Creative Writing (Online)
ENGL 151.D1 - #9627
ENGL 152.D1 - #9628
ENGL 153.D3 - #9629
Spring 2013
Instructor: Greg November
Office: IB 2423 (cubicle 9) / Office phone: (206) 934 4553 ext. 4
Office hours: By appointment.
School e-mail: gregory.november@seattlecolleges.edu
To access ANGEL: http://angel.northseattle.edu/default.asp
Angel email will be the most reliable way to contact me
REQUIRED TEXTS
• Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft, 3nd edition, by Janet Burroway
• A college-level dictionary
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Welcome to Creative Writing. This quarter we will explore the creative process involved in writing
short stories, poetry, and plays. To do this we will explore the building blocks of good creative
writing, which include such things as: imagery, setting, dialogue, point-of-view, tension, character,
and concrete details. In many ways you will build on skills acquired in English 101, although an
additional aim for our class is to investigate what makes the stories, poems, and plays we read good,
what makes them fresh, thrilling, horrific, stylish, sad, happy, bizarre, and so on – so that you can
achieve these things yourself in your own writing.
In ENGL&101, you learned to: incorporate a focus, use evidence, be organized, and look for
complexity in your own arguments. You wrote several essays. In the same way, to be successful in
this class you must demonstrate good writing by incorporating requirements for each of the three
genres we explore. Roughly speaking, the quarter will be broken into three-week units during which
we will deal with fiction, poetry, and drama in that order.
COURSE OUTCOMES/LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
To generate new fiction, poetry, and drama.
To practice bounty and flexibility in your writing.
To generate ideas together.
To discover new ways to write and new things to say.
To practice the essential elements of craft.
To use revision to expand your writing capability and deepen your insight.
To celebrate language, both alone, and in the company of others.
REGARDING THE ONLINE NATURE OF THIS COURSE
Because our class is fully online, you will type ALL assignments and communication, and must
have regular and reliable internet/computer access. We have no scheduled “classroom” time,
although many assignments will have specific deadlines and you will need to access the class
page regularly to stay on top of everything. I will check my Angel email every day and you need
to as well.
This class is reading and writing intensive. You will be reading, working on your own, and
working online rather than sitting in a classroom 5 hours a week, however you are expected to
spend this same amount of time, plus homework time, for our class.
If you have never taken an online course before, please check out the information at the bottom
left of Angel’s homepage. These brief orientations will help you to understand what’s expected
from you in an online class. This is very important information!
To be successful in this class you must:
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Have basic proficiency with the internet and with e-mail and file attachments.
Be self-motivated and take responsibility for your own learning.
Manage your time effectively; prioritize assignments.
Providing timely and thoughtful feedback to assigned group members.
Treat this course as much like a traditional face-to-face course as possible.
REGARDING THE DIFFERENT LEVELS: ENGLISH 151, 152, 153
The designations refer to how many times the student has taken this class at NSCC, not
necessarily to how much experience the student has. Sometimes those registered for 151 have
had a great deal of experience, while those signed up for 152 or 153 may have had only 10 or 20
weeks of creative writing focus. In this class, everyone will begin with the same assignments and
everyone will work toward—and beyond!—their own highest level. As the quarter proceeds and
I find out more about everyone’s writing, I may include alternative suggestions for different
levels. Please let me know if there’s something you’d particularly like to work on.
COURSE POLICIES
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Two Deadlines/week. Assignments will be due Wednesdays and Sundays at 4:00 PM.
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Log in regularly. This is the most important aspect of succeeding in this course! If you
wait until just before the deadline to start working on material for this class, you will fall
behind. Log in and check your Angel email at least 4-5 times per week!

Post work on time. Many assignments will be time sensitive, meaning if you post them
late you will lose points or possibly not get credit at all. All deadlines are Pacific
Standard Time, which is not necessarily what the time stamp in Angel goes by. Pay
attention to this; it is your responsibility to get all work in on time.
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Participate. Contribute to the general good will of our class by interacting with each
other in a respectful and lively fashion; provide timely feedback when required.
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Type all assignments. Double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font.
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Save your work. Keep a copy of all assignments that you turn in. I encourage you to
compose all your work in a separate document on your computer and then to copy/paste
your work to Angel, which has a habit of logging you out if you haven’t clicked anything
for a while and this may result in loss of work.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Following is an estimate of the likely points breakdown for our class. As with life, it is subject to
change to meet the evolving needs of our course. More specific details for each assignment will
be posted in Angel.
Four Formal Genre Assignments
800 points (200 each)
Fiction – One 3-5 page short story. Workshop RD during Week 3; FD due April 24.
Poetry – Three poems + artist’s statement. Workshop RD during Week 6; FD due May
15
Drama – One ten-minute play. Workshop RD during Week 9; FD due June 5
Revision – A substantial revision of your short story. No workshop; due June 11
Discussion Forums
220 points
Writing Exercises
200 points
Reading Responses
100 points
Online Participation
25 points
Total:
1,345 points
THE GRADE SCALE:
94-100: A
90-93: A87-89: B+
84-86: B
80-83: B77-79: C+
(3.9 -4.0)
(3.5-3.8)
(3.2-3.4)
(2.9-3.1)
(2.5-2.8)
(2.2-2.4)
74-76: C
70-73: C67-69: D+
65-66: D
0-64: F
(1.9-2.1)
(1.5-1.8)
(1.2-1.4)
(1.0-1.1)
(0.0)
*This is a change from previous quarters. Anything below 65 is now considered 0.0/F per
the state, which is recognizing 1.0 as the minimum passing grade.
STATEMENT ON DIVERSITY:
I recognize and respect diversity of ethnicity and race, gender, sexual identity, class, age, and
disability. Differences provide us with opportunities to learn new things, compare experiences, test
our assertions, understand ourselves better, and find common ground. Differences also sometimes
engender conflict. In the midst of that conflict, I ask everyone to maintain a language and an attitude
of respect.
North Seattle Community College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion,
national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability. If you have any
special needs, especially if you need classroom assistance or accommodations due to a disability,
please let me know as soon as possible. Accommodations are documented and provided through
the Educational Access Office (527-3679), which is on the second floor of the College Center
building near Registration.
PLAGIARISM POLICY:
Plagiarism is the intentional use of someone else’s words or ideas without giving that person
credit. This includes submitting someone else’s essay in its entirety or in parts as your own,
using any words, phrasing, and/or ideas from a source (this includes the Internet) without proper
citation, having someone else write your paper or assisting so much that the phrasing and ideas
are no longer your own, and re-submitting an essay previously written for another class.
Plagiarism is absolutely prohibited and will result in receiving a “0” on the paper and/or
discipline on the part of the college administration.
______________________________________________________________________________
The Loft Writing Center is upstairs in the library. There you can work one-on-one with a
writing tutor, and make use of a variety of other learning tools.
Website: https://northseattle.edu/tutoring/loft-writing-center
Director: Daniel Tarker, (206) 526-0164, Daniel.Tarker@seattlecolleges.edu
Hours: Mon-Thurs: 9:30 – 6:30; Fri: 9:30 – 1:30; Sun: 1:00 – 5:00
E-tutoring (sponsored by the Loft and Distance Education)
Website: https://northseattle.edu/tutoring/loft-writing-center/online-services
_____________________________________________________________________________
NSCC Library (https://library.northseattle.edu/)
Phone: Reference Desk (206-934-3609) or Circulation Desk (206-934-3607)