Also of interest: Video Essays

video essay introduction: http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v9n1/gallery/ve-bresland_j/ve-origin_page.shtml

http://bresland.com/

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plutarch/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/montaigne/

http://claudiarankine.com/

plus: mullen vimeo: http://vimeo.com/18552888

Further reading: a short bibliography of poetry, fiction, creative essays

Jennifer Dick, Circuits.

Lyn Hejinian, My Life

anything by Reginald Shepherd

Bhanu Kapil, various books of poetry and prose

Lisa Jarnot, poems

Harryette Mullen, Sleeping with the Dictionary

Tyrone Williams, On Spec

Patricia Smith, Blood Dazzler

Ed Roberson, City Eclogue

William Carlos Williams, Patterson and Imaginations

Postmodern American Fiction anthology

Groundworks, anthology of Canadian short fiction

Wreckage of Reason, short experimental fiction by women writers

Sebald, Austerlitz

Renee Gladman, various books of poetic fiction

Danielle Dutton, fiction

Pamela Lu, fiction

Aimee Bender, fiction

Thalia field, Point and Line

Brian Evenson, various books of fiction stories

Annie Proulx, Close Range, stories

Sherman Alexie, various short fiction stories and novels

John D’Agata, The Next American Essay anthology

In Short anthology of short creative nonfiction

Diane Ackerman, various books of essays

Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to talk

Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior

Catherine Taylor, Apart

Essay Writing Exercise 2

Creative Essay Writing Exercise

Choose one of the following to focus on:

  A memory from childhood;

  A particular person from childhood or who has been intriguing to you or   important in your life;

  An animal, place, phenomenon that intrigues you and you want to investigate further.

Then, write a detailed description that evokes every sense through the language you use to show this memory/person/phenomenon, without using the pronoun “I”; write at least 1-2 paragraphs.

Next continue or revise or expand what you have to turn it into a whole essay. You can add “I” or other characters and/or bring in other elements that will add to the work.

Important Notes

We are not meeting during class time in June 10. You have your assignments. Follow the syllabus and come prepared on the 12th.

On the 12th we will start with Dillard's"Total Eclipse" and then move into Cooper's book Maps to Anywhere.

Please write your blog response on Maps to Anywhere for the 12th.

Also you should be working on the 2 essay assignments. Begin with the "Word" essay below and then the second assignment will be posted on the 10th.

Bring a typed copy of one of the essays on the 12th to workshop.

Creative Essay Assignment

Writing A Creative Essay Exercise (from: http://www.chsbs.cmich.edu/Robert_Root/AWP/cnf.htm)

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.

This Week and Next

Follow the syllabus for assignments.

We will begin talking about creative essays/creative nonfiction on Wed. Begin Reading Essay Packet (as assigned in class). Bring this back to class with you on June 12 to finish discussing, as well as the whole of Maps to Anywhere (book).

On Wed we'll talk about what creative essays are and how to start thinking about reading and writing essays.

Next week we have no class on Mon 6/10 so make sure to get all of the reading done for Wed 6/12. Also you should work on your essay assignment and bring this with you (typed) to class on the 12th. And also write your blog on Maps to Anywhere for the 12th.

dialogue

Fiction Writing Assignment: Dialogue

Listen to or listen in on some other folks’ conversation. Write down what they say or remember it to write down later. Record 10-20 lines of the dialogue of a real conversation.

Use this dialogue in a story. You can create the characters around the dialogue or include the dialogue (in a single piece or separate it throughout the story) in a larger story that you construct. The story should include the dialogue as well as other story elements.

for next week

see syllabus for assignments

also, read Lamott "Polaroids" etc...

remember to type and bring copies of your stories to workshop and turn in

and see fiction writing exercises/assignments below; you should be working on these, finish, type, and bring for the workshop and to turn in on Monday and for the Portfolio on Wednesday...

Fiction Writing Outside Details

Follow the instructions below, focusing on one step at a time, to generate material for a single, or multiple, piece(s) of writing.

1.       Take a walk around campus (20 min; check your watch or set a timer). Make a list of at least 25-30 concrete details; try to stay away from entirely nature-related details but include a variety of kinds of details from things you encounter/notice/observe/think about while walking around campus.

2.      Come back to the classroom. Sit and work on the following, separately from the previous list of details:

Write a 10-sentence (or more) paragraph that describes an emotion you are feeling today without using the word for the emotion or stating it explicitly. Describe the feeling through all of the senses. Use images and sentences that evoke the senses, use metaphor or analogy to describe and evoke even further, use detail and description to make the writing dynamic and lively. Create language and images that are unexpected and get at the emotion from a perspective you maybe have not thought about before.

3.      Turn your original list of details from above into a list of images (whole phrases, lines you might use in a poem, or sentences).

4.       Finally, once you have done all of the above, see what you have. Work on deciding what to do next. Combine the materials from the detail list, the image list, and the paragraph to construct a single or multiple poem/poems or story/stories. You decide the genre and how to use the material you’ve generated to do the next step of the writing process. Write a draft(s), keep working on it to revise, continue, etc.

For Next Week

Follow the syllabus for reading assignments.

Keep working on the fiction writing exercises (Description and Qualities are below; the imitation exercise we did in class). We will have a fiction workshop in class on June 3.

No Class Mon 5/27. On Wed read Lamott (skip the Goldberg that is listed on the syllabus) and all of Juice (you should have the book already).

Write your blog post on Juice (any or all of the stories) for Wed since we don't have class on Mon.

Fiction Writing Exercise: Qualities

*Make a list of four qualities/characteristics 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 detail and description to SHOW the qualities through the scene and the actions of the character.

fiction exercise description

Description

Format:           

Under 500 words. Double-space if writing prose, using 12-point Times Roman font.

The Assignment:

1.      Write a description of a place, thing, or emotion, aiming to provide unique detail, without giving away the name of what it is that you are describing:

Place, Thing, or Emotion

Describe a place, but without naming the place. E.g., a place you know very well in Ypsilanti or in your home town.

Describe an emotion, but without naming the emotion.

Describe a thing, without naming the thing.

The aim in all three cases is to avoid abstraction and cliché and to pay attention to vocabulary.

Note #1: Try to avoid writing a riddle or making a puzzle where the reader is put in the position of guessing at what the identity is of the described place, thing or emotion.

Note #2: Do not describe a person or character.

2.      Put a character into that place or emotion (emotional state) to whom, or in which place, something happens.

3.      Turn this into a work of “Microfiction”:

Very short stories are variously referred to as microfiction, sudden fiction, flash fiction, postcard fiction, palm of hand fictions, among other terms.  Word counts vary as well, though most examples of these genres run under 500 words.  Also in productive dispute are the requisite features of a successful short short fiction.  Some writers call for a clear sense of beginning/middle/end and a conflict/resolution.  Others allow for stories that are akin to portraits, slice-of-life vignettes, or works of prose poetry.  Feel free to explore any of these options when writing your own microfiction. 

May 20 & 22

Please follow the syllabus for reading and other assignments (Lamott and Burroway readings on writing fiction; short fiction packet 1; 20 poetry projects from class writing; fiction packet 2).

Readings can be found on myemich.

You have the poetry portfolio assignment.

The 20 poetry projects is on myemich; finish it and decide what to do with it (rearrange, edit, revise, change, add, subtract) to turn it into 1 or 2 poems) and which you can also include in your portfolio if you like...

Write your blog response on the fiction readings; they are due Monday by class time.

for Wed

For the in-class poetry workshop on Wed bring 2 copies of 2 poems to share and discuss (from the poetry assignments including 20 word list, sonnets, Fluorescence exercise). Turn in 2 poems and use the other copies to share in a group and discuss.

Follow the syllabus for reading assignments.

for next week

Follow the syllabus for assignments for next week

Read the selections by Goldberg and Cameron if you have not already.

Finish reading the poems in the poetry packet and come prepared to discuss some of the poems specifically

Read the 1st half of Fluorescence and come prepared to discuss

Write your blog post response on any of the poems from the packet or Fluorescence. See response assignment on the syllabus.

Link to Sonnet Info: https://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5791


writing exercises:

continue working on the 20-word poems

write 3 sonnets: one in a traditional form (after Shakespeare for example) and 2 in a more contemporary forms (there are no rules, let the form take the sonnet idea to whatever edge and then go further)

Welcome to Creative Writing

Check this blog for updates, announcements, assignments. And look for your classmates' blogs listed to the right...