English 223—Online Short Story Writing, online, Section 5454, Spring 2008

Jessica Barksdale Inclan, Instructor

Office Hours: MW (online) 8-9.15, TTH (on land) 10.30-11, 3.30-4, by appt.

Office phone number/voice mail: 685-1230 x 2513

Email: lilphi@pacbell.net

Course Site: http://www.coursecompass.com/ccindex.html

Web site: www.jessicabarksdaleinclan.com

 

Required Texts:

 

Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway, seventh edition

 

•           You need the Burroway book in order to obtain an access code for the course. Or you can buy one from AB Longman from the site. But it’s easier to buy it all in one package. I will not be able to give you an access code.  So I don’t advice buying it used or from amazon.

 

Best American Short Stories of 2007, edited by Stephen King

 

 

Welcome to English 223, a class that is near and dear to my heart. I am a fiction writer, both short and long, and a poet, and I take this class and the ideas therein extremely seriously. I hold in the highest regard artists who put their vision on paper or canvas or film, and in this class, you will be doing just that. This is not an easy class.

 

What we are going to be doing is this: We will read quite a bit of fiction, learn the components of a story, work in groups to create the best fiction we can, and go out into the world to listen to an author present his or her work. You will write and write and write. And read and read and read. If this does not sound appealing, get out now!

 

While this is an “on-line” class and we are not meeting in person, there are still the rules of a classroom. The most important step toward a successful class is your careful reading of this syllabus.

 

**There are due dates and a due time (all Due Dates are Thursdays. The Due Time is 7 pm) for homework and posting dates for “in-class” work on the discussion thread. If you post late, you will NOT receive credit for your work. The class needs to move forward, not backward, and asking us to go back with you is not acceptable. If you cannot work the online classroom—the course compass—you need to talk with me immediately.

 

If from the get-go, you have trouble, this might not be the class for you technologically. You are required to get online and posted by August 23rd.  Do not think that I will allow weeks of “technical difficulties” and take late work  So decide early on if you can do this.

 

My role in the on-line class is to post lectures on topics (see course documents for lectures each week), respond to your postings (briefly), read over your group work with in the group disucssions, respond to your homework. I will also be available by email to answer your questions MW 8-10, though I may have to occasionally miss those hours. I do look at my email several times a day and can promise a quick reply.

 

The most important aspects of the web site are these:

 

•           Discussion—These areas are where you will post your in-class work/homework, respond to the Story of the Week (found in the Best Short Stories of 2006), and post your final short stories. You also will respond to people in the class TWICE each week.

 

•           Groups—This is the area where you will find your workshop groups and where you will post your stories and respond to each other.

 

•           Documents—This is where the lectures are for each week of study.

 

•           Assignments—This is where you will find the writer write up assignment.

 

•           Course information—This is where the syllabus is posted.

 

•           My email address, lilphi@pacbell.net.

 

 

Here is what we will be doing this semester:

 

 

•           You have two choices for weekly work. The first choice is homework from the Burroway text. However, you are responsible for the reading in that book even if you choose to do the in-class work (see below), and then you may pick to do the exercise that is listed for that week. Except for workshop weeks, you will find an assignment listed.

 

*OR YOU CAN DO*

 

•           The in-class work on the discussion thread. You will respond to the prompt on the thread. There are ten prompts—nothing on workshop weeks. So from the combination of in-class work or homework assignments, you’ll have 10 pieces of work at 10 points each for a total of 100 points. Please do the assignment that you think will help your writing the most.

 

If you do both assignments (and I encourage you to not), I will only read one.

 

•           We will hold workshops three times during this semester. You are expected to workshop a piece during each workshop. The pieces you workshop are writings that you’ve created during this class. 100 points per workshop. The workshops run for two weeks. You receive 25 points for posting on time and 25 points for responding each time, 100 points total for each workshop period. The only time this differs is during the last workshop where we run just one week--so 50 and 50 there.

 

A workshop only works as well as you do.  The problem is that no one wants to do a workshop but having others read your work is a crucial, necessary part of the writing process.  Also, learning to look at other people’s writing is a way for you to learn how to look at your own.

 

•           Story of the Week: This is a self-directed assignment. I will not remind you about this. Each week, I will post a story from our text on the Discussion Thread. The stories are found in The Best Short Stories of 2007. You are to respond to ONE of these stories during the semester. And the story that is available is the one listed each week. You can’t go back and do something that has already passed us by. Please don’t think you can move around the board. This response is not what the story is about or how much you liked or hated it. The focus on your response should be on the things we are learning. How does the writer employ point-of-view? Language? Are the characters developed? And how are they developed? What about dialogue? What does the story mean—what is its theme? What are the writing faults? Where did you drift off? Where did you maintain intense focus? You should read a few of the stories before deciding—and, of course, if you read all of them, you would learn from yourself as well as the students who responded to a given story. 100 points.

 

•           One revised complete short story by May 15. 200 points.

 

•           A writer write-up. You will go into the world to listen to a real-life author read his or her work. I want you to go to a fiction writer, genre fiction works, too.  No children’s fiction please.  100 points. Due May 8.  I will likely not remind you about this assignment either.  But hearing other writers read their work and talk about their process is about as important as the workshop.  If you want to be a writer, this is something you should do as a matter of course.

 

•           Participation means responding to in-class work at least twice each week and responding thoughtfully and well in workshop groups.

 

 

Here are the rules for my classes:

 

•           I accept no late stories or assignments.

•           This course cannot be done when you want to do the work. It’s not an “at your pace” type of thing. If you miss the due dates, you will miss the points.

•           After four cumulative absences (two weeks of not posting or responding), I have the option to drop you.

•           I offer no extra-credit opportunities.

•           Plagiarism is work submitted by you that is not yours. If I feel you have done just that, I will drop you from the class and alert the Dean of Student Services.

•           Do not ply me with requests for grade changes after the semester has ended and your grades recorded. Unless you think I have made an addition error, I’m not interested in bargaining.

•           If you have any concerns about the above, feel free to see me during my office hours.

 

Assignment worth and grade points:

 

Participation                                         100                  900-810           A

Homework/in-class work                      100                  720-809           B

Workshops                                          300                  630-719           C

Story of the Week                                100                  540-629           D

Revised story                                        200                  539 Below       F

Writer-Write up                                    100

 

 

Here is the class calendar:

 

Check each week for lectures under Course Documents.

 

A note: You are all responsible for reading in the Burroway text. You may chose to do the in-class work instead of one of her exercises, but you need to know what she writes about.

 

January

 

By January 24, you will have registered for the course, logged onto and become familiar with the course site, posted a brief introduction (even if you are going to do the homework from the book instead), and done this:

 

24—Homework —Burroway. Read Chapter One, Whatever Works. For the homework here, pick one of her "writing" exercises. The writing homework should always come from the writing and not reading exercises. But you can pick.

 

OR

 

In-class work. (posted under the first week)

Story of the week—Toga Party

 

31—Hm: Seeing is Believing

writing exercise OR

In-class work

SOW—Solid Wood

 

February

 

7—Hm:Building Character

Writing exercise

OR

In-class work

SOW—Balto

 

14—Hm: The Flesh Made Word

Writing Exercise

OR

In-class work

SOW—Riding the Dohouse

 

21—Workshop. Just before this date, I will have put you into a group. For this week, you will post a piece that you want critique on, as will your group members. What you workshop must be something written in this class, one of the homework assignments. Your “work” is to respond to each members work at least once this week. Information about how to respond to each other is in the course documents section.

 

28—Workshop. You will post a revision of your work and respond to each members’ revision of their piece.

 

March

 

6—Hm. Far, Far Away

Writing exercise

OR

In-class work

SOW—My Brother Eli

 

13—Hm. Long Ago

Writing Exercise

OR

In-class work

SOW—L. DeBard and Aliette:  A Love Story

 

20—Spring Break

 

27—Hm. The Tower and The Net

Writing Exercise

OR

In-class work

SOW—Wake

 

April

 

3—Hm. Call Me Ishmael

Writing Exercise

OR

In-class work

SOW—The Bris

 

10—Workshop. Same plan as the first

 

17—Workshop.

 

24—Hm. Is and Is Not

Writing Exercise

OR

In-class work

SOW—St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves

 

May

 

1—Hm. I Gotta Use Words When I Talk To You

Writing Exercise

OR

In-class work

SOW—Sans Farine

 

8—Writer Write up Due. Post and then send to my email address.

SOW—Do Something

 

Workshop—This workshop is a one shot deal. Pick a story that you think you need the most help on and post. You will respond to your other group members’ work. But there will not be another week to post revisions.

 

15—Story due to my email and posted on the Discussion Thread

 

Grades and Comments to you by the 22nd.