423  Advanced Creative Nonfiction  Spring 2006:

The Revision Workshop

Syllabus

Calendar of Readings & Responsibilities 

Essays  On E-reserve at Zimmerman Library*   password:  study423 

• Chris Offutt's "The Eleventh Draft"      

• Vivian Gornick's "The Situation & the Story"

• Philip Lopate's "Writing Personal Essays:  On the Necessity of Turning Oneself into a Character"

• An Interview with Jane Smiley

• Jane Smiley's "What Stories Teach Their Writers 

• Susan Sontag's "Directions: Write, Read, Rewrite. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 as Needed"

• Stephen Koch's "Working & Reworking:  Early Drafts & the Techniques of Revision"  (excerpt from THE MODERN LIBRARY'S WRITER'S WORKSHOP)

• Melody Gee's 3 Drafts of "Back Home"   published in North Dakota Quarterly*

• Molly Cooney's 3 Drafts of "Missing Pieces"  published in The Gettysburg Review*

• Rachel Pratt's 3 Drafts of "Broken Waters" published in Creative Nonfiction*

• Paul Bogard's 2 Drafts of "Drowning" published in Sonora Review*

*essay draft workshopped in English 523

Handouts (on website)

          The Reading Response

 The Peer Response

Craft Features:  Quotes, Ideas, Questions, Working Definitions

Revising for the Middle Draft

Publishing Your Work 

* Note on downloading adobe (pdf) files