Syllabus

ENGLISH 354: Creative Writing

Instructor: Christopher Cheney

Monday. 6:30 – 9:30 P.M Bartlett Hall Room 35

Email: Chris.Robert.Cheney@Gmail.com

Phone: 413-668-6029


Course Description:

This course is a reading, writing, and thinking machine. We read to write better, write to write better, chat to write better, and so on. Our class is a serious commitment to becoming better writers. Like a good convenient store, our class never shuts down. Each week you are encouraged to contribute physically (in class) and virtually (to our class blog). Our class puts heavy emphasis on participation. Every kind of discussion is vital to our class. They allow us to share our epiphanies and voice our complications.

You will take different approaches to writing. You will write on the web, write collaboratively with a classmate, write as an inanimate object, write as an animal, write in an established form, write with your own form, et cetera.

This class doesn't teach rules but seeks to develop one's techniques. We will work to create our own rules and undermine established art norms.

Required Texts:

Letters to Wendy's, Joe Wenderoth

Selected poems, James Tate

The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories, Ben Marcus

Cathedral, Raymond Carver

The Night Of 1,000 Murders, Mark Leidner

Patriotism, Yukio Mishima

All texts can be found at Amherst Books: 8 Main St
Amherst, MA 01002
(413) 256-1547
Class Blog:

You already have a personal blog, which you are now responsible for. This will be administered to you. You also belong to the class blog.

http://missioncontrolcenter.blogspot.com

This is our "mother blog" or "class blog" which links us to each other. This allows us to read each other's reading responses and view each other's poems/stories before workshop.

Reading Responses: Tuesday morning of each week a reading response assignment will be posted on our mother blog. It is your responsibility to finish the assignment and post it on your personal blog before Saturday (midnight).

Post-Workshop: Every week you must post your creative work before Saturday (midnight). You are also responsible for reading each other's work before class. This gives us a jump-start on workshops.

Miscellaneous: Check our "mother blog" for upcoming readings and links to online literary journals.

Journal Project and Final Portfolio:

You will research online literary journals. At the middle of the semester you will present your findings to the class. Your presentation should be 5-7 minutes long.

You are required to present a portfolio of eight poems or two short stories. This work must be revised. This portfolio must show me your best work. You are required to include your drafts.

Class Schedule*

Form and Disorder: Joe Wenderoth, James Tate (5 classes)
Resemblance and Repetition: Ben Marcus, Mark Leidner (4 classes)
Influence (Life and Art): Mishima, Carver (5 classes)

*Each week our primary readings will be accompanied by a slew of handouts, which will include theory, letters, magazine articles, et cetera.

Grading Policy

Class Participation 30%
Blog Participation 30%
Final Portfolio 30%
Journal Presentation 10%