some screen-relief days, with asynchronous work. Asynchronous options will be in place for students whose circumstances require them.

This is a creative writing workshop that will introduce students to primary elements of literary practice and craft. You should love short stories, because we?ll be reading and writing short stories (not novels, though working in short form teaches you a lot about working in other forms). And you should love literary fiction which means whether you are writing about real or wholly imagined things, about young people or old people, animals or vegetables you are writing in the spirit of making something of lasting beauty and significance (even if we are all beginners for the rest of our lives).

You'll be exposed to thinking about elements of craft like scene and summary, the role of physical detail, the nuance of point of view, creation of character, control of time, etc. but this quarter I want to focus on two things most concertedly: What is "voice" in fiction and how can you "find your voice"? And what is "truth" in fiction and how does it matter in our time, when the disruption of agreed-upon ways of distinguishing facts from fictions, and fictions from lies, have such enormous consequences?

Grading

Grading will be based on the quality and improvement of creative work, and the quality of analytic work as demonstrated in oral or written class participation and engagement with assigned texts by peers and model works of literature.