ENGL 210-06: INTRO TO CREATIVE WRITING
Fall 2013 Syllabus
Tuesday & Thursday 9:30-10:45 AM in McCormack M01-0616
Instructor: Theadora Siranian
Office: Wheatley 06-111
Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 11:00-12:00
Email: Theadora.Siranian001@umb.edu
Wiki: http://engl210-siranian.wikispaces.umb.edu/
REQUIRED MATERIALS
1. Burroway, Janet. Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft (3rd Edition)
2. eReserve texts, links, and handouts, distributed or mentioned weekly, on
Thursday for the following week’s two classes.
3. A notebook, brought to class every day.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course will explore fiction and poetry as mediums to better express oneself and
understand the world. Language is arguably our most essential and viable tool for
communication with others. It is affecting and vivid, and also often nebulous and fleeting.
Words, as we have all experienced, both in our personal and professional lives, carry
myriad capacity for power. Better understanding the creative power and techniques of
creative writing, both as writers and readers, is something that will benefit you in many
ways, even if it doesn’t necessarily clearly align with your projected flight path toward a
career.
Fiction and poetry are art forms which act as powerful divining rods that discover,
examine, and portray our greatest desires, accomplishments, and pitfalls. All writing is
born from the desire to communicate; writing is an experience both individual and
collective, and these worlds will intersect and even collide during this semester as we
examine and discuss many outside texts, as well as those of your peers.
The focus of this class is to educate the imagination. We will, over the course of this
semester, discuss and experiment with combining the process of communication with the
artistic act of creative writing. What do you want to say? How do you want to say it?
How does using a tool such as image-making or metaphor assist in your endeavor? This
class will serve as an introduction to many writing techniques and their requisite
vocabulary, which will in turn strengthen your own writing, as well as your ability to
critically and imaginatively consider information.
COURSE METHODS
Examining and understanding various techniques found in creative writing and
subsequently working toward improving your own craft will require a great amount of
reading and writing on your part, both during and outside of class. Peering through the
critical lens as writers ourselves, we will investigate the work of many published writers
and discuss how the tools employed are effective in their various efforts. We will also
discuss your own work and that of your peers. This is not a class where you are writing
only for yourself; instead, we will be working toward honing your skills as a
communicating individual and writer through frequent generative group exercises and
eventual workshop. For some people, this will be uncharted territory, and it will be
exciting and productive.
Unlike various forms of expository writing, fiction and poetry are art forms, and you will
all be respectfully considered artists of the written word as you work your way through
the semester. Creative writing allows for the infinite possibilities of each of your
imaginations; it therefore demands a greater amount of creative risk-taking, both for
yourselves as well as for your fellow classmates. Self-respect and respect for your peers
are absolutely vital in this classroom. In addition to frequent participation and reading
and writing, you will also be required to write one craft and one response paper, attend
one individual conference, and hand in a final portfolio of work and critical selfreflections. This course will be challenging, but it will also be a lot of fun, and what you
learn throughout this semester will ultimately assist in making you, no matter what path
in life you choose to take, better critical thinkers and more empathetic human beings.
EVALUATION
Participation: 35%
Attendance Policy:
You are expected to regularly attend class, and arrive on time with your textbook,
auxiliary readings, and notebook.
Note: Being late more than twice will negatively affect your grade. You are allowed only
two unexcused absences, so please notify me if you won’t be able to make it to class.
Whether your absence is excused or unexcused, you are expected to get the work due that
class to me within 24 hours. More than four—excused or unexcused—absences will put
you in jeopardy of failing the course.
Note: No cell phones, Facebook, or email during class. Doing this will cause your
participation grade to suffer. If you have an emergency that warrants keeping your
phone on, please let me know before class.
Preparedness & Engagement:
This is a course which thrives through discussion and interaction, so if you are late,
frequently absent, and unprepared it will negatively affect everyone else and ultimately
your grade. This is not a course you can cram for! Regular attendance and frequent
participation are absolutely necessary to make this an awesome and productive
experience for all. Occasional pop quizzes about the reading may be given during the
semester.
Writing:
You will be given weekly writing assignments which count toward your participation
grade, and which will be handed in the following Thursday. All writing must be typed
and in 12-point Times New Roman font. Critical responses and fiction are expected
to be double-spaced. Spelling and grammatical errors will affect your grade. Please
note that you will not ever be graded on talent this semester, but instead on your effort
with the task at hand and your willingness to stretch your creative boundaries.
Notebook:
Everyone is required to have a notebook for this class. In-class writing exercises will be
done in this. Also, you are expected to frequently write down ideas, lines, paragraphs, etc.
in this notebook outside of class. From time to time, I will ask to flip through them,
however I will not read them. Please date each entry so I can see your progress and give
you an appropriate participation grade.
Conferences:
Conferences will be scheduled a week or so in advance. This is a way for us to touch base
about your progress, and any questions or concerns either of us may have about it.
Missing this conference will count as an absence.
Workshop Letters
2 sets of letters to everyone in your workshop group—once for fiction and once for
poetry; more guidelines to come.
Papers 30%
2 Response Papers:
One craft essay (550-700 words) and one literary reading response paper (550-700 words)
(which includes attendance at a reading previously); more guidelines to come.
Mid-Term Self-Assessment:
One reflective essay (550-700 words) on how you feel your writing process and
development are going thus far; more guidelines to come.
Portfolio 35%
This is a final collection of your writing to be turned in at the end of the semester. The
Portfolio will include: cover sheet; 10 pages of completed writing; 2 drafts leading up to
final draft (for each creative piece); final self-assessment; and 2 short examples of what
went on in your notebook, and a reflection about the journaling experience.
NOTE AGAIN: All writing must be typed and in 12-point Times New Roman font.
All critical papers and fiction are expected to be double-spaced. You must proofread
your work thoroughly; spelling and grammatical errors will affect your grade.
All graded assignments will receive a 1/3 letter grade deduction for each day it is
late. So, if an assignment deserves an “A” but is handed in three days late, it will
receive a “B.”
NOTE: This syllabus is subject to change throughout the term.
POLICIES
Students with Disabilities: If you have a disability and feel you need accommodations
please contact the Ross Center for Disabilities: Campus Center UL211, 617-287-7430.
Plagiarism & Academic Honesty: Passing off another person’s writing or ideas as your
own is strictly forbidden. Utilizing someone else’s work, either word-for-word or through
paraphrase, without giving credit to the author, is unacceptable. If you have questions
about proper sourcing methods, please do not hesitate to ask for my assistance.
Committing plagiarism will put you at risk for failing this course.
Please consult UMass Boston’s “Code of Standard Conduct”
(www.umb.edu/student_services/student_rights/code_condcut.html) for more details.
WEEK TO WEEK SCHEDULE (It is your responsibility to keep up with syllabus
changes, whether they are verbally announced or emailed!)
WEEK 1 (9/3 & 9/5) Intro
Tuesday: Introductions. Review syllabus. Read Gilbert’s Doing Poetry
For Thursday: Read: Reginald Shepherd’s Why I Write (handout) & Chapter 1 in
Burroway (excerpted handout); Hass’ Meditation at Lagunitas
WEEK 2 (9/10 & 9/12) Fiction
For Tuesday: Due: 1-2 page version of Why I Write. Read: Burroway’s “Fiction” chapter
(pgs. 264-274) & Wallace’s Incarnations of Burned Children (pgs. 180-182); also
Packer’s Drinking Coffee Elsewhere (handout)
For Thursday: Read: O’Brien’s How to Tell A True War Story
(http://files.meetup.com/423109/How%20to%20Tell%20A%20True%20War%20Story_
Tim%20O%27Brien.pdf)
WEEK 3 (9/17 & 9/19) Poetry
For Tuesday: Read: Burroway’s “Poetry” chapter (pgs. 294-310, 312: Plath’s Stillborn)
For Thursday: Pinsky’s Shirt; Frost’s “Out, Out—“ (poetryfoundation.com);
Szymborska’s Photograph from September 11 (poetryfoundation.com) Due: Weekly
writing assignment
WEEK 4 (9/24 & 9/26) Image & Setting
For Tuesday: Read: Burroway’s “Image” & “Setting” chapters (pgs. 13-24 & 132-144);
Kincaid’s In The Night (handout); Richard’s On the Rope (handout)
For Thursday: Read: Dove’s Adolescence series & Levin’s Paul, Roosevelt Island
(handouts) Due: Weekly writing assignment
WEEK 5 (10/1 & 10/3) Image & Setting
For Tuesday: Dybek’s Pet Milk & Aiken’s Silent Snow, Secret Snow
For Thursday: Read: Whitman’s Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (poetryfoundation.com) &
Masini’s Giants in the Earth (handout); Jess’s Mercy (handout) Due: Weekly writing
assignment
WEEK 6 (10/8 & 10/10) Voice & Character
For Tuesday: Read: Burroway’s “Voice” and “Character” chapters (pgs. 47-60 & 87100); Cisneros’ Mericans & Wolff’s Bullet in the Brain (handouts)
For Thursday: Read: Eliot’s Preludes (poetryfoundation.com); Flynn’s Cartoon Physics,
part 1 (poetryfoundation.com); Kasischke’s Arms (handout) Due: Weekly writing
assignment
WEEK 7 (10/15 & 10/17) Voice & Character
For Tuesday: Read: O’Connor’s Good Country People; Díaz’s Ysrael & No Face
(handouts)
For Thursday: Read: Jarrell’s The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner (poets.org); Glück’s
Gretel in Darkness; Sandra Beasley’s You Were You; Patricia Smith’s The Room with the
Star (handouts) Due: Weekly writing assignment
WEEK 8 (10/22 & 10/24) Conferences—**Self-assessment due at conference
WEEK 9 (10/29 & 10/31) Dialogue & Story
WEEK 10 (11/5 & 11/7) Dialogue & Story—**Craft Paper Due
WEEK 11 (11/12 & 11/14) 1st Workshop—**Letters to workshop members due (2
copies of each)
WEEK 12 (11/19 & 11/ 21) Development & Revision
WEEK 13 (11/26 & 11/28—NO CLASS: THANKSGIVING BREAK)
2nd Workshop—**Letters to workshop members due (2 copies of each)
WEEK 14 (12/3 & 12/5) TBD
WEEK 15 (12/10 & 12/12) TBD—**Literary Reading Response Paper Due