Fall 2024 Syllabus

City College of San Francisco

ENGL 35A (Section 001) Intro. to Writing Fiction (CRN: 71776) and

ENGL 35B (Section 001) Intermediate Fiction Writing (CRN: 71775)

Mondays, 6:10-9:00pm, Ocean Campus, Health Center 204

 

Professor: Steven Mayers                                              

Email: smayers@ccsf.edu

Note: Once the class begins, please contact me in the Canvas Inbox.

 

TA: Joel Alas

Email: jalas2@mail.ccsf.edu

Note: Once the class begins, please contact Joel in the Canvas Inbox.

 

Classroom: Ocean Campus, Health Center 204

Meeting Days/Times: Mondays, 6:10-9:00pm

 

Office Hours: Tuesdays 11am-12pm on Zoom, and by appointment

Office: All office hours will take place on Zoom. Sign up on the Calendar page in Canvas. 

Phone: (415) 452-4871

 

Website: https://sites.google.com/mail.ccsf.edu/smayers

Forum Magazine: https://forumccsf.wordpress.com

 

Pre-requisites for ENGL 35A and B: None; Advisory for ENGL 35A: English 96 or placement in ENGL 1A; Advisory for ENGL 35B: ENGL 35A

 

Once upon a time, there was a college student that was so bogged down with his General Education courses that he would wake up in the middle of the night startled by how boring his dreams were. He would dream about algebraic formulas, run-on sentences, and the Periodic Table of Elements. One afternoon while he was trying to stay awake at the Border’s Books (or was that run out of town by Amazon?), or was in Barnes & Noble, trying to stay awake in the coffee shop while nursing his fourth caffè latte and studying for his Chemistry exam, he decided to walk the isles. He came across a blank notebook with the following quotes written on it. 

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. —Vladimir Nabokov 

“Great quote for a blank notebook,” he thought, “great marketing!” Was that all he could think of? Marketing? Flipping it over, he read another quote. 

A sight, an emotion, creates this wave in the mind, long before it makes words to fit it; and in writing (such is my present belief) one has to recapture this, and set this working (which has nothing apparently to do with words) and then, as it breaks and tumbles in the mind, it makes words to fit it. But no doubt I shall think differently next year. —Virginia Woolf  

The student then asked himself aloud, “What makes a good story? Where does the creative process start, with an image, a place, a theme? Can a story be a poem, a play? What is this ‘wave of the mind’ that Woolf describes, or this ‘feeling of the words being there’ that Nabokov portrays?”

Someone next to him spoke. “You should take my Fiction Writing class.” Turning towards the voice, the student beheld a scrawny man with a chalky complexion. The lining of his blazer was ripped and he actually had leather elbow patches!

"We’ll read deeply into the stories we read this semester, both published stories by authors and stories that we write, and explore the way writers craft their stories, and which tools they use to create the effects they want on their readers. We’ll look closely at how stories begin, and how stories end. We want to understand in our personal worlds how stories begin to live on the page, and how writers shape their stories to fulfill their purposes. While we read and discuss stories this semester, we’ll always do so with love and respect for the authors of the stories, who have opened up and shared their personal thoughts and emotions with us. When we discuss our writing in class, we will explore with curiosity and ask inquisitive questions in order to better underrated the writers’ intentions, and tactfully provide ideas for experimentation and development. We never insult writers, make fun of works that we don’t relate to as individuals. Rather, we are building a sanctuary, a place to feel safe and brave, a community of support and care.

Revision—both an altering of what is there and a new vision all together—will be a central part of this course, to dive into a work and envision its potentials, to experiment, take chances, to see each piece’s flexibility in the moment, the choices we make. As the purpose of this class is to survey our processes, and ourselves, questions are more important that answers and your own advice to yourself will be the most valuable.

 

Course Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for ENGL 35A

Upon completion of this course, a student will be able to:

1. Identify elements of craft in published fiction.
2. Compose works of original literary expression, employing, at a basic level, elements of craft.
3. Appraise works-in-progress, sharing basic-level critiques with peers in a workshop setting in appropriate, constructive ways.
4. Experiment with story possibilities that emerge from instructor and peer feedback.

Course Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) for ENGL 35B

Upon completion of this course, a student will be able to:

1. Evaluate choices writers make regarding elements of craft in fiction.
2. Compose works of original literary expression, employing, at an intermediate level, elements of craft.
3. Appraise works-in-progress, sharing substantive critiques with members of a writing workshop in appropriate, constructive ways.
4. Revise works of literary expression based on instructor feedback and the workshop process.

 

Required texts:

1. LaPlante, Alice. The Making of a Story. Norton, 2010, ISBN: 978-0-393-33708-2. You don't need to by the physical book, but may want to. All of the readings will be available in Canvas.
2. Your work. You must bring copies of your work for your classmates to class one week before your assigned workshop. This is an added expense for you.

**Note: You are responsible for bringing your own copy of the assigned published stories (see the Course Schedule). You must have a paper copy of the texts we read (no electronic copies) because you should be taking notes in class on the text. Bottom of Form

Recommended texts:

1. Literary magazines and journals, including Forum, CCSF's Creative Writing Program's own.
2. Calvino, Italo. Six Memos for the Next Millennium. New York: Vintage International, 1988. ISBN: 9780679742371

 

Grading Policy and Frequency of Assignments (35A)

1 shorter story (3-5 pages, due at midterm)                                             15%

1 longer short story (6-10 pages, due at final)                                          15%

Critiques of student work (weekly)                                                            35%

Writing Exercises, including workshops (weekly)

(Part of Writing Process Journal)                                                                15%

Writing Process Journals and Final Reflection (due at the end)              10%

Leadership and Participation (which requires regular attendance)         10%

 

Grading Policy and Frequency of Assignments (35B)

1 shorter story (3-5 pages, due at midterm)                                            15%

1 longer short story (6-10 pages, due at final)                                         15%

Critiques of student work (weekly)                                                           35%

Writing Exercises, including workshops

(weekly) (Part of Writing Process Journal)                                                15%

Writing Portfolios and Final Reflection (due at the end)                        10%

Leadership and Participation (which requires regular attendance)       10%

 

Method of Evaluations

Out of class writing will be graded based on how well it fulfills the assignment and the criteria discussed in class and will receive written feedback for revising. In class assignments will be graded based on completion.

 

Attendance and Lateness

We’ll have class at the Ocean Campus on Mondays between 6:10 and 9:00pm. It’s ideal if you can make, on time, it to all of these weekly classes. For face-to-face classes that meet once a week, no more than two absences. Tardiness will be counted as either quarter or half absences, so make sure you make it on time.

 

Writing Process Journals

A journal is essential to any serious writer. You will be expected to keep a journal of observations, ideas for stories, free writing, reactions to assigned readings, and your notes about your writing process. Keep it by your bedside to record dreams, and carry it with you. You never know what great ideas will come to you. Date entries by week, keep writing process notes separate with a heading, and write at least 1 page per week.

 

Writing Exercises—in-class

Writing Exercises written in class may be written on notepaper. During these experiments, you should turn off your inner censor and not worry about how it sounds. These exercises may be revised at home and may be the beginnings of a developed short story.

 

Writing Exercises—outside of class

Writing Exercises written outside of class should be turned in typed, one page, double-spaced. The exercise does not need to be “finished”—the story may continue on a second page at home—but I will comment on only one page, so give me your best. These activities are also a chance for you to explore and turn off your inner censor; I recommend you write 3 pages without stopping, allowing yourself to write whatever comes to mind. Then, as a practice in revision, decide which part of the exercise you want to present to others. Type up this part, one page maximum. These exercises will serve as the texts for the mini-workshops at the beginning of the semester.

 

35B Portfolios

Due on the last day of class, your Portfolio should contain your journal, as well as a folder with all drafts and revisions for your three stories as well as proof of three submissions of a story, or more, to literary journals. Submitting to Forum Magazine counts. Sometime in the second half of the semester, after we’ve workshopped your 6-10-page story, you are required to schedule a conference with me to discuss your story. Please email me to schedule an appointment and attach a revised draft of your story to discuss at the meeting.

  

Peer Feedback

In this course, we will be conducting a formal student workshop in addition to the study of published texts. You are to consider your classmates’ work with the utmost respect, which means being prepared to discuss their work on the day they are assigned to be workshopped. You must provide each writer with a one-page typed critique following critique guidelines and be eager to discuss student work with as much enthusiasm and generosity as you would have if you were in a room with your favorite authors to discuss their work. Written critiques that are more than a week late will receive half credit. One of the greatest forms of respect is attention, and you will be expected to give your attention to one another as well as to the subject of fiction.

 

Participation Policy

Participation in this class will take place in class, as well as in discussions online. It is important to participate throughout the week in order to form a meaningful and engaging learning experience for you and the rest of the members of our online community.

You will receive credit for posting in any class discussion as long as the post is made before the Final meeting on 12/16. Our student-to-student interaction begins in the reading assignments themselves. You’ll open each reading assignment directly from the Week’s Module in Canvas and it will open up in an application called Perusall, which allows you to ask questions and make comments in the margins of the texts. For each reading assignment, you’ll be required to make five-to-seven in-text comments.

From there, you can expand on one or two of the comments in the Workshop Discussion in class and in Canvas. If you do miss class, you can also participate in the Discussion in the Canvas Discussion.  

The ideas you start in the margins of the texts will grow in the class Discussions and can then be brought directly into your story drafts!

The Perusall Reading Assignments and Discussions are set to be due on Mondays at 6:00pm. If you miss the deadline, you can still enter and participate in the discussions for full credit at any time before the Final Exam. 

 

Community Policy: This community fosters an inclusive learning environment where diverse perspectives are respected and recognized as a source of knowledge.  Students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives should feel respected in this community and students' learning needs should be addressed. I try to present materials and discussions that are respectful of diversity: gender, sexuality, disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, and culture. I invite you to participate in the forming community policies of our online community this semester!

Please practice "netiquette" in all your communications.

• Be kind and respectful to others.
• Use full sentences.
• Avoid jargon and acronyms.
• Use language that supports others.

When you give feedback to other writers, you want to be authentic, insightful, curious, and generous. It’s easy to have a reaction, but it is more beneficial to see into a piece of writing, its consciousness, and infer its intentions. The last thing we want to do is get in the way of the writer’s process. This is hard work! We can’t read the writer’s mind. This is why we have to learn from published writers and ask the right questions whenever we read and analyze writing.

 

Judgmental questions:     Is it good? Do I like it? Would it be better if...?

Supportive questions:   When the writer does ____, what is the effect on the reader? If the writer does _____, what would be the effect? I wonder if the writer tried ______ as an experiment.

 

Professionalism and Respect

I understand that students represent a rich diversity of backgrounds and perspectives. The City College of San Francisco is committed to providing an atmosphere for learning that respects diversity. While working together to build this community I request all student members to:

1. i) share their unique experiences, values and beliefs
2. ii) value each other’s opinions and communicate in a respectful manner

iii) be open to the views of others

1. iv) honor the uniqueness of peers
2. v) appreciate the opportunity that we have to learn from each other in this community

• Students are encouraged to bring their thoughts and experiences to the discussion of class texts, and students are expected to respect one another’s right to share different opinions and perspectives. Behavior in the class should be professional and mature at all times, and students will respect each other’s identities, including religious, racial, gender, and sexual identities both during discussion and in the writing students submit.
• The noise of cell phones, pagers, and watches with timers is not allowed in class. Sleeping, eating, excessive talking, unprofessional behavior, inappropriate arguing, arriving late, arriving without required materials, leaving early, and plagiarism (using another person’s ideas or words and passing them off as your own) all qualify as grounds for disciplinary action, according to the CCSF Code of Conduct.

  

Late Work

Submit all your work in class. If you must be absent, email your work before class to receive full credit. Late work will not be accepted except in cases of emergency. In-class activities may not be made up.

 

Plagiarism

As with all academic courses, plagiarism will not be tolerated. Plagiarism is the reproduction of another person’s ideas or writing as one’s own. All work submitted in this class must be your own individual work.

 

Format

All out-of-class writing assignments (except for your journals) should be typed and stapled using standard 12-point font and 1 in. margins. Please, no covers. The “shorter” stories may be the beginning of a story, 3 pages maximum; the “final” story must be 6-10 pages.

 

Accommodations

If you...

- need testing accommodations because of a disability

- have emergency medical information to share with me

- need special arrangements in case the building needs to be evacuated

...please make an appointment with me as soon as possible. My office hours are indicated at the top of the syllabus and on the Home page. 

Students seeking disability related accommodations are encouraged to also register with Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSPS) located in Room 323 of the Rosenberg Library (415) 452-5481.

 

Using Canvas

Go to MyCCSF and look for the links under "Distance Learning" in the "Students" column on the right to find a link to log in to Canvas directly, to get your RAM ID, and to get support with how to use Canvas.

The basics for logging in to Canvas:

Go to https://ccsf.instructure.com

Username: CCSF ID, examples: W12345678 or @12345678

Your Canvas password is your RAM ID password.

RAM ID instructions for students (Google Doc)

 

Course Schedule

Fall 2024

 

Week 1: Jumping in!

Monday 8/19

• Writing Workshop: “Remagination” (in Canvas) or “I Don’t Know Why I Don’t Remember” (LaPlante 9): Please dedicate a notebook as your fiction notebook and work on one or both of these free-write exercises.
• For 8/26,log on to Canvas, Complete the “Getting Started!” and “Week 1” Modules
• For 8/26, please introduce yourself a bit more in the “Introducing Ourselves” Discussion in the Getting Started Module.
• For 8/26, read and annotate “What Is This Thing Called Creative Writing” (LaPlante 23-47), “The Splendid Gift of Not Knowing: Writing as Discovery” (LaPlante 57-68), and "Something Street," by Caroline Ferrell (in Week 1 Module). 
• Type a one-page critique of the story that is roughly a half-page summary, and a half-page about what you think about it.
• If you have extra time, feel free to discuss one or both of either of the two stories in the textbook: Joyce Carol Oats’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (72-86) or Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Welcome to Cancerland” (87-106).

 

Week 2: Writing as Discovery

Monday 8/26

• Go over Workshop Feedback Guidelines
• Sign up for Story 1 Workshop (Five Groups)
• Discuss “What Is This Thing Called Creative Writing” and “The Splendid Gift of Not Knowing: Writing as Discovery”
• Writing Workshop: “I Am a Camera” (LaPlante 39)
• Discuss Joyce Carol Oats’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (72-86) and Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Welcome to Cancerland” (87-106)
• For 9/2, read “Details, Details: The Basic Building Blocks” (LaPlante 107-127), and one of either of two stories: Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” (LaPlante 131-147), or Ron Hansen’s “Nebraska” (LaPlante 147-151). Type a one-page critique of the story that is roughly a half-page summary, and a half-page about the writer’s use on imagery and/or metaphor.
• For 9/2, draft a three-to-four-page story for Story 1 Workshop. (You'll submit this one week prior to the date of your Workshop.)

 

Week 3: Details 

*Monday 9/2 is Labor Day, so we won’t meet in person this week.  

Monday 9/2

• Discuss “Details, Details: The Basic Building Blocks” (LaPlante 107-127)
• Writing Workshop: “Harper’s Index on a Personal Level” (LaPlante 127)
• Discuss Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” (LaPlante 131-147) and Ron Hansen’s “Nebraska” (LaPlante 147-151).
• For 9/9,read and annotate “The Shapely Story: Defining and Shaping” (LaPlante 152-178), and “Without Inspection,” by Edwidge Danicat (in Week 3 Module). I also recommend “Helping,” by Robert Stone (178-203).
• For 9/9: Story 1 Workshop 1

 

Week 4: Defining and Shaping 

Monday 9/9

• Story 1 Workshop 1
• Discuss “The Shapely Story: Defining and Shaping” (LaPlante 152-165)
• Writing Workshop: “False Epiphanies I Have Had” (LaPlante165-166)
• Discuss “Without Inspection,” by Edwidge Danicat (in Week 3 Module).
• For 9/16,work on free-write started in writing workshop.
• For 9/16, read and annotate “Why you Need to Show and Tell: Dramatizing and Narrating” (LaPlante 204-224), and Mimi Lok's “Last of Her Name” (in Week 4 Module). I also recommend the other stories by Mimi Lok and “Brownies,” by ZZ Packer (LaPlante 227-245), or “Winner Take Nothing,” by Bernard Cooper (LaPlante 245-257).
• For 9/16: Story 1 Workshop 2

 

Week 5: Showing and Telling

Monday 9/16

• Story 1 Workshop 2
• Discuss “Why you Need to Show and Tell: Dramatizing and Narrating” (LaPlante 204-224)
• Writing Workshop: “Tell Me a Story” (LaPlante 224-225)
• Discuss Mimi Lok's “Last of Her Name” (in Week 4 Module)
• For 9/23,read and annotate “Who’s Telling This Story? Point of View” (LaPlante 258-280), and one of the following stories: Anton Chekov’s “The Lady with the Little Dog” (LaPlante 284-299) or Penny Wolfson’s “Moonrise” (299-318).
• For 9/23: Story 1 Workshop 3

 

Week 6: Point of View 

Monday 9/23

• Story 1 Workshop 3
• Discuss “Who’s Telling This Story? Point of View” (LaPlante 258-280)
• Writing Workshop: “Changing Point of View: Experiments in Narration” (LaPlante 282-283)
• Discuss Anton Chekov’s “The Lady With the Little Dog” (LaPlante 284-299), or Penny Wolfson’s “Moonrise” (299-318).
• For 9/30,read story proposed by class
• For 9/30: Story 1 Workshop 4

 

Week 7: Potluck

Monday, 9/30

• Story 1 Workshop 4
• Writing Workshop led by class
• For 10/7: read and annotate “How Reliable Is This Narrator? How Point of View Affects Our Understanding” (LaPlante 318-330) and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Stetson) (in Week 7 Module). I also recommend “The Swimmer,” by John Cheever (LaPlante 30-340).
• For 10/7: Story 1 Workshop 5

 

Week 8: Narrator Reliability

Monday 10/7

• Story 1 Workshop 5
• Discuss “How Reliable Is This Narrator? How Point of View Affects Our Understanding” (LaPlante 318-330).
• Writing Workshop: “He Said, She Said” (LaPlante 328).
• Discuss “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Stetson) (in Week 7 Module).
• For 10/14, read and annotate “You Talking to Me? Crafting Effective Dialogue” (LaPlante 341-355), and Peter Orner’s story “Spokane” (In Week 8 Module). I also recommend Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” (LaPlante 356-360) and John Stack’s “Inside the Bunker” (LaPlante 360-375).
• For 10/14: Story 1 Workshop 6

 

Week 9: Dialogue

Monday 10/14

• Story 1 Workshop 6
• Discuss “You Talking to Me? Crafting Effective Dialogue” (LaPlante 341-355)
• Writing Workshop: “Nonverbal Communication” (LaPlante 355)
• Discuss Peter Orner’s story “Spokane.”
• For 10/21, read and annotate “The Plot Thickens: Figuring Out What Happens Next” (LaPlante 375-388) and Juan Rulfo's story "Luvina." Also, Peter Orner and his former student Alberto Reyes Morgan discuss "Luvina" on Texas Public Radio here. I also recommend James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” (LaPlante 390-418). 
• For 10/21: Story 1 Workshop 7

 

Week 10: Plot 

Monday 10/21

• Story 1 Workshop 7
• Please bring in your reflective journals! Using a colorful marker or highlighter, mark the upper right corners of the pages that are reflective writing. I'll flip through them and assign credit during the reading.
• Discuss “The Plot Thickens: Figuring Out What Happens Next” (LaPlante 375-388)
• Writing Workshop: “What’s Behind the Door of Room 101?” (LaPlante 388).
• Discuss Juan Rulfo's story "Luvina."
• For 10/28: Sign up for our Midterm Fiction Reading!
• For 10/28: Sign up for Story 2 Workshop (5 groups)!
• For 10/28: Prepare your first three-to-five-page story to re-submit on 10/28.
• I’m also sharing Franz Kafka’s story “The Metamorphosis” (in Week 10 Module) to read and discuss online next week.
• Note: Story 1 Workshop Discussions will close at 11:59pm on Monday 10/28, so if you want to add any late comments fro credit, you have until then! 

  

Week 11: Midterm Fiction Reading!

Monday 10/28

• Halloween Fiction Reading at MUB 140! Arrive at 5:55 PM!
  
• This Week is Midterm. Turn in your “final” three-five-page story, and feel free to make up any assignments, annotations, or discussion posts. All assignments in the first half of the semester close tonight at 11:59PM.
  
• For 11/4,read “Recognizable People: Creating Surprising-Yet-Convincing Characters” (LaPlante 418-441), and one of the following two stories (although I recommend both!): Caribbean Fragoza's "Lumberjack Mom" and "Eat the Mouth that Feeds You." We'll have a chance to talk to the author on Zoom next week!
• If you have more time, I recommend Akhil Sharma’s “Surrounded by Sleep” (LaPlante 441-453), or Maxine Hong Kingston’s “No Name Woman” (LaPlante 453-465).
• For 11/4:  Draft six-to-ten-page story for Story 2 Workshop. (You'll submit this one week prior to the date of your Workshop. If you singed up for Workshop 1 next week, please submit the story by the end of the day on 10/28!)
• 2 Workshop 1

 

Week 12: Living Characters

Monday 11/4

• Story 2 Workshop 1
• Discuss “Recognizable People: Creating Surprising-Yet-Convincing Characters” (LaPlante 418-441).
• Discuss Caribbean Fragoza's "Lumberjack Mom" and "Eat the Moth that Feeds You."
• (Virtual) author visit with Caribbean Fragoza!
• Writing Workshop: “Emptying Pockets” (LaPlante 435), and “Character Profile” (in Canvas)
• For 11/11,read and annotate “Raising the Curtain: Beginning Your Story, Novel, or Nonfiction Piece” (LaPlante 465-475) and Tommy Orange’s story “The State” (in Week 12 Module). I also recommend Lorrie Moore’s “People Like That Are The Only People Here: Canonical Babbling in Peed Onk” (LaPlante 388-396) and “The Art of the Sentence: Lorrie Moore,” by George Estreich (in Canvas).
• For 11/11: Story 2 Workshop 2

 

Week 13: Openings

*Monday 11/11 is Faculty Flex Day, so we won’t be meeting in person this week.

Monday 11/11

• Story 2 Workshop 2
• Discuss “Raising the Curtain: Beginning Your Story, Novel, or Nonfiction Piece” (LaPlante 465-475).
• Writing Workshop: “Start in the Middle” (LaPlante 477)
• Discuss Tommy Orange’s story “The State” (in Week 12 Module)
• For 11/18,read and annotate “What’s This Creative Work Really About? The Art of Transferring True Emotions Onto Sensory Events” (LaPlante 507-518) and Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” or Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use.” I also recommend Fredrick Bausch’s “Ralph the Duck” (LaPlante 521-533), or Richard Selzer’s “The Knife” (LaPlante 533-542). I’m also sharing two stories: Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use.”
• For 11/18: Story 2 Workshop 3

 

Week 14: Meaning and Transference

Monday 11/18

• Story 2 Workshop 3
• Discuss “What’s This Creative Work Really About? The Art of Transferring True Emotions Onto Sensory Events” (LaPlante 507-518).
• Writing Workshop: “Getting and Image to Spill its Secrets (LaPlante 518)
• Discuss Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use.”
• For 11/25, read and annotate “Learning to Fail Better: On Revision” (LaPlante 542-573), Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” (LaPlante 574-578), “D.T. Max’s “The Carver Chronicles” (LaPlante 578-590), Raymond Carver’s “The Bath” (LaPlante 591-597), and Raymond Carver’s “A Small, Good Thing” (LaPlante 597-618). I’m also sharing Raymond Carver’s story “Cathedral,” as well as a few more examples of pre- and post-edit stories by Carver. I’m also sharing Donald Barthelme’s story “Glass Mountain.”
• For 11/25: Story 2 Workshop 4

 

Week 15: Revision

Monday 11/25

• Story 2 Workshop 4
• Discuss “Learning to Fail Better: On Revision” (LaPlante 542-573), Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” (LaPlante 574-578).
• Writing Workshop: “Analytical/Mechanical Exercises” (LaPlante 553)
• Discuss “D.T. Max’s “The Carver Chronicles” (LaPlante 578-590), Raymond Carver’s “The Bath” (LaPlante 591-597), and Raymond Carver’s “A Small, Good Thing” (LaPlante 597-618). 
• For 12/2,read and annotate “Getting Beyond Facts to Truth” (LaPlante 619-630) and Jorge Luis Borges’ story “The Library of Babel” (in Week 15 Module). I also recommend Katha Pollitt’s “Learning to Drive” (LaPlante 633-643).
• For 12/2: Story 2 Workshop 5

 

Week 16: Truth in Fiction

Monday 12/2

• Story 2 Workshop 5
• Discuss “Getting Beyond Facts to Truth” (LaPlante 619-630)
• Writing Workshop: “Creative Exercises” (LaPlante 555).
• Discuss Jorge Luis Borges’ story “The Library of Babel” (in Week 15 Module).
• For 12/9, read and annotate “Getting Published” (in Canvas), and either Jennifer Egan’s “Found Objects” or “Safari” (in Week 16 Module).
• For 12/9: Story 2 Workshop 6

 

Week 17: Publication

Monday 12/9

• Story 2 Workshop 6
• Please bring in your reflective journals! Using a colorful marker or highlighter, mark the upper right corners of the pages that are reflective writing. I'll flip through them and assign credit during the reading.
• Discuss getting published. Feel free to bring in any literary journals you have to discuss.
• Discuss Jennifer Egan’s “Found Objects” or “Safari” (in Week 16 Module).
• Sign up for “Final Fiction Reading” on Monday 12/16: Prepare a 3-4-minute excerpt of your writing to read.
• For 12/16: Final 6-10-page Story 2 is due
• For 12/16, 35A:Writing Process Journal and Final Reflection (one page)
• For 12/16, 35B: Final Portfolio with Writing Process Journal and Final Reflection (one page), and proof of three submissions
• I highly recommend submitting your one of your stories to CCSF’s Forum Magazine for consideration in the Spring 2025 edition!

 

Week 18

Monday 12/16

• Final Fiction Reading 6-9pm!
• Final 6-10-page Story 2 is Due
• 35A: Final Reflection (one page) are due
• 35B: Final Portfolio With Writing Process Journal and Final Reflection (one page), and proof of three submissions
• I highly recommend submitting your one of your stories to CCSF’s Forum Magazine for consideration in the Spring 2025 edition!
• Have a wonderful winter holiday!