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Fiction I
You were a great class!
I hope your writing goes well!(If you need some starters, try my random writing exercises )
X32. 9320, Section 2 Spring 2008
School of Continuing and Professional Studies
New York University
Schedule of Topics and Assignments
Instructor: Meredith Sue Willis MeredithSueWillis@gmail.com
Section 2 Wednesday 6:20 -8:40 PM
February 6 - April 16, 2008
(no class March 5; No class March 19)
Meredith Sue Willis Home
This Page Updated 4-23-08
Updates and changesUp dated Presenter Schedule
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: plot, setting, theme, viewpoint, 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 sent as email attachments). They should be typed/word processed and double-spaced with at least 1 inch margins all around. Homework assignments should be no more than 2 pages long.
1. 2-6-08 Introduction. Introduction. What is fiction? Genres of fiction; special issues of fiction; sources and themes of fiction. The writer's life. Discussion will touch on: flash fiction, parable, short story, autobiographical fiction, long story, novella, novel as well as common terms like voice, "show & tell;" structure and plot; point of view; scene and summary; outlining; process and product; long-shot and close-up; flashback, use of present and past tense; and more. In-class experiments with fiction and memoir.
2. 2-13 Describing place: The Importance of Concrete Detail One.
Reading Assignment: The classic Chekhov short story “The Lady with the Lapdog” available online at http://www.eldritchpress.org/ac/jr/197 (See Chekov photo above). Also, read two dense, old-fashioned descriptions
of places– the opening 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 .
Writing assignment: A description of a place as seen by some specific individual. The emotional content should be the character's, not the author's. Show without telling the character's feelings-attitudes etc. toward the place. . Please feel free to include more in any assignment– a little bit of interior monologue or dialogue as well as description of the place. Bring enough copies of this short homework for everyone.
3. 2-20 Creating Character from the Outside: The Importance of Concrete Detail Two. Reading Assignment due: 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. Also look at some samples of action writing at “The Logistics of Physical Action” (http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#physicalaction ). Writing assignment: 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, and either tell directly or imply what is on the character's mind. 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, and either tell directly or imply what is on the character's mind. Bring enough copies of this short homework for everyone to read aloud and discuss.
Just for fun: Take a look at Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing
4. 2-27 Dialogue One.
Reading Assignment due: Read a story online by Joan Newburger at http://www.poetserv.org/SRR11/newburger.html. This is a story that hangs on the dialogue. Also read also MSW’s article on dialogue at http://www.nycbigcitylit.com/contents/ArticleWillisPanel.html and “Too Many Tags” at http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#tags .
Writing assignment due: a dialogue with a conflict in it.
Also, if you didn't do last week's Extra Assignment-- Do the plot-preparation exercise What Characters Want handed out 2-13: What does the central character want? What does the central character REALLY want?, etc.Optional: Read the review in 2-27-08 New York Times Book Review of an unfinished novel by Richard Wright. The point of the review is (a) that this should never have been published because (b) it is a very rough draft, and while drafts are an essential part of the process of writing, they are not finished products. Wright is, of course, one of our really fine American writers-- if you haven't read Black Boy and Native Son, I recommend them highly.
No Class March 5
NO MORE COPIES OF HOMEWORK FOR EVERYONE-- ONLY WHEN YOU ARE PRESENTING TO THE CLASS. ON THAT WEEK, BRING COPIES A WEEK IN ADVANCE.
5. 3-12 Dialogue Two.
Reading Assignment Due: the classic short story “Sredni Vashtar” by H.H. Munro at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/sk-vashtar.html . The story begins with a lot of narrative and summary, then ends with one intense close-to-real-time scene.
Writing assignment due: A dialogue in which two people are working at cross purposes. There is a subtext.No Class March 19
6. 3-26
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.
More Reading: Samples of scene (dramatization) and summary (narration)
Writing assignment due: Rewrite one of the dialogues you wrote previously from the point of view of someone else in the scene.
Presentations
7. 4-2 Creating Character from the inside.
Writing assignment due: A monologue or stream of consciousness or other form that uses the thoughts of a person who is unlike you. See 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 Tresspassers: (http://www.meredithsuewillis.com/materials.html#trespassers ).
Presentations
8. 4-9 Story, plot, and Shaping
Reading Assignment Due: The short story, "The Necklace," an old-fashioned plotted story by Guy de Maupassant (right). Writing assignment due: write a short short story or a fable with a turn at the end.
Presentations
9. 4-16 Important Techniques--Summary and Scene, Long-Shot & Close-Up, Flashback Topic, Slowing Up Time, etc.Writing assignment due: Turn in a revision of one of your previous pieces expanded into a complete scene or short story.
PresentationsNO ASSIGNMENTS ACCEPTED AFTER TODAY.
10. 4-23 Student Presentations and farewells
Supplementary Materials (optional):
An interesting article about fiction writing by Walter Mosley.
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.
Resources for writers: Resources.
Books about writing: Bibliography.
Learn Proof Reader's marks.
To read some online fiction by Meredith Sue Willis, go to: "The Two Lindas" or "How She Chose the Day," Cick here for more fiction online by Meredith Sue Willis
Sign up Sheet to Present your work.
Bring copies for everyone the WEEK BEFORE
Session 6. 3-26 (Bring copies on 3-12)
Jean Predergast
Alison NixonSession 7 . 4-2 (Bring copies on 3-26)
Milan Mijatovic
Yuko Sakata
Jean PendergastSession 8. 4-9 (Bring copies on 4-2)
Saman Rizavi
Sarah Ali
Brooke Donnelly
Kate HarbSession 9. 4-16 (Bring copies on 4-9)
Yuko Sakata
Lydia Gilbert
Kate Harb
Saman RizaviSession 10. 4-23 (Bring copies on 4-16)
Aliisa Rosenthal
Alison Nixon
Perry Miller
Dan Kiely
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