English 221:  Intro to Creative Writing
Agenda:  January 24

William Stafford:  A writer is not so much someone who has something to say as he is someone who has found a process that will bring about new things he would not have thought of if he had not started to say them.

Frank Conroy:  Commit yourself to the process, NOT the project. Don’t be afraid to write badly, everyone does. Invest yourself in the lifestyle. NOT in the particular piece of work.

• On Process:  Captin JJC the Feirce & Martin's scraps of paper
• Introductions:  Name& Alias:  Why this Alias?  Personal Relationship to Coffee?
• Quiz:  Meredith Hall's "Shunned"   

Group Work:   All Groups:   (1) Talk about how the world has changed since Meredith Hall was sixteen.  (2) Talk about how the world in many ways has remained the same. (3)  The essay is about being shunned. But what does the essay have to say about being shunned?  What wisdom, insight, perspective does it offer?  In other words, What about what it's about?

• Group 1:  Why does Hall start her essay with this first paragraph?  What does the reader immediately know about her character from this first paragraph?  (How does this first paragraph characterize her?)  What set of expectations does it create for the reader as they keep reading?
• Group 2:  What objects are important in the essay?  How does Hall convey their significance?
• Group 3:  What places are important?  How does Hall convey their significance?
• Group 4:  In what ways does Hall make herself vulnerable to the reader?  What risks does she take in order to say the things she says?  Why do you think she takes them?

In-Class Writing: 

• Look back at the self-audit essay you wrote for today.  Reread it while you still have "Shunned" fresh in your mind.
• What have you learned from Hall about crafting lively, memorable prose or telling a good story?  Write a short answer at the end of your essay or on the back page.
• Mark your own significant details by underlining them.  Make a note in the margin if you find general descriptions that might be enlivened with more significant detail.

For Next Time:  Tuesday 1/29

• READ:  IW  Invitation to the Writer &  IW  Chapter One:  Image
• WRITE:  This writing assignment has two parts:   (1)   Complete the writing exercise on p.26: "Try This 1.7"  Freewrite a single paragraph or page in your journal, concentrating on vivid sense detail.  (2)  Expand this freewrite into a 1-2 page, typed exercise.  In this expanded version, include your own retrospective voice, making a clear distinction between what happened then and what you think about and wonder about now.   Write about what you remember well and what you don't remember or what you remember only vaguely.  Tell us what you think you understand and what you still don't understand.  Speculate about your own intentions then or the intentions of others.  Use expressions like "I wonder" and "Maybe".  Do you feel differently about the incident now?  How so?  Why?
• QUIZ: on one of the readings from Chapter 1.