Creative Nonfiction ~ Writing Worlds into Being
“When I was moving to a house that felt a bit too big yet, I wondered, ‘Well, how does a hermit crab know when it is time to move?” (Bonnie J. Rough, “Notes on the Space We Take”)
“Thread holds together, and restricts, while yarn stretches and gives. Thread is the overall theme that gives meaning to our words and thoughts – to lose the thread is to be incoherent or inattentive. A yard is a long, pointless, but usually amusing story whose facts have been exaggerated. It is infinitely more relaxing to listen to a yarn than to a lecture whose thread we must follow.” (Kyoko Mori, “Yarn”)
“When the plane that hit the Pentagon and the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania are looked at side by side, they reveal two different conceptions of national defense: one model is authoritarian, centralized, top-down; the other, operating in a civil frame, is distributed and egalitarian.” (Elaine Scarry, “Citizenship in Emergency”)
This course will explore (mostly) contemporary creative nonfiction from a wide variety of cultural perspectives that invite them to explore the singularities and continuities of their own subjectivities, observations and discoveries. Based on close reading and study of accomplished writers, students will experiment and generate their own essays from memoir and auto/biography, to literary journalism and travel writing, from spiritual biography to sports and science writing. The argument of this course is that such a method of reading and writing is a crucial exercise in the development of craft. To read an accomplished writer’s work as a writer is to learn what to take and what to leave, as well as how to see and hear the world with a writer’s eye and ear.
In the second half of the course, students will concentrate on their own reading/writing projects. Each student will write a 5-7 page essay based on their immersion in the work of another writer who has been crucial to the development of their craft.
The course will proceed as a writing workshop grounded in readings and discussion of craft and technique. Students will be required to write a substantive reading response on a blog for each week’s class, and to lead discussion in one class during the semester.
Student Learning Objectives
To cultivate creative nonfiction writing skills by modeling work on that of accomplished, noteworthy writers;
To practice the art of writing as a process that involves brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, proofreading, and peer-editing;
To strengthen skills in integrating research into creative expression
To develop and foster advanced creative writing skills necessary for successful book publication.
Required Reading (available from Revolution Books behind Puck’s Alley)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot
Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Alison Bechdel
Just Kids, Patti Smith
The Truth of the Matter: Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction, Dinty W. Moore
In addition: a Course Reader with supplementary readings drawn from writers such as Leslie Marmon Silko, Terry Tempest Williams, Charles Blow, Linda Hogan and others, as well as work from CNF e-zines and publications such as Brevity and Creative Nonfiction.
Course Requirements
Online responses
Weekly online response to current readings;
At least one response each week to any posting by another student;
Facilitating Discussion: each student is responsible for leading part of one class discussion of the week’s readings;
Final Project: (12-15 pages), a collection of polished, original essays written during the semester. In effect, this will comprise a chapbook of creative nonfiction suitable for publication.
Final grades are determined along the following lines:
Weekly online reading responses & in-class discussion 30%
Short Essay(s) 10%
Discussion Facilitation 20%
Final project 40%
To pass the course, all work must be completed