English 402: Advanced Creative Writing: Short Fiction
Professor Hans Ostrom Spring 2009\Wyatt Hall 206
Welcome to English 402. Here is some basic information:
My Office: Wyatt 336. Office-Hours for Spring 2005: Monday and Wednesday, 2:00-3:15, and by appointment. The English Department’s telephone: x3235 (messages); my telephone: x3434 (voice mail). Electronic mail: ostrom@ups.edu. The English Department’s mailboxes are located in the room next to the Philosophy Department’s main office on the third floor of Wyatt Hall.
Home page: www.ups.edu/faculty/ostrom/. A printable copy of this syllabus is posted on the home page.
The University’s Equal Opportunity Statement
The University of Puget Sound does not discriminate in education or employment on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, religion, creed, age, disability, marital or familial status, sexual orientation, Vietnam-era veteran status, gender identity, or any other basis prohibited by local, state, or federal laws. This policy complies with the spirit and the letter of applicable federal, state and local laws, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Questions about the policy may be referred to the University's Director of Human Resources and Affirmative Action (253-879-3116) or the Office of Civil Rights, Department of Education, Washington, D.C. 20202.
Objectives of the Course
In English 202 (the prerequisite for taking English 402), you learned more about how short fiction is very much its own literary form, distinct from novels, poems, and plays but sharing territory with them. You also learned more about your own writing of short stories.
In English 402 one purpose will be to explore the distinctness and the shared genre-territory, and other purposes will be to produce your own short stories, get responses to them and to drafts of them, to experiment with new possibilities, to develop as writers. Another purpose of English 402 is to create a venue in which you may work hard and with satisfaction at understanding the art of short fiction, as both a writer and a reader.
To write much; to read a wide variety of stories and experiment with different critical lenses with which to interpret short fiction; to experiment with different narrative methods; to explore narrative theory; to build on your experience writing stories; to give, take, and use responses to work-in-progress; to ponder the mysteries of "fiction": these are some other purposes of this course.
Specifically, the course will concentrate on literary short fiction, broadly defined but based in traditions of short fiction that arose in the 19th century and have developed into the 21st. With regard to stories you write, fantasy, action, and horror stories are types of fiction you will probably want to explore in a venue different from this course. Science fiction is not necessarily off limits, but let me know early on if you are interested in writing short fiction of this kind.
The Etiquette and Atmosphere of the Course
Here are some guidelines to which all of us should adhere. None of them will be surprising or difficult. In fact, I hope they’ll seem familiar, even obvious, but sometimes it’s good to reaffirm the familiar. All are aimed at creating a productive, workable environment.
Please do attend class unless you are ill or otherwise indisposed, and please do arrive on time. Attendance guidelines: Each absence after the third one will start to erode your final grade. Each late arrival after the second one counts as an absence.
To some degree, a college classroom has become an old fashioned, counter-cultural space that asks us to lengthen our attention-spans when the culture at large seeks to shorten them. Please do listen while others are talking. Although conversations on the side are usually not intended to be rude or disruptive, they can have that effect. Respect each other and yourselves. Before class begins, turn off the electronic devices. If you use a lap-top computer in class, please use it only to take notes, not to get on the Internet or otherwise distract yourself and others. Please do not habitually get up and leave class. I realize that, every so often, one needs to leave class for a few minutes. But more than every so often is not appropriate. Please do your best. The more each of us contributes to the course, the more each of us will get out of it. Please do not plagiarize.
Please turn in work and complete reading-assignments on time. But also please ask me to clarify assignments and guidelines if they are unclear, and please let me know if an illness or an emergency has prevented you from completing your work on time.
Please do acquire the books required for the course, read them according to the syllabus, and bring them to class on the appropriate days. Acquire the editions I’ve ordered through the bookstore, even if you do not buy them at the bookstore.
Please don’t eat in class (every professor has his or her pet-peeves); a cup of coffee (for example) is fine, however.
The Workshop
A good chunk of the course will be devoted to the close reading, by your peers, of your work-in-progress. I’ll set out guidelines for how we do this. The workshop method isn’t for everyone, but by staying in the course, you implicitly agree to participate actively and productively in this method of response and revision.
The Portfolio System
You’ll take three stories through the workshop, revising them before, during, and after the presentation to your group. At the end of the term, you will submit two of these in a portfolio, along with at least two one-page "slices" or "micro-stories."
We will likely write four micro-stories, in which case you may “drop” one or two from the portfolio, and it’s good to have one or two to drop also because micro-stories sometimes turn into one of the longer stories. The portfolio is the work I will evaluate formally, though of course I will be reading and commenting on your drafts all along.
As you’ll see from the schedule below, there is a rhythm to this course, with intervals of reading and writing, class discussion and group work, and so on. There is a plan for the whole term, but there is, by design, plenty of room for flexibility. Bring the syllabus to class with you every time so that you may note any changes.
Approximate Breakdown of Elements on Which Your Grade Will Be Based.
Portfolio: 50 per cent.
Participation (showing up; being productive; doing the reading and writing; contributing to discussions; participating in group work; meeting deadlines for drafts): 25 per cent.
Tests (which will ask you to analyze and synthesize the short fiction we have read and ideas & terms from other material we read): 20 per cent, total
Oral presentation about an extra book of short stories: 5 per cent.
Briefly, About the Professor
Sometimes students want to know a bit about the professor; in a paragraph, here’s a bit: I’ve taught literature and creative writing at the University of Puget Sound for quite some time. I’ve published short stories and a novel and edited a collection of short stories (Lives and Moments: An Introduction to Short Fiction). I’ve also published articles and books on how to write poetry & short fiction and how to teach creative writing. For example, I’m a co-author of Metro: Journeys in Writing Creatively (Longman, 2001). I also published a book of criticism about Langston Hughes’s short fiction.
The Books
Reni Browne and Dave King. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print. New York: Quill Books, 1993. In this book, two experienced editors of fiction take their readers (that would be us) through the processes of revision and editing.
James H. Pickering, editor. Fiction 100: Anthology of Short Fiction. 11th edition. New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2007.
Irving Howe and Ilana Wiener Howe, editors. Short Shorts: An Anthology of the Shortest Short Stories. New York: Bantam, 1982.
Schedule of Class Meetings (Subject to Change)
This schedule is detailed, and the essential plan for the course will remain constant, but some shifts and refinements in scheduling may occur. Contact me if you aren’t sure about the schedule.
Unit: Exposition, Development, and Drama; and the Legacy of the 19th Century
Wednesday, January 21. Aims & expectations. A look at the syllabus. A review of terminology. Some writing. For Friday, read Chapter One of Self-Editing. Consider the exercises on pp. 20-21. In Fiction 100, please read “The Overcoat,” by Nickolai Gogol, generally regarded as a story that with immense influence on modern short fiction. Assess it for yourself. Also, read the Chronological Table of Contents, beginning on 1436.
Friday, January 23. A review of “showing” vs. “telling,” and a discussion of when “telling” is a good thing. Gogol’s story.
Monday, January 26. First micro-story due--no longer than two pages, typewritten, double-spaced. Include a title, please. One copy for me, one for you, and two more. The copies may be duplexed, of course. Material from O’Connor and Genette distributed.
Wednesday, January 28. For today, read the photocopied material. Some writing.
Friday, January 30. For today, please read, in the Howe anthology, Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” and Franz Kafka’s “First Sorrow.”
Monday, February 2. A partial draft of your first longer story is due, word-processed.
Wednesday, February 4. For today, please read, in the Howe anthology, Chekhov’s “After the Theater,” Grace Paley’s “Wants,” and Paula Fox’s “News From the World.”
Friday, February 6. For today, please read, in Fiction 100, Poe’s “The Cask of Amantillado” and Henry James’s “The Real Thing.” Guidelines for group-work discussed.
Monday, February 9. First longer story due. One copy for me, one copy for you, and three additional copies. Turn the story in to me in a plain folder and include your rough draft(s), please. Group work.
Wednesday, February 11. Group work.
Friday, February 13. Group work.
Monday, February 16. Writing.
Unit: Dialogue, Point of View, Boundaries
Wednesday, February 18. For today, please read Raymond Carver’s “Call If You Need Me” and Amy Bloom’s “The Story” (in Fiction 100).
Friday, February 20. For today, in Self-Editing, please read the chapters on “Point of View” and “Dialogue Mechanics.” In Fiction 100, please read Tom Drury, “Chemistry.”
Monday, February 23. For today, a micro story is due. One copy for me, one for you, and two more. The copies may be duplexed, of course.
Wednesday, February 25. For today, in Self-Editing, please read the chapters on “See How It Sounds” and “Interior Monologue.” Assignment for Friday.
Friday, February 27. Gathering data.
Monday, March 2. Results of data-gathering. For today, please read, in the Howe anthology, Augusto Montrose’s “The Eclipse,” I.L. Peretz’s “If Not Higher,“ and Heinrich Boll’s “The Laugher.”
Wednesday, March 4. Second micro story due. One copy for you, one for me, and a third one.
Friday, March 6. For today, in Fiction 100, please read Dorothy West, “My Baby,” and Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, “Joy and the Law.” Review for test.
Monday, March 9. Test.
Wednesday, March 11. Partial draft of second longer story due, typewritten.
Friday, March 13. Conferences about the second story, in my office.
Spring Break
Monday, March 23. Conferences, in my office.
Wednesday, March 25. Conferences, in my office.
Unit: Refinements and Experimentation
Friday, March 27. Second longer story due. One copy for me, one copy for you, and three additional copies. Turn the story in to me in a plain folder and include your rough draft(s), please. Group work.
Monday, March 30. Group work.
Wednesday, April 1. Group work.
Friday, April 3. Some writing.
Monday, April 6. In Self-Editing, please read the chapters on “Easy Beats” and “Breaking Up Is Easy to Do.” In Fiction 100, read “Guests of the Nation,” by Frank O’Connor.
Wednesday, April 8. In Self-Editing, please read the chapters on “Once Is Usually Enough” and “Sophistication.”
Friday, April 10. Third micro story due. One copy for me, one for you, and 2-4 more. We’ll be in groups of four. Group work.
Monday, April 13. Group work.
Wednesday, April 15. For today, in Fiction 100, please read Annette Sanford, “Nobody Listens When I Talk” and John Updike, “Separating.” Ideas for third longer story due. Review for test.
Friday, April 17. Test.
Monday, April 20. Partial draft of third longer story due.
Wednesday, April 22. Fourth micro story due. One copy for me, one for you, and one more.
Friday, April 24. Open day to work on stories. I’m in my office.
Monday, April 27. Third story due, One copy for me, one copy for you, and three additional copies. Turn the story in to me in a plain folder and include your rough draft(s), please. Group work.
Wednesday, April 29. Group work.
Friday, May 1. Group work and Monday, May 4. Group work, if necessary.
Wednesday, May 6. Discuss portfolio, which will be due during Finals Week and include two revised longer stories and two revised micro stories.