nyufictionone

Changes and updates.

Student Presentation Dates

One-on-One Conference Schedule

Limerick from Roma Ndolo

PUBLIC SEMINAR: Graduate Study in Creative Writing:
What to Expect When You Are Applying

Friday, October 30, 2009 - Are you considering applying to a master’s program in creative writing? In this free, 90-minute seminar, we walk you through the process so that you can prepare an application in time for the next round of deadlines.

6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
NYU Silver Center
100 Washington Square, rm 504
New York, NY

We consider overall strategy, how many programs one should apply to, the relative merits of one- and two-year programs, and state versus private universities. We discuss the importance of college grades and GRE scores, the etiquette of requesting letters of recommendation, and the format of the all-important writing sample. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of studying creative writing in an academic setting, and the value of the degree itself, are addressed.

Management for Writers

Short Fiction on the Web

Classic 20th century Eudora Welty story, "Wy I Live at the P.O.

Check some writing assignments suggested by this class.

Books Suggested by this Class,

AND! Check out National Novel Writing Month!

Anton Chekov

In preparation for our class, look over some of the latest fiction being published in online literary magazines. Find at least one piece of fiction that you like and would recommend to the rest of the class. To find the magazines, start here or go to New Pages .

Schedule of Topics and Assignments

Schedule of Presenters for Critique

To Get Credit for this Course Toward the Certificate

This syllabus will be updated often. Please check here at least once a week for updates. Fundamentals of fiction writing to be addressed in this class include: story, structure, setting, viewpoint, genre, dialogue, and character. Each participant is expected to support the efforts of all the class members. Required work for this class includes short writing assignments in and out of class, readings, responses to one another’s writing, and presentation of writing to the class.

Assignments done out-of-class must be turned in as hard copy (not as email attachments). They should be typed/word processed and double-spaced with at least 1 inch margins all around using a font comparable to Times New Roman 12 point. Homework assignments should be no more than 2 pages long.

This course may be used for the certificate in Creative Writing. Click here for information.

1. 10-7-09    Introduction.   What is fiction? Genres of fiction (flash fiction, parable, short story, autobiographical fiction, long story, novella, novel); special issues in fiction (voice, point of view); sources and themes of fiction; the writer's life; and common terms for fiction writers ("show & tell;" structure and plot; point of view; scene and summary; outlining; process and product). In-class experiments with fiction versus memoir.

2. 10-14 The Use of Place/Setting (Concrete Sense Detail One).Reading Assignment due: Read at least two of the online contemporary pieces of fiction suggested by class members or from the list here. Also read two dense, old-fashioned descriptions of places– the first three paragraphs of Dickens’ Bleak House at http://dickens.thefreelibrary.com/Bleak-House/1-1 and George Eliot’s description of Hall Farm in Adam Bede, which can be found at http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/eliot/bede/bede_06.html ( pages 115 - 117) . Also read: story recommended by Padmaja Nair recommends 'Killing Rabbits' by Jen Michalski at
http://www.hamiltonstone.org/hsr18fiction.html#killingrabbits ; "Reunion" by John Cheever, handed out in class; and "The Dead Know Nothing," recommended by Sheron O'Brien.

Writing assignment due: A place using all the senses. Show without telling the character's feelings-attitudes etc. toward the place. Please feel free to include a bit of interior monologue or dialogue or narration as well as description of the place.

Just for fun: Take a look at Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing

            George Eliot

3. 10-21 Creating Character from the Outside:(Concrete Sense Detail Two)

Reading Assignments due: Chevhov's classic "Lady with a Lapdog." Read short descriptions of Alice (http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#alice ) , Mr. Slope (http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#slope ) and Dave Rivers (http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#daverivers ). Notice that there is physical action in that last one. Optional: Take a look at a short short by MSW called "How She Chose the Day"

Writing assignment due: a description of a character in which you use sense words that include sound, smell and touch (perhaps the texture of hair?). Also include some characteristic physical action for the person.

4. 10-28 Action and Logistics.

Reading Assignment due: Llook at some samples of action writing at “The Logistics of Physical Action” (http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#physicalaction ). Also read examples of logistics– moving people around (http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#crowdcontrol) .

Writing assignment due: A scene with physical action (and anything else) in it.

5. 11-4   Dialogue.

Reading Assignment Due: Read MSW’s article on dialogue at http://www.nycbigcitylit.com/contents/ArticleWillisPanel.html and “Too Many Tags.” Then read a Raymond Carver short short online called "Little Things." Compare to story of Solomon and the two harlots in the Bible. Optional: an online short story that hangs on dialogue: Joan Newburger's http://www.poetserv.org/SRR11/newburger.html.

Writing assignment due: a dialogue scene in which two people are working at cross purposes.

Are you able to link some of these assignments together in a draft, or the beginning of a draft of a short story? If you are working on a novel, can you make them fit into the novel?

NOTICE: NO CLASS NOVEMBER 11-- NORMAN THOMAS IS CLOSED FOR VETERANS' DAY

6. 11-18 Creating Character from the inside. Monologue, Stream of Consciousness etc.

Reading Assignment Due: Samples at http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#monologues .This could also be something told in dialogue, as in this example from MSW’s novel Trespassers: (http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#trespassers ). Also read student pieces for presentation.

Writing assignment due: A monologue or stream of consciousness or other form that uses the thoughts of a person who is unlike you.

In Class Topic: The World of Publishing and Marketing

In Class: Presentations of Student Work for Critique.

NOTICE: NO CLASS NOVEMBER 25-- THANKSGIVING EVE

7.12-2 Flexibility in Structuring Your Fiction

Reading Assignment Due: Two MSW stories that began with the same material: "1969" online at http://www.poetserv.org/SRR9/willis.html And “Evenings with Dotson” at http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/dotson.html. Also read student pieces for presentation and samples of scene (dramatization) and summary (narration)

Writing assignment due: Rewrite one of the previous assignments (in-class or out) with a different tone, mood, or point of view. Please interpret this broadly– you don't have to come up with a different narrator, it might rather be a change in distance of the narrator– make it closer or more distant, more humorous or more serious. Do this as once experimentally and seriously– this is what I call deep revision. OTHER CHOICES: Another dialogue scene using the barebones dialogue handed out in class; more of a work-in-progress.

In Class: Presentations of Student Work for Critique.

8. 12-9 Story, plot, shaping

Reading Assignment Due: The short story, "The Necklace," an old-fashioned plotted story by Guy de Maupassant. Also look back at Chevhov's classic "Lady with a Lapdog." Read student pieces for presentation.

Writing assignment: Write a short short or a fable with a turn at the end.

Presentations of Student Work for Critique.

                                            Guy de Maupassant at right.

9. 12-16 Final Class! Bring homework with Self-Addressed Stamped Envelopes

Important Techniques: Slowing and speeding up time, Long-Shot & Close-Up, present and past tense, etc.  Reading Assignment Due: Read student pieces for presentation.
Writing assignment due: Turn in a complete and at least somewhat polished short short story or a complete scene (this would be part of a longer short story or novel-in-process).
Presentations of Student Work for Critique--and Farewells.

[10. The tenth session will be made up as one-on-one conferences with the teacher. Check your time below. ]

This course may be used toward the departmental certificate in Creative Writing. In order to earn the credit, your work must be evaluated by the professor. To receive credit for the course, you must turn in at least six of the eight writing assignments. You may choose a pass/fail option, or you may take the course for no grade (NE).

You may also request a letter grade. No grade will be given below a B. To earn a B, you must complete at least six of the eight writing assignments to the professor's satisfaction plus present work for critiquing by the class at least once. To earn an A, you must complete all homework assignments, present work for critiquing by the class at least once, and show evidence of having done the outside reading.

Supplementary Materials and Resources:

An interesting article about fiction writing by Walter Mosley.
Resources for writers: Resources.
Books about writing: Bibliography.
Notes on Point of View
Here is a funny poem by Billy Collins about workshopping poetry.
Here are some quotations by famous writers about writing.
Thoughts on the future of publishing: The New Publishing Paradigm by Cantara Christopher.
Novels to read for pleasure--and as models: a list from MSW's Advanced Novel Workshop students.
Learn Proof Reader's marks.
"The Business of Books, by André Schiffrin" (review by Meredith Sue Willis of a book on the status of publishing)
To read some online fiction by Meredith Sue Willis, go to: "The Two Lindas" or "How She Chose the Day," Click here for more MSW online fiction and here for MSW's books.

Online Fiction recommended by students:

means especially recommended

"The Keeper" by Krishan Coupland

"The Dead Know Nothing," bu Charles Rammelkamp.

"Pencils" by Tai Dong Huai

"Whale Migration" by Daniel Hudon

"8 Stories I'll Never Tell" by Ashley Cowger

"Nine" by Aryn Kyle

"Tracks in the Snow" by Joyce Yarrow

"Stone" by Miriam N. Kotzin

"Killing Rabbits" by Jen Michalski

"Color of Sky" by Grant Tracey

"The Armoire" by Kathryn Shaver

"Michael Ryan" by Joyce A. Griffin http://www.upstreet-mag.org/upstreet_3_pdfs/Griffin.pdf

Liliana by Maile Meloy
http://www.parisreview.com/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5896

"She" by Charles Kaufmann
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/She734.shtml

"Living in Reverse" by Kate Blakinger http://www.vestalreview.net/LivinginReverse.html

A REALISTIC ASSESSMENT OF HOW MANY 12-YEAR-OLDS I COULD BEAT UP BEFORE THEY OVERTOOK ME" by Matt Schweiger http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2005/4/8schweiger.html

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber www.geocities.com/soho/cafe/6821/thurber.html

"Bartleby the Scrivener" by Herman Melville www.Bartleby.com/129/

"Starving Makes It Fat" by Kay Sexton www.eastoftheweb.com

"Three Microfictions" by Laurence Davies at http://www.acarts.org/mystic/MRR5davies.html

Writing Exercises Suggested by 2009 Class

Think about someone at work/school whom you've never spoken to and write about a typical night in his/her life.

                                                                            Mandy Kaufman

Write a first person account of an event in current affairs.

                                                                            Ary Benmayor

Describe how to get to your childhood home.

Take a sentence/conversation you have overheard on the street or in a public space and elaborate into a dialogue.

                                                                            Evan L.

Write about your immediate opinions and reactions when first meeting a blind date. Discuss how you handled your initial reactions.

                                                                            Alyssa Eisner

Think of a vivid dream you've had and use its setting as the setting for a fictional story.

                                                                            Peter Brown

Pick a favorite childhood memory and elaborate on it.

                                                                            Padmaja Nair

Write about your very first job interview.

                                                                            Ben Guzinski

Write about a crime you witnessed or read about from the perspective of the perpetrator.

                                                                            Sheron O'Brien

Describe your best/worst travel experience and describe your surrounds, people you meet, and develop the story.

                                                                            Roma

You are sitting in a coffee shop and overhear the argument next door. How did they get there or where will they go?

                                                                            Katrina Dudley

Presentation List/ For Critique by the Class
Bring copies for everyone the WEEK BEFORE

11-18

Sunny Carmell

Padmaja Nair

NO CLASS 11-25

12-2

Sheron O'Brien

Peter Brown

12-9

Katrina Dudley

Robert Ferrari

Mandy Kaufman
       Ary Benmayor

12-16

Jonathan A. Liberman Fernandez

Ben Guzinski

Vijay Kant

Roma Ndolo

One-on-One Conference Schedule

(Conferences take place in the classroom, 838 Norman Thomas High School)

11-18

6:15PM           Vijay Kant

8:50 PM          Padmaja Nair

12-2

5:45 PM         Peter Brown

6:00PM          Sunny Carmell

6:15PM          Ary Benmayor

8:50 PM         Katrina Dudley

12-9

5:45 PM         Jonathan Lieberman Fernandez

6:00PM          Roma Ndolo

6:15PM          Ben Guzinski

12-16

5:45 PM         Sheron O'Brien

6:00PM          Robert Ferrari

6:15PM          Mandy Kaufman

8:50PM          Evan LaMagna

Roma Ndolo emailed to say she was going to have to miss a couple of classes, and she also sent this very kind limerick, which made me laugh out loud, so I wanted to share it:

Wednesday nights after "Fiction" young Roma
feels as if she just woke from a coma
inspired through the work
she writes with a smirk
this is better than any diploma!

-- Rose-Maria Ndolo

Pulp Charles Bukowski

Inherent Vice Thomas Pynchon

Zafron The Angels Game, Shadow of the Wind

Muriel BertenzThe Elegance of the Hedgehod

The Witch from Portobello Paulo Coelho

World Without End Ken Follett

Portnyoy's Complaint Philip Roth

Oradell at Sea MSW

The House of Mirth Edith Wharton

Kite Runner Khalid Hoseini

Fear and Loathing

Junky

The Reader Bernard Schlou??

The Corrections Jonathan Franzen

The Savage Detectrives Roboeerto Bolano

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon

Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defore

Beloved Toni Morrison

Iceberg Slim Fox??

Love Medicine Lousie Erdrich

Odd Girl Out ANne Bannon

Darkly Dreaming Dexter Jeff Lindsay

Body of Lies David Ignatious

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb

Northern Lights by Tim O Brien

Special Book Deal!

Buy Books for
Your Holiday Gifts

Buy any book by Meredith Sue Willis by mail order and get 10% off your entire order (exclusive of tax, shipping and handling). For information on books (or to order online--no discount), see Commentary. To order by mail with discount, go to Orders.

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2008 Blog (Blog archives, click here) Blog Archives 1st half 2006 Blog Archives 2nd half 2006 Blog archives 2005 Blog Archives 2004

New Book for Kids Billie of Fish House Lane From Montemayor Press Read a chapter: Click on Catalogue, Literature for Children

About MSW

A literary Map of West Virginia!

Literary/Book Review Blogs Reading Red Maud Newton Tayari Jones Lit mob Lux Lotus MediaBistro/Galleycat My newsletter: Books for Readers

Writers' Links & Resources

Resources for writers How Artists Get Paid Int. Women's Writing Guild New Publishing Paradigm Quotations about Writing Resources for writers Thunderburst Edwards Bros. Printers Things for Writers to Read

Poetry & More

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Blogs I Like

Writers' Websites:

FamilyOriented Websites Ellen Kahaner's Mural class Reading and Traveling with Kids

More Jeremy Osner

Art, Music, Mixed Media, and More! Dory Adams: n this Light Linda Adato Tim Barnwell Appalachian Images Rachel Burgess Charlie Cowger Deep Listening Ann Olson Dee Rimbaud Rochelle Ratner Kevin Scanlon Peter Sciaino Duane Smith Tiny Tim Memorial Web Site Randi Ward Ella Yang

Want some great graphics? http://ann-s-thesia.com/

More Links I Like

Fiction I

Good Luck With Your Writing!

IMPORTANT NOTICES

Check for your one-on-one conference

NO CLASS NOVEMBER 11 (Norman Thomas is closed for Veterans' Day)

NO CLASS NOVEMBER 25 (Thanksgiving Eve)

Changes and updates.

Student Presentation Dates

One-on-One Conference Schedule

Limerick from Roma Ndolo

PUBLIC SEMINAR: Graduate Study in Creative Writing: What to Expect When You Are Applying

Friday, October 30, 2009 - Are you considering applying to a master’s program in creative writing? In this free, 90-minute seminar, we walk you through the process so that you can prepare an application in time for the next round of deadlines.

6:30 – 8:00 p.m. NYU Silver Center 100 Washington Square, rm 504 New York, NY

Management for Writers

Short Fiction on the Web

Check some writing assignments suggested by this class.

Books Suggested by this Class,

AND! Check out National Novel Writing Month!

In preparation for our class, look over some of the latest fiction being published in online literary magazines. Find at least one piece of fiction that you like and would recommend to the rest of the class. To find the magazines, start here or go to New Pages .

Schedule of Presenters for Critique

Assignments done out-of-class must be turned in as hard copy (not as email attachments). They should be typed/word processed and double-spaced with at least 1 inch margins all around using a font comparable to Times New Roman 12 point. Homework assignments should be no more than 2 pages long.

This course may be used for the certificate in Creative Writing. Click here for information.

Writing assignment due: A place using all the senses. Show without telling the character's feelings-attitudes etc. toward the place. Please feel free to include a bit of interior monologue or dialogue or narration as well as description of the place.

Just for fun: Take a look at Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing

George Eliot

3. 10-21 Creating Character from the Outside:(Concrete Sense Detail Two)

Writing assignment due: a description of a character in which you use sense words that include sound, smell and touch (perhaps the texture of hair?). Also include some characteristic physical action for the person.

4. 10-28 Action and Logistics.

Reading Assignment due: Llook at some samples of action writing at “The Logistics of Physical Action” (http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#physicalaction ). Also read examples of logistics– moving people around (http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#crowdcontrol) .

Writing assignment due: A scene with physical action (and anything else) in it.

5. 11-4 Dialogue.

Writing assignment due: a dialogue scene in which two people are working at cross purposes.

Are you able to link some of these assignments together in a draft, or the beginning of a draft of a short story? If you are working on a novel, can you make them fit into the novel?

NOTICE: NO CLASS NOVEMBER 11-- NORMAN THOMAS IS CLOSED FOR VETERANS' DAY

6. 11-18 Creating Character from the inside. Monologue, Stream of Consciousness etc.

Reading Assignment Due: Samples at http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#monologues .This could also be something told in dialogue, as in this example from MSW’s novel Trespassers: (http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#trespassers ). Also read student pieces for presentation.

Writing assignment due: A monologue or stream of consciousness or other form that uses the thoughts of a person who is unlike you. In Class Topic: The World of Publishing and Marketing

In Class: Presentations of Student Work for Critique.

NOTICE: NO CLASS NOVEMBER 25-- THANKSGIVING EVE

7.12-2 Flexibility in Structuring Your Fiction

8. 12-9 Story, plot, shaping

Reading Assignment Due: The short story, "The Necklace," an old-fashioned plotted story by Guy de Maupassant. Also look back at Chevhov's classic "Lady with a Lapdog." Read student pieces for presentation.

Writing assignment: Write a short short or a fable with a turn at the end.

Presentations of Student Work for Critique.

Guy de Maupassant at right.

9. 12-16 Final Class! Bring homework with Self-Addressed Stamped Envelopes

[10. The tenth session will be made up as one-on-one conferences with the teacher. Check your time below. ]

Supplementary Materials and Resources:

An interesting article about fiction writing by Walter Mosley.

Resources for writers: Resources.

Books about writing: Bibliography.

Notes on Point of View

Here is a funny poem by Billy Collins about workshopping poetry.

Here are some quotations by famous writers about writing.

Thoughts on the future of publishing: The New Publishing Paradigm by Cantara Christopher.

Novels to read for pleasure--and as models: a list from MSW's Advanced Novel Workshop students.

Learn Proof Reader's marks.

"The Business of Books, by André Schiffrin" (review by Meredith Sue Willis of a book on the status of publishing)

To read some online fiction by Meredith Sue Willis, go to: "The Two Lindas" or "How She Chose the Day," Click here for more MSW online fiction and here for MSW's books.

Online Fiction recommended by students:

means especially recommended

"The Keeper" by Krishan Coupland

2008 Blog
(Blog archives, click here)
Blog Archives 1st half 2006
Blog Archives 2nd half 2006
Blog archives 2005
Blog Archives 2004

New Book for Kids
Billie of Fish House Lane
From Montemayor Press
Read a chapter:
Click on Catalogue,
Literature for Children

A literary Map of
West Virginia!

Literary/Book Review Blogs
Reading Red
Maud Newton
Tayari Jones
Lit mob
Lux Lotus
MediaBistro/Galleycat
My newsletter: Books for Readers

Writers' Links
& Resources

Resources for writers
How Artists Get Paid
Int. Women's Writing Guild
New Publishing Paradigm
Quotations about Writing
Resources for writers
Thunderburst
Edwards Bros. Printers
Things for Writers to Read

FamilyOriented Websites
Ellen Kahaner's Mural class
Reading and Traveling with Kids

More
Jeremy Osner

Art, Music, Mixed Media, and More!
Dory Adams: n this Light
Linda Adato
Tim Barnwell Appalachian Images
Rachel Burgess
Charlie Cowger
Deep Listening
Ann Olson
Dee Rimbaud
Rochelle Ratner
Kevin Scanlon
Peter Sciaino
Duane Smith
Tiny Tim Memorial Web Site
Randi Ward
Ella Yang

Want some great graphics?
http://ann-s-thesia.com/

NO CLASS NOVEMBER 11
(Norman Thomas is closed for Veterans' Day)

NO CLASS NOVEMBER 25
(Thanksgiving Eve)

PUBLIC SEMINAR: Graduate Study in Creative Writing:
What to Expect When You Are Applying

6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
NYU Silver Center
100 Washington Square, rm 504
New York, NY

Writing assignment due: A monologue or stream of consciousness or other form that uses the thoughts of a person who is unlike you.

In Class Topic: The World of Publishing and Marketing

Liliana by Maile Meloy
http://www.parisreview.com/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5896

"She" by Charles Kaufmann
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/She734.shtml

Presentation List/ For Critique by the Class
Bring copies for everyone the WEEK BEFORE