English 321.001—Intermediate Fiction Writing

T/TH 11:00-12:15

Spring 2005

Greg Martin

Office:  Humanities 257

Office Hours:  T / TH  2-3:30 and by appt

Phone:  277-6145

E-mail:  gmartin@unm.edu 

Course website:  www.unm.edu/~gmartin/

Texts 

1. Ron Hansen and Jim Shepard, You’ve Got to Read This
2. Janet Burroway, Writing Fiction:  A Guide to Narrative Craft

Overview

In this intermediate fiction writing class, we will attempt to demonstrate, to ourselves and others, how fiction matters and how craft breathes life into it.  This class should expand and strengthen an already emergent sense of craft.  By the end of the semester, your characters should become more complex, your descriptive language more resonant, your plots more subtle. 

The class will focus on the development of the “habit” of art, emphasizing process more than product, emphasizing exploration, risk taking, and pushing yourself to write in ways that you could not write before.  In the beginning weeks of class, we will focus on generating material, experimenting with different craft techniques, creating the messy “stuff” out of which all good writing comes.  From this, each student will produce three story drafts, and afterwards revise and polish them to include in a final portfolio of creative work.  Throughout the semester, we will also focus on the ways that good writing is collaborative and that responding constructively to another’s work is an equally important skill, and as much an act of the imagination. 

In order to write well, we must read well, and read as writers, and so this class will combine workshopping with the discussion of published authors.  Finally, I hope to debunk the myth of the artist.  We all can participate in the making of art.

Course Requirements

Craft Exercises:  Brief (550 words) typed assignments aimed at developing different craft techniques corresponding with readings in Janet Burroway’s Writing Fiction.

Reading Responses: 

2 page typed, responses for each of the courses’ required readings.   (See Handout) 

Three Story Drafts:  These stories will be workshopped in class, in small groups and with the larger class, according to a schedule we will devise together. 

Peer Responses:  1-2 page typed, responses for each of your peer’s manuscripts submitted for workshop.   These peer responses are to be distributed to me, and to the author of the workshopped piece, on the day the work is discussed.  Always bring two copies.  

Final Portfolio:  20-25 page portfolio of new, original, polished fiction.  A compilation of your best writing produced in the class throughout the semester. Including:

• At least one revised story draft.  You must also include the early draft turned in to workshop, with my comments and endnotes.
• A typed Preface to the portfolio.  Approximately 3-4 pages exploring:  A) the influences and techniques in the work submitted to the portfolio, and B) your development as a writer over the semester. 
• Depending on portfolio length, you may also include another revised story or revised exercises. 

Grading: 

1/4       =            Final Portfolio

1/4       =            In Class Participation.  Attendance

1/4       =            Reading Responses.  Peer Responses.

1/4       =            Craft Exercises.  Story Drafts

So that you will have a clear sense of how you’re performing in the class throughout the semester, reading responses will be collected, graded, and returned to you according to the following system.

Check              =            Full Credit

Check minus     =            ½ Credit.  Unsatisfactory  

0                      =            incomplete or not turned in

Attendance and Late Policy: 

I conduct an active writer-centered classroom.  Your attendance and participation is an integral part of this course.  More than three absences will automatically lower your final grade unless we have discussed the absences and agreed upon an alternative arrangement.  Absence is never an excuse for coming to the next class unprepared—it is your responsibility to find out what you missed, including handouts and/or changes in the syllabus.  Please note:  Coming to class late consistently is unacceptable and will affect your grade.  You may come to class late twice with no penalty.  The third time, it counts as an absence.  

No late assignments are accepted without prior arrangement.  If you are sick or can’t come to class, work may be accepted via email, if I receive it before class begins. 

Accommodation

Students who have special needs that may affect their ability to benefit fully from the class, please see me as soon as possible so I can arrange appropriate accommodation.