SemCW: Multi-Genre (CW)

“Lie down where all ladders start” — Yeats. We will imitate
works of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction in order to get inside a good
piece of writing and see how it works and identify what you, as a new writer, can
steal from it. Both consciously and subconsciously, a good imitation broadens
both technical proficiency and content by expanding your repertoire of craft
and form, and is an excellent tonic if you feel your work has gone stale. The
imitation is then discussed both in terms of its success as an imitation and as
a discrete work of art. At the end of term, final portfolios contain all the pieces
revised toward their own intentions.

Your
participation is crucial to the workshop’s success. All classes start on time.
Two absences, excused or unexcused, lower your grade by a letter. Ten minutes
late, and you are counted absent. No mistakes in spelling or
punctuation—spell-check and then read every submission aloud before duplicating
it for the class. All assignments must be typed. All cell phones must be turned
OFF in class. Do not come to class if you must receive a text or a call.

Class
participation 30%

Stories
65%

Final
story 15%

Required
texts:

Poetry:

Seaton/Snodgrass/de
la Flor’s Facial Geometry (available
free at http://www.tashogi.com/neopp.htm)

Eleanor
Wilner’s Tourist in Hell (U. of
Chicago Press)

Thomas
Sayer Ellis’ Skin Inc. (Graywolf
Press)

Fiction:

The Anchor Book of New
American Short Stories, ed. Ben Marcus
(Anchor Books)

Nonfiction:

New American Essay by John d’Agata
(Graywolf Press)