Course Syllabus
Course Number/Name: ENG 226/ Introduction to Creative Writing
Location: (HS Name) Pembroke Academy
Academic Year/Term:2015-16
Faculty Name: Nate Graziano
Email address: ngraziano@sau53.org
Office Location Rm. 1030
Office Hours: n/a
Phone Ext: 483-7881 (X1030)
Required TEXTBOOK(s) and Supplemental Materials: Creative Writing: Four
Genres in Brief, 2nd ed. Sellers, Starkey, David. Bedford St. Martin’s: New York. ISBN:
978-0-312-46866-8
COURSE PREREQUISITES: None
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is focused around the composition and analysis of
fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction and drama. You will be experimenting with different
genres, styles, forms, and narrative techniques, as well as reading an eclectic body of
contemporary and classic work. Keep in mind: any good writer READS far more than they
produce, so don’t be disillusioned into to thinking this is solely a writing course. If you are
not reading a selected story, poem, essay or screenplay, you will be asked to read and write
in-depth critiques one of your classmate’s pieces and/or participate in a number of
independent reading assignments and contemporary author studies.
This course emphasizes the writing process. We will establish a workshop environment in
class where students can openly share and discuss their work as they revise. Rewriting and
revisions are a requirement, seeing good writing means rewriting. We will also examine the
submission process, in which you’ll be researching markets, writing cover letters, and
preparing work for submission for publication. At the end of each unit, you will be required
to turn in portfolios of the work produced in the class, as well as formal craft essays.
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Complete multiple creative writing exercises in multiple genres, both in class and outside of
class, both individually and in a small group (Critical and Creative Thinking).
Complete and revise a short story of no less than 1500 words; complete and revise no fewer
than fifteen poems of varying requirements (Critical and Creative Thinking)
Create and perform (read) a one-act play/screenplay with a small group. (Collaborative)
Evaluate professional models of creative writing and write short craft essays on a short story
and on a poem. (Critical and Creative Thinking)
Provide written and oral peer feedback in small group workshops. (Collaborative)
CRITICAL TASK(S): Create, maintain and submit a complete portfolio of all creative and
critical work.
WEEKLY READINGS/ASSIGNMENTS/EXAM SCHEDULE:
Creative Nonfiction:
“We are a species who needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem
to share this longing, which is one of the reasons they write so little.” –Anne Lamott
Week 1-2: The memoir/The Barn exercise
Week 3-4: The mosaic form/elements of storytelling *Creative non-fiction portfolio
Fiction:
“Thus the value of great fiction, we begin to suspect, is not just that it entertains us or
distracts us from our troubles, not that it broadens our knowledge of people and places, but
also it helps us to know what we believe, reinforces those qualities that are noblest in us,
leads us to feel uneasy about our faults and limitations.” --John Gardner
Week 5-6: A sketch of a character/notes on fiction writing
Week 7-8: A Park Bench/Song Story: a dialogue-driven story/ the unreliable narrator.
Week 9-10: A Childhood Story: a story based on a personal experience/ the retrospective
voice.
Week 11-12: Rewriting/ Exploring the Second-Person/experimental prose/style.
Week 13-14: Shake up Point-of-view Story: A story written from the opposite sex
p.o.v/psychic distance. *Cold-reading fiction exam
Week 15-16: An Article Story: story based on a newspaper article/historical fiction
Week 17-18: A Modern Retelling of a Myth or Fairy Tale/plotting
Week 19-20: Revision and Editing/ Submissions *Short fiction portfolio
*Midterm exam
Flash fiction:
“The jewel of the sudden story is the gap. A lot of words are missing, not because they are
extraneous, but because their absence speaks the unspeakable.” –Lori Ann Stephens
Week 21-22: Flash fiction prompts/Implied narrative arcs
Week 23-24: The vignette/documentary of bad writing *Flash fiction portfolio
Poetry:
“A poet is somebody who feels, and who expresses his feelings through words. This may
sound easy. It isn't.”---e.e. cummings
Week 25-26: An image-driven poem—a haiku or a picture in words/ line breaks/ form.
Week 27-28: Sound devices and rhymes.
Week 29-30: The fixed forms—a villanelle/sonnet/sestina. *Cold reading poetry/flash
fiction exam
Week 31-32: The narrative poems/ persona poems
Week 33-34: Spoken word and music/bad poetry contest *Poetry portfolio
Screenwriting:
“All writing is discipline, but screenwriting is a drill sergeant” ---Robert McKee
Week 35-36: Elements of screenwriting/formatting a screenplay/Adaptations
Week 36-37: Original screenplays/ short films *Screenplay portfolio
*Final exam
The last two weeks of each unit are usually workshop-intensive as students compile, reflect
and prepare to turn in portfolios. We also conference and allot time for student
presentations during this time.
Supplementary Texts: The texts you’ll be reading in the course are primarily
photocopied from a sundry list of sources, ranging from mainstream magazines—such as
Harper’s, Esquire, and The Atlantic—to small academic and literary journals, to individual
collections of poetry and fiction and different literary anthologies. I share whatever I can dig
up that I find interesting and provocative. The material covered changes according to what
is being published today—as an emphasis is placed on contemporary literature, as opposed
to Canon classics. You will also be required to do outside reading, in which you’ll choose
novels and poetry collections published in the past five year to read and deconstruct through
close, annotated readings. Some the following texts are frequently taught:
Creative Nonfiction: Excerpt from “Townie” by Andre Dubus III; “The Fourth State of
Matter” by Jo Ann Beard; “The Youth in Asia” by David Sedaris; “My Father’s Life” by
Raymond Carver; “Fat Girl Rhapsody” by Roxane Gay; “Killing Chickens” by Meredith
Hall; Excerpt from Kate Christensen’s Blue Plate Special.
Short fiction: “Backrub” Tom Perrotta; “Greasy Lake” T.C. Boyle; “What We Talk About
When Talk About Love” Raymond Carver; “Popular Girls” Karen Shepard; “How To Talk
To A Hunter” Pam Houston; “Car Crash While Hitchhiking” Denis Johnston; “Sarah Cole:
A Type of Love Story” Russell Banks; “Mouses” Thom Jones; “Hills Like White Elephants”
Ernest Hemingway; “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” Sherman Alexi; “My Amendment”
George Saunders; “Ask If I Care” Jennifer Egan; The Art of Fiction John Gardner
Flash fiction/vignettes: “Incarnations of a Burned Child” David Foster Wallace; ‘A Very Short
Story” Ernest Hemingway; “Rose” John Biguenet; “Why You Shouldn’t” Samantha
Schoech; “Snakes” Daniel Crocker; “Brisket” Stuart Dybek; “Rib” Kim Chinquee; “The
Great Responsibility” Rusty Barnes; excerpts from A House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros;
Bad Writing directed by Vernon Lott
Poetry: “The Ben Franklin of Monogamy” Jeff McDaniel; “Some People” Charles Bukowski;
“Careful What You Ask For” Jack McCarthy; “Sestina Aguilera” Matthew Guenette; “How
It Will End” Denise Duhamel; “Here, Bullet” Brian Turner; “Strip Poker” David Kirby;
“Kelly, Ringling Bros. Oldest Elephant Goes On Rampage” Joel Brouwer; “On a Maine
Beach” Robley Wilson; “Thesaurus” Billy Collins; “Home to Roost” Kay Ryan; “Marriage”
Gregory Corso; “This is Just to Say” WC Williams; “Barbie Doll” Marge Piercy; “What
Work Is” Philip Levine; “Home for Christmas” Franz Wright; “The Waking” Theodore
Roethke; “Chicks Dig War” Drew Gardner; “First Writing Since” Suheir Hammad; “What
Teachers Make” Taylor Mali; “Beethoven” Shane Koyczan; “Skinhead” Patricia Smith;
“Thunder Road” Bruce Springsteen.
Screenwriting/playwriting: Excerpts of No Country for Old Men Directed by the Coen Brothers
and the novel by Cormac McCarthy; Excerpts of The Big Lebowski written and directed by
The Coen Brothers; Muddy a short film by Rob Azevedo.
**note: Some of the material we read in this course covers some adult themes, content and language; although
I can assure you it is not pornographic or gratuitous. If you are sensitive or offended by adult themes, please
see me at the beginning of the course.
COURSE EVALUATION CRITERIA: Students will be assessed on formal portfolios,
student-led portfolio conferences, critical analysis essays on craft, contemporary author
presentations, a collaborative short film or one-act play, and a final exam.
GRADING POLICY: Please reference the CBA chart for grading policies per PA English
Department.
ATTENDANCE POLICY: Consult Pembroke Academy Student Handbook