English 221: Intro to Creative Writing
Agenda:  April 8, 2008

UNM National Poetry Month on YouTube: Every Wednesday in April at noon, at UNM Bookstore, a different poet will be reading their poetry. If you can't catch the actual event, go to YouTube. Enter "University of New Mexico" and National Poetry Month" Four poets read in each session. If you can't make one of these events in person, you can write ONE of your live reading event observations based on four different poets featured on YouTube.

Other in-person upcoming Readings:

This Friday, at 7, April 11th, at RB Winnings, 111 Harvard, Linda Rickert, Felicia Karas, and Amy Beeder.

Next Friday, April 18th, at 7, SUB Fiesta A & B, Poet Valerie Martinez

Saturday April 26th, at 8, at 516 ARTS downtown (516 Central). Dan Darling, Damien Flores, Adam Rubinstein

NOTE: TWO Responses to live readings are 5% of your grade. See the syllabus for the format.

In-Class Writing:

“No story is really a story until it can be retold.  Paraphrase is one of the most potent instruments of understanding.  What cannot be paraphrased has probably not been understood at all.”   Stephen Koch

• Summarize in six sentences or less, the story your essay tells. Try to include in your summary, the ground situation, the new conflict arising out of the ground situation, the rising action, the turning point, and what this turning points means for you.

SWAP: your summary AND your draft, according to the following pairs:

Ian & Tamar, Emma and Sarah, William & Erica, Nicholas & Colleen, Kristen and Jean Louise, Emily & David, Daniel & Amanda, Elicia & Erin

Read your partners draft, making notes to yourself and the author in the margin.

1. Does the short summary accurately portray what you read and experienced on the page? Do you have a different sense of what the story is about and what it means? How so? What do you understand best about the essay? What do you want to understand more?

2. Identify, in your partners draft, the following elements:

• the ground situation
• the steps in the rising action sequence
• the turning point
• reflection, retrospection, interpretation about what this means to the author

3. Of these, which needs the most attention in revision? Do you have all the information you need to understand the story? Do the steps in the rising action sequence prepare you enough for the meaning of the turning point? Are the scenes rendered the most important scenes the essay needs? Do you have enough reflection from the author to understand what this means for him/her?

4. Of the five craft elements (Image, Voice, Character, Setting, Story) which is the strongest? Identify at least three examples why.

5. Of these craft elements, which needs most attention? Give three suggestions to expand and develop this craft element.

Share and compare your findings with your partner and be prepared to share these findings/comparisons with the class.

FOR NEXT TIME: 4/11: Essay Drafts DUE. Good Luck!