EGL 225: Creative Writing, Fall 2021

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Workshop Etiquette

Prose Stories:

Denis Johnson, “Emergency“

Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried“

Joyce Carol Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been“

ZZ Packer, “Brownies“

Ernest Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants“

Poetry

Richard Hugo, “The Triggering Town,” Chapters 1&2

Welcome to our Class!

• Tuesday, November 30, 2021: That’s What She Said (Dialog(ue))

  Poem of the Day: The Tradition, by Jericho Brown

  Poem of the Day: Spring, Ominpotent Goddess, Thou, e.e. Cummings

  Today’s lesson comes from the good people at jerichowriters.com. This exhaustive page gives all of the good reasons why focusing on dialogue is an important part of any fiction writer’s development. How might you use the guidelines to streamline your dialogue and, at the same time, develop your characters and reveal the important themes of your story?

  Exercise or…eavesdrop!!

  Homework for Thursday: Read Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants (on the left) and respond here.

  ***REMEMBER!! Short story #2 is due on Monday, December 6 @ noon. Please submit it here, and don’t forget to read the first three stories for class on Tuesday, December 7.***

• Tuesday, November 23, 2021: More Poetry Workshop

  Poem of the Day: “Poem About My Rights,” June Jordan

• Tuesday, November 16, 2021

  Poetry workshop starts on Thursday!! Please submit your second poem here, by the beginning of class on 11/18.

• 

  Tuesday, October 19, 2021

  Poems of the Day:

  Turn in short story #1 here.

  Interested in a daily writing practice? Check out poet William Stafford’s 40-year project.

• Thursday, October 14: Theme

  Poems of the Day: In the Theatre, by Dannie Abse

  Cambridge Elegy, by Sharon Olds

  

  Theme exercise here.

  Please post your response to Joyce Carol Oates (story link on left) here.

  This story was made into a movie in the 80’s called Smooth Talk (trailer), starring a teenaged Laura Dern as Connie and Treat Williams as Arnold Friend. In 2020, a restored version of this movie was played at the New York Film Festival, where the author was interviewed (link): if you start the video at 4:51, you’ll jump right to Oates talking about how the story evolved and the dedication to Bob Dylan. Laura Dern and director Joyce Chopra also comment. Check it out!

• Tuesday, October 5: Poetry Workshop!!

  Stick your workshop poem here.

• Thursday, September 30, 2021: Formal Poetry, Part III

  Poem of the Day: Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, Wendell Berry

  Let’s see those sestinas!!

  Playlist of the Day:

• Tuesday, September 28, 2021: Formal Poetry, Part II: Covid Sestina!!

  Divide up into three groups of six. Crowdsource six end-words: Split up and come back with a sestina!

• Thursday, September 23, 2021: Characterization

  

  BONUS: Link to an NPR interview with fiction writer Tim O’Brien.

  PBS Documentary “The Vietnam War,” by Ken Burns, with Tim O’Brien.

  Characterization in “The Things They Carried”:

  1. How does the character of Martha help “drive” the story? What is her purpose in the story?
  2. Who is the most vivid character in TTTC?
  3. Why are there so many characters in TTTC?
  4. What does Jimmy Cross “want”?
  5. How is he going to get it?
  6. What is standing in his way?
  7. What is he going to do about this impasse?
  8. How does he change?
  9. Explain how external vs. internal conflict work in the story.

  Characterization exercise: Develop a character profile

  Homework: Read the following poems, and write a response to one of them here.

  One Art, Elizabeth Bishop (villanelle). Here’s a PDF template if you want to try one. Rhyme scheme is indicated on the right; repetition is on the left

  Rondeau After a Transatlantic Phone Call, Marilyn Hacker (rondeau). Worksheet.

  Spring Break Sestina, de Jesus, et al (sestina). Here’s an online “Sestina-o-Matic,” if you’re interested in writing one.

  Ghazal for White Hen Pantry, Jamila Woods (ghazal)

  A Ride in the Rain, Blas Falconer (pantoum). Pantoum worksheet here.

  Album of the Day:

• Tuesday, September 21, 2021: Meter and Rhyme in Poetry

  

  Meter & Rhyme Info: Meter (rhythm of syllables), types of rhyme (echoing sounds) and names of different stanza lengths

  Interesting thoughts about how breathing shapes poetry…. by poet William Wooten

  Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll (of Alice in Wonderland fame). Basic iambic tetrameter w/ alternating rhyme. Here’s actor John Hurt performing it. My notes.

  Barely anyone writes in trochees. Notable exception: The Tyger, William Blake

  First Fight Then Fiddle, by Gwendolyn Brooks (tweaked Petrarchan sonnet). My notes

  Sonnet, by Billy Collins (listen) (read). My notes

  Exercise: Try to write a sonnet and post it here.

  Homework for Thursday: Read Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried” and write a response here.

• Thursday, September 16, 2021: Plot

  1. Which of the seven plots in Margaret Atwood’s list does “Emergency” fit?
  2. Time does not flow chronologically in this story. Why didn’t he write the story more like this?
  3. The rising action seems to have a few false starts. Why?
  4. What is the source of the story’s conflict? Is it literal or thematic
  5. Where is the “climax” moment in the story. What tension comes to a head?
  6. What has changed by the end of the story?
  7. What kind of unreliable narrator is F*ckhead? Deliberate, evasive or naive?
  8. What is the purpose of the unreliable narrator?
  9. What does F*ckhead “do” for the story?
  10. There is barely any description in the beginning of the story. Most of the action is propelled by dialogue. Why?

  Other relevant concepts: showing, not telling & foil

  Plot Exercise: Working Backward

  Turn it in here

• Tuesday, September 14, 2021: ZAP

  

  Imagery in poetry/simile & metaphor:

  Short creative non-fiction piece of the day: “Finding the Hammam” by Fatima Asghar

  

  Tips on writing imagery, by Margaret Atwood

  My Grandmother Washes Her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears, by Mohja Kahf

  Many Scientists Convert to Islam, by Nomi Stone

  Different Ways to Pray, by Naomi Shihab Nye

  Homework for Thursday: Read Denis Johnson, “Emergency,” and write a reading response here.

• Thursday, September 9, 2021

  The tone of your six-word memoirs tended toward sadness: it’s not surprising, given that we are living in the Burning States of Pandemic these days. I hope that Herbert’s poem from last week is a balm for your souls.

  Agenda:

  Poem of the Day, “Discovering Your Subject,” by Pattiann Rogers

  Question: Why do I/would I/might I want to write creatively? What has “triggered” me to create in the past? Post your answer here, anonymously.

  Exercise: 10-line poem :

  Give me ten random words:

  Then, subvert a cliche!

  –“it’s raining cats & dogs”

  –“don’t let the cat out of the bag”

  –“woke up on the wrong side of the bed”

  Homework: Finish 10-line poem and post here

  Read Richard Hugo, “The Triggering Town,” chapters 1 & 2 & take quiz.

  Song of the Day: “Dry Lightning” by Bruce Springsteen, from the excellent album The Ghost of Tom Joad.

  https://open.spotify.com/track/5gw1ngV7cDILJHTujuvs6O?si=LLdOxTfsRUqMpKmqRLEpqQ

• Tuesday, September 7, 2021

  Agenda:

  Poem of the day: Envoy of Mr. Cogito, by Zbigniew Herbert

  Portfolios!

  Assignment: Memoir in six words. Link to Google Doc

  What’s a memoir, you ask?

  “The past is not static, or ever truly complete; as we age we see from new positions, shifting angles. A therapist friend of mine likes to use the metaphor of the kind of spiral stair that winds up inside a lighthouse. As one moves up that stair, the core at the center doesn’t change, but one continually sees it from another vantage point; if the past is a core of who we are, then our movement in time always brings us into a new relation to that core.” Mark Doty, “Return to Sender: Memory, Betrayal, and Memoir,” The Writer’s Chronicle, Nov. 2005

  Homework (due 9/9): In the forum, comment on a colleague’s memoir that strikes you as odd or surprising. Which words, or combination of words, evoke an unusual feeling or image in your mind? Write at least two sentences.

  Today’s writing playlist: Aussie surf rock & worthy covers:

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