PORTRAIT EXERCISE
(Suggested by Scott Russell Sanders)
Write a short (750 words) portrait of another person. This person should be real,
not invented. Try and decide what is essential about the person you are portraying.
Sanders writes: "Instead of merely cataloging traits, consider ways of revealing the
person through narrative summary, through scenes (including dialogue), or through the
narrator's perceptions and judgments. Try to establish some dominant impression, even if
it means, for the moment, ignoring some contrary qualities."
Collected Exercises for Creative Nonfiction
Melodrama as Personal Drama
What is the “biggest” event that ever happened to you or someone close to you?
What is the closest you’ve come to living inside a Lifetime movie? Strangely enough, it
is often these big events that are the hardest to get across on paper. Maybe, living in our
self-conscious age, we feel a little awkward when something really happens....and maybe
we fear being melodramatic when putting those events on the page.
Write about a big memory that is important to you or someone close to you.
(Better yet, if this is a memory you may have been afraid to approach) Don’t worry so
much about getting the memory exactly right or about striking the right tone (for now).
Write honestly and simply. Try making it a scene. Slow it down. Draw it out. Show us
something happening detail by detail.
For now just focus on getting it down on paper.
1. Memory as Scene
Try to write about a memory that is important to you. It could be an important
emotional event in your life or just something that stuck. Don’t worry so much about
getting the memory exactly right. Write honestly and simply and try to make it a scene.
Slow it down. Draw it out. Show us something happening detail by detail. Don’t rush or
overfill the sentences. Use dialogue and action verbs and don't spend any time telling us
what things “mean.”
Write the memory in the past tense. Read the first short chapter in Tobias Wolff
as an example. Tell it plainly, without frills, and let the material carry it a la Wolff. Try
not to color it too much as the narrator. Take it one thing at a time: practice endurance
with the scene. Don’t give up on it.
Imitation Exercise
Re-read a paragraph of two of the Scott Sanders essay. Then, re-read it again.
Let yourself absorb the rhythm of the sentences, the variety, the use of transitions or nontransitions. Without further thought, write a paragraph or two (or more) in the voice of
the passage, propelled by the active verbs. Over-do it at first if you like. You can always
pare back later. “Excess is preferable to deficiency.”—Samuel Johnson. Don’t worry
about copying, plagiarizing, anything....just write. Try to write in the rhythm of the
writer. If it makes it easier, copy the sentence variety and, to some degree, the subject
matter: “My Aunt smoked pot....”
Later, if you like you can set to tearing it apart the piece you imitated. What
makes it distinct? Voice? If so, how would you categorize that voice? What elements is
it made up of? What about other strengths? The characters? The way info presented?
Details? The sentence variety and pacing? Read it through a few times with pen in hand
and really try to determine where its strength comes from.
Some of the books and essays I have used in class over the last three years.
BOOKS
The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate
This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams
The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick
Patrimony by Philip Roth
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Writing Life Stories by Bill Roorbach
ESSAYS
Joan Didion "Goodbye to All That"
Scott Russell Sanders "Under the Influence"
James Baldwin "Notes on a Native Son"
Natalia Ginzburg "He and I"
Kai Maristed "Nicotine, An Autobiography"
Reg Saner "Technically Sweet"
Wendell Berry "An Entrance to the Woods"
Annie Dillard "Seeing"
Henry David Thoreau "Walking"
These texts are far from set in stone and are, in fact, always changing. For
example, last term a student suggested I take a look at the just released Vivian Gornick
book. I ended up reading a few excerpts to the class, and they responded so
enthusiastically that we decided, mid-term, to buy and read the book as a class.
GENERAL BREAKDOWN FOR BEGINNING
CREATIVE NONFICTION STUDENTS
1. WRITING EXERCISES:
Since this is a beginning workshop I will stress getting started. We will do a lot
of exercises, both in and out of class, over the first two weeks. I would like students to
do a little writing every day, to get into the habit of putting words on the page. It may be
difficult, particularly at first, to come up with material, and so for each class I will bring a
specific assignment. The purpose of these assignments is not to make you jump through
hoops but to, hopefully, spur you toward writing that goes beyond the assignments.
Remember: the exercises are just a jumping off point. Go with what excites you.
2. DISCUSSION OF READING:
Take notes on your reading. I am not asking you to do a lot of reading but I am
asking you to do it well. Underline, note techniques and craft, generally make a mess of
the books. With each reading I will ask you to note one technique and be ready to speak
about it in class. This is not a literature class and by technique I do not mean "theme" or
"meaning." I mean the way the author keeps verbs active or uses quick cut transitions
from paragraph to paragraph. You are not expected to know technical terms--we will
learn and discuss them as the term progresses. For now just notice what is being done
and comment on it.
3. CRAFT DISCUSSION/MINI-LECTURE:
I will usually discuss a craft issue from the reading and demonstrate how it was
used or could be used. I will tie this in with the day's assignment.
4. STUDENT WORKSHOP:
After the first two weeks we will usually workshop two pieces of student writing
each day. For those who have not been involved in a workshop before it is essentially a
roundtable discussion of a student's work. Out of simple politeness it is best to lead with
some positive comments and, obviously, to avoid the purely mean. But the critical
suggestions for improvement are the essence of the workshops, and, as writers, we need
to be able to face criticism. Again the stress will be on craft and execution.
For each workshop please type up a page of comments for the workshopee.
Please hand a copy of those comments to me.
SAMPLE REACTIONS TO WORKSHOP ESSAYS
FOR ADVANCED CREATIVE NONFICTION
Here are three reactions that I
returned with workshop pieces this past fall in my advanced creative nonfiction class at
Harvard Extension School (unfortunately I didn't save any of the reactions from my
beginning class this past summer.) As you will quickly see, these are not prose
masterpieces, but I include them in hopes of conveying the two elements that have
become part of my teaching style as it has matured: an intense, enthusiastic involvement
with the students' work, and a detached, craft-oriented attitude toward working through
problems and challenges in the text.
I have included reactions to three different types of essay. The first is a fairly
light piece on the Red Sox and relationship problems, and the second is an essay on
weight obsession by a woman who is both doctor and mother and who had written a
much stronger first piece (I continue to work with her on the weight piece). The last
piece is by the son of a famous regional politician writing about his father's assassination.
The son, a tough-minded and obviously talented writer, was struggling to find a way to
write about a subject that had haunted him since childhood.
I included the final piece not just because I think the writer will eventually publish
a strong book, but because the subject matter, as extreme as it is, is not entirely atypical
in these classes. Subject matter in recent classes has included cancer, homelessness,
death of spouses and parents, and one student's arrest for manslaughter after running
someone over with a car. The trick as a teacher dealing with this type of material, if there
is a trick, is to have the maturity to balance the need for craft and distance with an
understanding that the writer is a person who these things actually happened to.
(I changed their names.)
Advanced C.Nonfiction
November 29, 2001
Eric,
There is much here that is lively, admirable, and well-written. As with your last
piece this one is filled with humor and vivid description. And, perhaps reacting to the
reactions to that piece, you have attempted to tunnel deeper.
Having read it through three times I am still not certain why it doesn't seem to
cohere for me. The opening has the makings of a great scene, the descriptions of the
game are strong and the hints at the bar fight well executed, but there is something a little
disconnected about the threads. Though Mo and the Sox should pull it all together, they
don't really, at least for me. The childhood of a Red Sox lover seems like another essay,
though, if placed more strategically, it would certainly work as a theme in this one. My
question is: what is at stake here? Is it really answered in the last paragraph by saying it
is "a fate beyond your control." Maybe, but I didn't feel properly prepared for the
conclusion.
Some ideas:
1. You can classify this one under "brainstorming," but it occurred to me that the
last line could be the first. That is we could have the rainy game frame an early litany of
Red Sox tragedies, emphasizing the way you imagine your actions influence the team's
fate. This last is a potentially hilarious subject, involving "magical thinking," like that in
so-called primitive cultures.
2. If we had the above suggestion as background, could we then simply see much
of the drizzly game? I am thinking specifically of the heckling, which is very strange,
especially considering the state you are in, but also very interesting. For instance instead
of the witty comment
("deft knowledge of American culture") just describe how her Dad looked over at you
when you yelled the obscenities.
Overall, this is my major suggestion: show us the incident itself. For instance just
put us there in the stands with you and your swollen face and crazy heckling and her
father staring at you and her mother soaking wet and miserable. And, of course, Janice,
who we need to see--right now she is just a kind of cliche laundry list of characteristics
described in a flashback ("sassy," "witty"). In the same vein, we need more about what
happened to you and your face.
3. Following #2, if the scene carried the essay then there wouldn't be so much
pressure on Mo and the Sox to hold things together. The Mo coincidence could be a
coincidence and not the umbrella it serves as now.
I hope this is helpful, Eric, and I suspect I'll be able to describe what I'm trying to
get at a little better in class. There is a lot of lively writing here and the more I think
about it the more I see that a very exciting essay could emerge.
D.G.
Advanced C. Nonfiction
November 29, 2002
Dianne,
While the writing is tight, funny, and strong, I think you have run up against a real
challenge as far as subject matter. How to "make it new"? As readers (and in my case a
reader who teaches creative writing), we are facing a subject that we have seen more than
a few times before. So the question becomes: how will Dianne claim this as her own?
For me the answer is that you do this most vividly when you contrast this
infuriating "personal background music" with your very solid accomplishments as doctor
and mother. ("...if I could stay up all night with desperately sick patients and cranky
babies, I should be able to resist stale Halloween candy.") There is humor, as well as
poignancy, in the picture of such an accomplished person brought down low by food.
That said, I felt myself wanting even more specificity, something by which you claimed
the subject as definitively yours. This is the old paradox: a great essay needs in the end
to have general, universal implications, but the only way we get there is through
individual detail. It was that detail that I wanted more of.
Some ideas/ suggestions:
1. I think it's a little bit of a strategic error to begin with the radio show. There is
a second-handedness to this, a second-handedness that tends to plague pieces about
"subjects." For me the piece picked up when you started to bring it home to you. You
might consider chopping the head off the essay to get to your story. At the same time,
you do need to introduce the more general subject, but maybe you can do so through your
own words and with your own authority. Also, as a rule, I don't think re-told jokes and
anecdotes work very well in personal essays. (Even though the bad radio station bit on
page 5 is apt and funny.)
2. I didn't feel entirely sold on the ending: A dog's lick and--presto--the obsession
is gone. I am not saying that this is not what happened, just that as it was on the page I
didn't quite go with it. Could you build up to it more or at least honestly acknowledge
that this was a quick and sudden end to something that had plagued you.
Likewise your "bigger ending," that is the Dillard-esqe analysis of the last
paragraph which answers the question you posed on page three. Not that I don't like that
paragraph--in fact I like it a lot--but I wanted it to be slightly more complicated. Maybe
this simply goes back to the fact that I didn't quite believe this part of you was gone.
That said, there is a lot I do like about the essay. It's funny, sharp, well-observed,
and takes us through a quick, witty summary of one aspect of your life. It's just that,
particularly given the subject, I was hoping for something more personal and quirky.
I hope this helps, D.G.
(I guess it's always a question of feel: in this case I had already developed a
rapport with Ben, knew he had written several novels, and felt he could handle a direct
approach despite the difficult subject matter.)
Advanced C. Nonfiction
October 11
Ben,
I usually start out these notes with little pep talks but your essay is so obviously
strong, brave, and well-written that I will dispense with this part quickly (there, done) and
get to the suggestions.
When we workshop this today I will break my own rule and begin by asking you
if the book you are writing will be taking a personal slant in the fashion of today's piece.
I hope it will, but I assume it won't because of the obvious loathing for the more personal
forms of writing that comes through in the self-conscious asides. The voice that emerges
in the scenes seems brisk, no-nonsense and that same feel is evident in the asides, but
laced with more anger. What it is angry at is the question. As it stands now it sounds
angry at the form itself, at workshops(!), at the very idea of confession, as if to say:
"None of this fancy crap for me."
There is a built-in conflict of course. The narrator, who is telling the story of the
murder, wants the murder to be less of his life. Does telling it finally begin to exorcise it
or does telling it merely repeat? If the narrator's loathing for the form is part of the
literary strategy than it needs to be done with more clarity.
I think the asides make for a very interesting contrast with the narrative sections
but I find myself wondering how much control you have over this material, or, to put it
better, whether you know why you are coming at it from this angle. You tell us directly
that you don't want to write about yourself, but here you are doing it, and boy are you
pissed, like a gruff businessman who's been forced into therapy. Isn't it possible to
simultaneously write about yourself and things bigger than you?
Certainly that's what you seem to have done, and done well. You are likely the
only one who smells any whiff of "sob story" in these objectively-told, narrativelyirresistible stories. I am dwelling on this part of your essay for so long because it gets to
the point of the Vivian Gornick book I quoted in class. What is the story for this narrator
now? That he wants the murder to be less a part of his life as you say? From where and
to where is he journeying? Most importantly: what it the best choice of narrator to tell
this story?
This could be a very strong book if you found the answers to these questions.
A few small things:
1. The interjections add a lot to the piece but you need to slim them down and
make them more clear.
2. Your scenes are great. I've made a few notes in the text where I was confused,
but great details about your family, especially in painting your relationship with your
father in a few quick strokes. Beautiful really.
3. All the "is"s and "this"s ("is hate," "when you read this") get a little confusing,
as well as lending a limp feel to the first section. You might consider applying the active
verb exercise I'm going to give out next week to the first part of family scene. Not the
Scott Sanders "caricature" verbs we talked about, but a little more action.
I hope this is helpful. It is so strong and is close to becoming a great piece. I look
forward to reading larger sections of the book.
David Gessner
A FEW EXERCISES
I realize I have included a lot (too many) of these. Just wanted to give an idea of
possible ways I try to generate ideas and suggest techniques in my classes.
USE TO PREP
My feeling is that with college students, particularly literary-minded college
students, the same things that they have relied on--a facility in writing essay test answers
and term papers--can be a serious handicap when it comes to writing creative nonfiction
narrative. My experience has been that this is an even more thorny problem in nonfiction
than fiction, since they equate "essay" with the kind of essay they know. In reaction to
this, many of my early exercises are an attempt to get them to think in terms of scenes,
not themes. (I have found Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life to be particularly helpful in this
battle.)
Creative Nonfiction Exercises
David Gessner
First Day:
Your Writing and Reading,
Past, Present, and Future
Write a history of yourself as a writer and reader. Make a story out of it. How
have you evolved as a writer to this point? How would you like to evolve from where
you are? Do you have goals? Do you not want to have goals? Why not? What kind of
stuff do you like to write? What do you think you're best suited to writing?
Where do you hope to be as a writer five years from now? Ten?
"Writers are readers driven to emulation," said Saul Bellow. We read something
we love and think "I could do that...." Write a little bit about books that you have loved
and books, if any, that have inspired you to write.
Make a family tree of your reading influences.
Here are a few more questions to spur you on. Use or disregard them as you see
fit:
How did you first get interested in writing? (make a scene out of it) What were
the first books that had real impact? What does your literary family tree of influences
look like? What were the first books that made you think, "I want to write something like
that?"
What was the first thing you wrote that made you proud?
What was the first thing you wrote that made you think "I am the greatest writer
who ever lived"?
Which teachers or writers have influenced you? What do you admire about them
and what would you like to emulate? Do you dream of writing a book? Books? About
what?
When (night? morning? on vacation? when it rains?) have you written well in the
past? What is your ideal writing time? What are your current writing habits? What
would you like your writing habits to be in the future?
What do you hope to get out of this class? What part does it play in the master
plan? Is there a master plan?
What sort of creative nonfiction would you like to write?
MEMORY AS SCENE
Try to write about a memory that is important to you. It could be an important
emotional event in your life or just something that stuck. Don't worry so much about
getting the memory exactly right. Write honestly and simply and try to make it a scene.
Slow it down. Draw it out. Show us something happening detail by detail. Don't rush or
overfill the sentences. Use dialogue and action verbs and don't spend any time telling us
what things "mean."
Write the memory in the past tense. Read the first short chapter in Tobias Wolff
as an example. Tell it plainly, without frills, and let the material carry it a la Wolff. Try
not to color it too much as the narrator. Take it one thing at a time: practice endurance
with the scene. Don't give up on it.
EXERCISE 2
(AFTER READING SANDERS)
1. Take the piece you wrote and circle every passive verb--every was, were, is
etc..---and note how long each sentence is (eye them or actually count the words). Then
take the piece and re-work it, first making the verbs active and interesting. Make the
verbs drive the piece. Replace "is" with "gouges." Then, vary the sentences, going form
short to long, staying long, then back to short. Play with it and see what you come up
with.
2. Re-read a paragraph or two of the Scott Sanders essay. Then, keeping his
rhythms in mind (and ear), write a paragraph propelled by the active verbs. Over-do it at
first if you like. You can always pare back later. "Excess is preferable to deficiency,"
said Samuel Johnson.
PLACE EXERCISE
Think of a place that has been important to you. Really imagine it in its specifics.
Then begin listing particular smells, tastes, textures. The more specific you can be the
better--specific colors, names, shapes. Watch out for "beautiful"s and for adjectives and
adverbs in general. If the sentences come, go with them by all means. But don't worry if
you are only rendering the place in caveman prose. Just get it down.
COMBINING PLACE AND MEMORY SCENE
Return to the details you dredged up about a particular place and now use those
details. Have the first-person narrator (you) walk into that place in the present tense. ("I
walk...I see two pear trees...etc.) Then have that place prompt the memory that was our
first exercise. This will feel awkward and unnatural at first, and may also come out that
way on the page, but forge ahead. Go into that past tense memory and then re-emerge
into the present and the place. Play with the transitions and see how you can give it a
"natural" feel, despite the obvious artificiality.
SHOW AND TELL
"SHOW DON'T TELL," is an axiom repeated ad nauseam in fiction workshops.
The luxury of creative nonfiction is that we get to show and tell. We can not only present
scenes, concrete details, and dialogue, but can then turn around and comment on the
ultimate meaning of what we have shown. Of course it must be done a little subtly, or we
come off like pompous windbags. But it can be done.
Look at the nonfiction you admire and see if you can find examples in class of
this intertwining of thought and action, generalizing and scene. Then try your hand at it.
Add a "tell" ending to the last exercise you wrote. See if you can do it without sounding
too phony. Attempt to mix your feelings, generalities, and thought into the writing
without being heavy handed. Consider: What's a good mix? It's different for everyone-think about what is best for you, given your strengths and weaknesses. What part do
transitions play in this? What are possible transition techniques?
EXERCISE 6:
IMITATION EXERCISE
Take a piece of nonfiction writing you really like, or better yet, love. It can be
something we've read in class or something you read long ago or whatever. Just as long
as you love it. Read it through once and then again. Read it out loud. Let yourself
absorb the rhythm of the sentences, the variety, the use of transitions or non-transitions.
Then, without further thought, write a paragraph or two (or more) in the voice of
the passage. Don't worry about copying, plagiarizing, anything....just write. Try to write
in the rhythm of the writer.
Later, if you like you can set to tearing it apart the piece you imitated. What
makes it distinct? Voice? If so, how would you categorize that voice? What elements is
it made up of? What about other strengths? The characters? The way info presented?
Details? The sentence variety and pacing? Read it through a few times with pen in hand
and really try to determine where it's strength comes from.
EXERCISE 7:
PORTRAIT EXERCISE
(Suggested by Scott Russell Sanders)
Write a short (750 words) portrait of another person. This person should be real,
not invented. Try and decide what is essential about the person you are portraying.
Sanders writes: "Instead of merely cataloging traits, consider ways of revealing the
person through narrative summary, through scenes (including dialogue), or through the
narrator's perceptions and judgments. Try to establish some dominant impression, even if
it means, for the moment, ignoring some contrary qualities."
EXERCISE:
MINI-SCENES
I spoke briefly during the last class about the "mini-scenes" Roth uses throughout
Patrimony. For instance look again at the paragraph at the top of page 61 (the nursing
room concert scene.) The scene of the concert is vivid, and here, within it, we have a one
sentence scene: "The violinist smiled at her whenever their eyes met, and this led several
of the women around me to turn to each other and whisper admiringly, 'He's looking at
his wife.'" This is an example of Roth always trying to bring details alive. For instance
he could have simply written, "The violinist looked adoringly at his wife," but instead
makes it into a scene that delights us.
Take a page or two of something you've written and try to infuse it with more
active scenic details. Look at how Roth interjects these into the main story and try to do
the same with a piece of writing you've done. Use dialogue and active description to
bring minor details alive.
EXERCISE 9:
BOOK PROPOSAL
Write a letter to an editor or agent proposing a specific book or essay you have
been thinking about.
Think about how and why you want to tell this particular story in this particular way,
applying the "situation" and "story" elements we have been discussing in Gornick's book.
One of the standard things that writers include in proposals is a kind of overview
of similar books, what has been written that is like the book/essay you are writing and
how is your book/essay unique. Suggest your approach to the subject--humorous,
removed, factual etc--and why you should be the one to write it, and how you would pull
it off.
This exercise is not designed to help you get six figure contracts as much as to get
you to think about why and how you are going to write whatever it is you want to write.
If you get the contract, that's fine, too.
EXERCISE
SIMPLE SCENES
Take something you've written so far that you like--a sentence, a detail--and
stretch it into a scene. Slow it down. Draw it out. Show us something happening detail
by detail. Don't rush or overfill the sentences. Use dialogue and action verbs and don't
spend any time telling us what things "mean."
Look at Tobias Wolff as an example. Tell it plainly, without frills, and let the
material carry it a la Wolff. Try not to color it too much as the narrator. Consider taking
something that might have only been a sentence (or a few) in your original piece and
stretch it into a full page. Take it one thing at a time: practice endurance with the scene.
Don't give up on it.
EXERCISE:
ACTIVE VERB EXERCISE
1. Take the piece you wrote on Tuesday and circle every passive verb--every was,
were, is etc..---and note how long each sentence is (eye them or actually count the
words). Then take the piece and re-work it, first making the verbs active and interesting.
Make the verbs drive the piece. Replace "is" with "gouges." Then, vary the sentences,
going form short to long, staying long, then back to short. Play with it and see what you
come up with.
2. Re-read a paragraph or two of the Scott Sanders essay. Then, keeping his
rhythms in mind (and ear), write a paragraph propelled by the active verbs. Over-do it at
first if you like. You can always pare back later. "Excess is preferable to deficiency,"
said Samuel Johnson.
This is one I have done in the past over the course of two or three classes, giving
the first two as if they were unrelated exercises and tying it together with the third.
THREE PART EXERCISE
1. PLACE EXERCISE:
Dredge up details about a place that was or is important to you. Just concrete
details. Sketch down a list of smells, sounds, tastes, etc. It doesn't have to be a pastoral
place, just a place with personal resonance.
2. MEMORY AS SCENE:
Try to write about a memory that is important to you. It could be an important
emotional event in your life or just something that stuck. Write honestly and simply and
try to make it a scene. Don't worry so much about getting the memory exactly right.
Worry, rather, about it working as scene. Use all the above techniques we have
discussed--sentence variety, dialogue, active, driving verbs.
3. COMBINATION OF #1 and #2:
Return to the details you dredged up about a particular place and now use those
details. Have the first-person narrator (you) walk into the place in part one and have that
place prompt the memory from part two. This will feel awkward and unnatural at first,
and may also come out that way on the page. Play with the transitions and see how you
can give it a "natural" feel, despite the obvious artificiality.
EXERCISE:
SHOW AND TELL
"SHOW DON'T TELL," is an axiom repeated ad nauseam in fiction workshops.
The luxury of creative nonfiction is that we get to show and tell. We can not only present
scenes, concrete details, and dialogue, but can then turn around and comment on the
ultimate meaning of what we have shown. Of course it must be done a little subtly, or we
come off like pompous windbags. But it can be done.
I will read some examples in class of this intertwining of thought and action,
generalizing and scene. Look at the nonfiction you admire and see if you can find more.
Then try your hand at it. Take an idea or belief that's important to you, and illustrate it.
Not by climbing on your soapbox--which you can do a little, too--but by dredging your
memory for an appropriate scene. Then show us that active scene, using the "fictional"
techniques of dialogue, description, concrete detail, etc...
Finally, see if you can mix your feelings, generalities, and thought into the writing
without being heavy handed. Consider: What's a good mix? It's different for everyone-think about what is best for you, given your strengths and weaknesses. What part do
transitions play in this? What are possible transition techniques?
EXERCISE 7:
BOOK PROPOSAL
Write a letter to an editor or agent proposing a specific book or essay you have
been thinking about.
Take a walk and think about how and why you want to tell this particular story in this
particular way, applying the "situation" and "story" elements we have been discussing in
Gornick's book.
One of the standard things that writers include in proposals is a kind of overview
of similar books, what has been written that is like the book/essay you are writing and
how is your book/essay unique. Suggest your approach to the subject--humorous,
removed, factual etc--and why you should be the one to write it, and how you would pull
it off.
This exercise is not designed to help you get six figure contracts as much as to get
you to think about why and how you are going to write whatever it is you want to write.
If you get the contract, that's fine, too.
ASKING QUESTIONS
Think a little about the passage I read from The Situation and the Story by Vivian
Gornick. What is the situation for the essay/memoir you are working on? Ask yourself
who is speaking in your piece and why? What is your narrator like, which parts of you
have you selected--the cynical parts, the jolly parts, the bemused parts--and why? Why is
this the best narrator for the job of telling this particular story?
Apply these questions to Roth and think about the choices he has made.
MINI-SCENES
I spoke briefly last week about the "mini-scenes" Roth uses throughout
Patrimony. For instance look at the paragraph at the top of page 61 (the nursing room
concert scene for those with different editions.) The scene of the concert is vivid, and
here, within it, we have a one sentence scene: "The violinist smiled at her whenever their
eyes met, and this led several of the women around me to turn to each other and whisper
admiringly, 'He's looking at his wife.'" This is an example of Roth always trying to bring
details alive. For instance he could have simply written, "The violinist looked adoringly
at his wife," but instead makes it into a scene that delights us.
Take a page or two of something you've written and try to infuse it with more
active scenic details. Look at how Roth interjects these into the main story and try to do
the same with a piece of writing you've done. Use dialogue and active description to
bring minor details alive.
PORTRAIT EXERCISE
(Suggested by Scott Russell Sanders)
Write a short (750 words) portrait of another person. This person should be real,
not invented. Try and decide what is essential about the person you are portraying.
Sanders writes: "Instead of merely cataloging traits, consider ways of revealing the
person through narrative summary, through scenes (including dialogue), or through the
narrator's perceptions and judgements. Try to establish some dominant impression, even
if it means, for the moment, ignoring some contrary qualities."
If you need examples, look at Wolff's portraits of his mother and Dwight, or the
portrait of the father in "Under the Influence."
IMITATION EXERCISE
Take a piece of nonfiction writing you really like, or better yet, love. It can be
something we've read in class or something you read long ago or whatever. Just as long
as you love it. Read it through once and then again. Read it out loud. Let yourself
absorb the rhythm of the sentences, the variety, the use of transitions or non-transitions.
Then, without further thought, write a paragraph or two (or more) in the voice of
the passage. Don't worry about copying, plagiarizing, anything....just write. Try to write
in the rhythm of the writer.
Later, if you like you can set to tearing it apart the piece you imitated. What
makes it distinct? Voice? If so, how would you categorize that voice? What elements is
it made up of? What about other strengths? The characters? The way info presented?
Details? The sentence variety and pacing? Read it through a few times with pen in hand
and really try to determine where it's strength comes from.
REVISION EXERCISE
(WARM-UP FOR FINAL REVISION)
Think revision. Take a a page from a piece of writing (preferably one we have
workshopped) and tear it apart. Look at my comments and the comments of your
classmates. Go nuts on it. Make the verbs more active, make the ideas more vivid, cut
the words drastically down. Read it out loud and see if it stands up. Make a mess of it.
Use the "Random Thoughts on Revision" sheet I handed out as a guide.
We all have a tendency to consider our words precious once we spill them out.
But, as I've said before, revision is the real work of writing. This does not mean
changing a word or two. It means really tweaking and tightening, and changing. Use this
as an experiment in revision.
THOUGHTS ON REVISION
(USE THIS FOR YOUR FINAL)
1. "I hate it," isn't an uncommon reaction when returning to a piece of writing after a time
away from it, just as "This is the greatest thing ever written" isn't uncommon when in the
throes of inspiration. The trick is to come back to a piece with a mindset somewhere in
between the two extremes. That is to come back with a "new head," calm, practical,
aware that what you are approaching isn't either the worse or greatest piece of writing
ever produced, but something that can be tackled, re-worked, improved.
2. It's easier to have a "new head" when there's actually another head. That's the reason
that editors exist. You simply can't see everything yourself. Is there another individual,
hopefully a writer who knows something about craft, who can read for you consistently?
Is there someone in this class who offered you sound critiques? Consider calling/mailing
them about exchanging pieces. Sometimes a single external sensibility (that is, a person)
can help as much as a class.
3. What really irked you during your workshop? Not just stupid comments but ones that
hit home..."Honesty is the first step in greatness," said Samuel Johnson and one thing that
revision is about is honesty. It's worth asking yourself a question you can pay a
psychologist to ask you: What am I avoiding? Other questions to ask yourself: Where am
I being dishonest? Glib? Taking shortcuts? Where am I inserting an
opinion/generalization/idea that I haven't really thought out? Why did I include this?
What does it mean to me?
4. Often our own writing is interesting to us because it happened to us. Is it interesting to
a stranger? Don't come to your work with an overly critical attitude--"It's all boring"--but
do ask yourself why someone else would be compelled to read it. It never hurts to ask:
Am I being self-indulgent? (I usually answer yes, and continue on.)
5. Do the active verb assignment from a few weeks ago again. Unless you have a
specific mood in mind, think active.
6. Is there a reason you aren't turning something into a scene or at least a mini-scene? Is
that reason laziness?
7. Use earthy details to deflate pomposity. It's worth remembering that for every
glistening lily we see there exists a can of Alpo dog food.
8. Smell, taste, touch, sound. Is your piece taking place in a a sensory vacuum? Overdo
it--you can always scale back.
9. To paraphrase Bernard DeVotto, "Revision separates the women from the girls."
Remember revising doesn't have the la-la nearly hallucinogenic thrills of some first
drafts. It is about work, craftsmanship, thought. But it can be very satisfying in a
different way.
FALL 2004
David Gessner
CRW 309-001 INTERMEDIATE CREATIVE NONFICTION
E-mail: Gessnerdm@uncw.edu
This workshop focuses on writing creative nonfiction, a genre which includes and
combines the personal essay, memoir, new journalism, nature writing, and the literature
of place.
Books:
Writing Life Stories by Bill Roorbach
The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick
The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate
This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
Goat by Brad Land
Requirements:
1. Two completed nonfiction pieces, one of which will have been substantially revised by
the end of the term. A cover letter detailing the process of revision should accompany
the final revised piece.
2. Throughout the term we will have occasional writing exercises, most from the
Roorbach. I expect three completed exercises, roughly one per month.
IF YOU MISS CLASS PLEASE GET THE ASSIGNMENT FROM A CLASSMATE.
Attendance:
Consistent attendance is essential. If you are absent without medical excuse more
than twice, you are eligible to be officially excluded and failed.
The class is primarily a workshop. Due to this, and the need to get an intelligent,
thoughtful dialogue going, I will ask that for each piece you read, you give me a copy of
the comments that you give to the piece's author.
Grading:
25%--Completion of response pieces, critiques, exercises.
25%--Class participation.
50%--Final essay. Based on both quality and sweat.
Reading:
August 23
Introduction
All reading is due the date assigned.
For THIS Class please read:
* Scott Russell Sanders, "Under the Influence." p 733 in Lopate
* Joan Didion "Goodbye to All That." 681 in Lopate.
August 25
Autobiographical writing exercise. “Melodrama as Personal Drama”
* Lopate's Introduction in The Art of the Personal Essay.
August 30
Start Roorbach. Chapters 1 and 2.
Two weeks on Roorbach.
September 1
Roorbach 3 and 4.
September 6–LABOR DAY HOLIDAY
September 8
Roorbach 5 and 6.
Sept 13
Roorbach through end
Sept 15
* Read The Situation and the Story through page 42.
* This includes an analysis of "In Bed" by Joan Didion so please also read this short (3
page) essay that begins on page 689 of Lopate. And the Harry Crews hand-out.
Sept 20
* Gornick 42-52
* Hoagland's "The Courage of Turtles." Pg 657 in Lopate.
* Harry Crews handout. "Why I Live Where I Live."
Sept 22
* Gornick 52-77
* Ginzburg's "He and I" in Lopate. Pg 423.
Sept 27
* Gornick 77-89
* Baldwin "Notes of a Native Son." Pg 587.
Sept 29—Finish Gornick
Oct 4--Read This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff--through page 85.
October 6--Wolff--through 178.
October 11--Finish Wolff.
October 13--Goat by Brad Land. Through page 71.
October 18
Land. Through page 144
October 20—Finish Land.
October 25—Lopate TBA
October 27–TBA
Nov 1–TBA
Nov 3–TBA
Nov 8–TBA
Nov 10–TBA
Nov 15–TBA
Nov 17–TBA
Nov 22–TBA
FALL 2004
David Gessner
CRW 309-001 INTERMEDIATE CREATIVE NONFICTION
E-mail: Gessnerdm@uncw.edu
This workshop focuses on writing creative nonfiction, a genre which includes and
combines the personal essay, memoir, new journalism, nature writing, and the literature
of place.
Books:
Writing Life Stories by Bill Roorbach
The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick
The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate
This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
Goat by Brad Land
Requirements:
1. Two completed nonfiction pieces, one of which will have been substantially revised by
the end of the term. A cover letter detailing the process of revision should accompany
the final revised piece.
2. Throughout the term we will have occasional writing exercises, most from the
Roorbach. I expect three completed exercises, roughly one per month.
IF YOU MISS CLASS PLEASE GET THE ASSIGNMENT FROM A CLASSMATE.
Attendance:
Consistent attendance is essential. If you are absent without medical excuse more
than twice, you are eligible to be officially excluded and failed.
The class is primarily a workshop. Due to this, and the need to get an intelligent,
thoughtful dialogue going, I will ask that for each piece you read, you give me a copy of
the comments that you give to the piece's author.
Grading:
25%--Completion of response pieces, critiques, exercises.
25%--Class participation.
50%--Final essay. Based on both quality and sweat.
Reading:
August 23
Introduction
All reading is due the date assigned.
For THIS Class please read:
* Scott Russell Sanders, "Under the Influence." p 733 in Lopate
* Joan Didion "Goodbye to All That." 681 in Lopate.
August 25
Autobiographical writing exercise. “Melodrama as Personal Drama”
* Lopate's Introduction in The Art of the Personal Essay.
August 30
Start Roorbach. Chapters 1 and 2.
Two weeks on Roorbach.
September 1
Roorbach 3 and 4.
September 6–LABOR DAY HOLIDAY
September 8
Roorbach 5 and 6.
Sept 13
Roorbach through end
Sept 15
* Read The Situation and the Story through page 42.
* This includes an analysis of "In Bed" by Joan Didion so please also read this short (3
page) essay that begins on page 689 of Lopate. And the Harry Crews hand-out.
Sept 20
* Gornick 42-52
* Hoagland's "The Courage of Turtles." Pg 657 in Lopate.
* Harry Crews handout. "Why I Live Where I Live."
Sept 22
* Gornick 52-77
* Ginzburg's "He and I" in Lopate. Pg 423.
Sept 27
* Gornick 77-89
* Baldwin "Notes of a Native Son." Pg 587.
Sept 29—Finish Gornick
Oct 4--Read This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff--through page 85.
October 6--Wolff--through 178.
October 11--Finish Wolff.
October 13--Goat by Brad Land. Through page 71.
October 18
Land. Through page 144
October 20—Finish Land.
October 25—Lopate TBA
October 27–TBA
Nov 1–TBA
Nov 3–TBA
Nov 8–TBA
Nov 10–TBA
Nov 15–TBA
Nov 17–TBA
Nov 22–TBA
Nov 29–TBA
Dec 1–LAST DAY OF CLASSES. FINAL REVISION AND COVER LETTER DUE.
David Gessner
CRW 309-001 INTERMEDIATE CREATIVE NONFICTION
E-mail: Gessnerdm@uncw.edu
HOME STRETCH READING AND WORK
*PLEASE SET UP A TIME TO TALK TO ME INDIVIDUALLY.
* PLEASE READ THESE ASSINGMENTS FOR THE CLASS ON THE DATE
ABOVE THEM.
Mon Oct 18
PLEASE HAVE READ:
* The Situation and the Story through page 42.
* This includes an analysis of "In Bed" by Joan Didion so please also read this short
(3 page) essay that begins on page 689 of Lopate. And the Harry Crews hand-out.
Wed Oct 20
* Gornick 42-52
* Hoagland's "The Courage of Turtles." Pg 657 in Lopate.
* Harry Crews ON E-RESERVE. "Why I Live Where I Live."
Mon Oct 25
* Gornick 52-77
* Ginzburg's "He and I" in Lopate. Pg 423.
Wed Oct 27
* Finish Gornick
* Baldwin "Notes of a Native Son." Pg 587.
Mon Nov 1
Read This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff--through page 85
Wed Nov 3
Wolff--through 178.
Mon Nov 8--Finish Wolff
Wed Nov 10—Goat by Brad Land. Through page 71.
Mon Nov 15--Land. Through page 144
Wed Nov 17 Finish Land. I’ll hand out revision exercise.
Mon Nov 22-Mon 29: REVISION EXERCISE!! (FINAL EXERCISE.)
Dec 1–LAST DAY OF CLASSES. FINAL REVISION AND COVER LETTER
DUE.
Mon Nov 15
Sept 20
Sept 22
Sept 27
Sept 29—
October 25—Lopate TBA
October 27–TBA
Nov 1–TBA
Nov 3–TBA
Nov 8–TBA
Nov 10–TBA
Nov 15–TBA
Nov 17–TBA
Nov 22–TBA
Nov 29–TBA
Dec 1–LAST DAY OF CLASSES. FINAL REVISION AND COVER LETTER DUE.
Additional Workshop Days
This is day you workshop on. Bring in the day before.
Wed Nov 17
Mon Nov 22
Mon Nov 29
This is the Day you will workshop on
—bring in 22 copies the class before.
Mon September 27
Wed Sept 29
Wed Oct 6
Mon Oct 11
Wed Oct 13
Workshops
This is the Day you will workshop on
—bring in 22 copies the class before.
Mon September 27
Wed Sept 29
Wed Oct 6
Mon Oct 11
Wed Oct 13
Mon Oct 18
Wed Oct 20
Mon Oct 25
Wed Oct 27
Mon Nov 1
Wed Nov 3
Mon Nov 8
Wed Nov 10
Mon Nov 15
MELODRAMA AS PERSONAL DRAMA
What is the "biggest" event that ever happened to you or someone close to you?
What is the closest you've come to living inside a movie-of-a-week? Strangely enough, it
is often these big events that are the hardest to get across on paper. Maybe, living in our
self-conscious age, we feel a little awkward when something really happens....and maybe
we fear being melodramatic, as Eggers clearly does, when putting those events on the
page.
Write about a big memory that is important to you or someone close to you.
(Better yet if this is a memory you may have been afraid to approach) Don't worry so
much about getting the memory exactly right or about striking the right tone (for now).
Write honestly and simply. Try making it a scene. Slow it down. Draw it out. Show us
something happening detail by detail.
For now just focus on getting it down on paper.
EARLY BIRD WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
(2 Max, 1 is fine)
1. Sept 1
2. Sept 8
3. Sept 13
4. Sept 15
5. Sept 20
6. Sept 22
7. Sept 27
NEXT WORKSHOPS
5. Sept 29
6. Oct 4
7. October 6
8. October 11
9. October 13
10.October 18
11. October 20
12. October 25
13.October 27
14. Nov 1
15. Nov 3
16. Nov 8
17. Nov 10
18. Nov 15
19. Nov 17
20. Nov 22
21. Nov 29
Dec 1–LAST DAY OF CLASSES. FINAL REVISION AND COVER LETTER DUE.
David Gessner
CRW 545-FORMS OF NARRATIVE PROSE
WED 6:30-9:15
Course Overview
This course focuses on the history of the essay from Montaigne to the present.
We will also explore ways in which the essay has been employed outside the traditional
form, and the ways in which supposedly non-traditional writers, such as Dave Eggers, are
very much in keeping with the tradition. Assignments will include exercises, original
creative prose, extensive reading, and short response papers.
Books:
The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
The Complete Essays of Montaigne Translated by Donald Frame
Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Goat by Brad Land
Requirements:
1. A series of short reaction pieces. These will come in several flavors: 1. Pre-assigned
questions on the reading (see week one). 2. Questions about the reading to be completed
in class (not quizzes, though they may feel like them.) 3. Creative responses (such as
imitations.)
These are short (2 double spaced pages tops) and are meant to get you thinking
about the reading so we can have a lively and engaged class. Therefore:
2. The main requirement of the class is keeping up with the reading.
3. Instead of a final paper you will be asked to do an oral presentation (20-30 minutes) on
a writer. The dual emphasis of this report should be on how the writer fits in the greater
tradition and on what particular craft techniques the writer uses. In fact, this will be the
emphasis of the class as a whole: getting to know the tradition and seeing what we, as
writers, can steal from it.
Attendance:
Consistent attendance is essential. If you are absent without medical excuse more
than twice, you are eligible to be officially excluded and failed.
Grading:
50%--Completion of Responses, Reading, Exercises.
25%--Class participation.
25%--Oral Report
Reading:
August 25
Introduction to Course
FOR THIS CLASS PLEASE READ:
Two Introductions.
* Lopate's Introduction in The Art of the Personal Essay. (Feel free to stop at the section
called "The Rationale and Argument of This Book.")
* Dave Egger's preface to Staggering. Read through the Roman numerals before the text
(up to the drawing of the stapler).
Also please complete the first short response paper. Describe the way in which Egger's
intro is--and is not--part of the tradition that Lopate describes. Or, to put it another way,
how is his writing new, and how is it traditional?
Sept 1
STARTING AT THE END.
FOR NEXT CLASS PLEASE READ EGGERS THROUGH PAGE 103.
SEPT 8
FOR NEXT CLASS:
EGGERS PG.279
SEPT 15
FOR NEXT CLASS:
EGGERS THROUGH END. (INCLUDING "MISTAKES WE KNEW WE WERE
MAKING" [FLIP THE BOOK OVER])
SEPT 22
BACK TO THE SOURCE.
MONTAIGNE INTRODUCTION BY DONALD FRAME IN COMPLETE ESSAYS.
39. "OF SOLITUDE" PG 174
"OF BOOKS" PG.296.
SEPT 29--MONTAIGNE ESSAYS TBA.
OCT 6
LOPATE TBA. THE ENGLISH TRADITION.
OCT 13 NO CLASS. FALL VACATION.
OCT 20--LOPATE TBA. THE ENGLISH TRADITION.
OCT 27--LOPATE TBA. OTHER CULTURES, OTHER CONTINENTS.
NOV 3--LOPATE TBA. THE AMERICAN SCENE.
NOV 10–BRAD LAND’S GOAT.
NOV 17.--DIDION
NOV 24–THANKSGIVING BREAK
DECEMBER 1–FINAL CLASS.
NOV 27. NO CLASS. THANKSGIVING.
DEC 4. LAST CLASS.
For FALL 2004
David Gessner
CRW 309-001 INTERMEDIATE CREATIVE NONFICTION
E-mail: Gessnerdm@uncw.edu
This workshop focuses on writing creative nonfiction, a genre which includes and
combines the personal essay, memoir, new journalism, nature writing, and the literature
of place.
Books:
Writing Life Stories by Bill Roorbach
The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick
The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate
This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
Requirements:
1. Two completed nonfiction pieces, one of which will have been substantially revised by
the end of the term. A cover letter detailing the process of revision should accompany
the final revised piece.
2. Throughout the term we will have occasional writing exercises and short (1 pg.)
written responses to the reading. At the end of the term you will hand in a list of
exercises/responses completed along with your cover letter.
ADD IF YOU MISS CLASS GET THE ASSIGNMENT FROM A CLASSMATE.
Attendance:
Consistent attendance is essential. If you are absent without medical excuse more
than twice, you are eligible to be officially excluded and failed.
The class is primarily a workshop. Due to this, and the need to get an intelligent,
thoughtful dialogue going, I will ask that for each piece you read, you give me a copy of
the comments that you give to the piece's author.
Grading:
25%--Completion of response pieces, critiques, exercises.
25%--Class participation.
50%--Final essay. Based on both quality and sweat.
Reading:
August 20
Introduction
Autobiographical writing exercise
For next Class please read:
* Scott Russell Sanders, "Under the Influence." p 733 in Lopate
* Joan Didion "Goodbye to All That." 681 in Lopate.
August 27
Roorbach here???
* Lopate's Introduction in The Art of the Personal Essay.
* Richard Rodriguez "Late Victorians." p 756 in Lopate.
September 3
Start Roorbach here!!
Two weeks on Roorbach.
* Read The Situation and the Story through page 42.
* This includes an analysis of "In Bed" by Joan Didion so please also read this short (3
page) essay that begins on page 689 of Lopate.
Sept 10
* Gornick 42-52
* Hoagland's "The Courage of Turtles." Pg 657 in Lopate.
* Harry Crews handout. "Why I Live Where I Live."
Sept 17
* Gornick 52-77
* Ginzburg's "He and I" in Lopate. Pg 423.
Sept 24
* Gornick 77-89
* Baldwin "Notes of a Native Son." Pg 587.
October 1
* Gornick 89-128
October 8
* Finish Gornick
October 15
* Read This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff--through page 85.
October 22
Wolff--through 178.
Craft Exercise.
October 29
Finish Wolff.
November 5
Patrimony by Philip Roth--through page 65.
Nov 12
Roth through 149.
Nov 19
Finish Roth.
Nov 26
NO CLASS THANKSGIVING VACATION
Dec 3
Last Class
Dec 10
Final Projects Due.
David Gessner
CRW 545-001 (43121) FORMS OF NARRATIVE PROSE
Thurs 6:30-9:15
Course Overview
This course focuses on the history of the essay from Montaigne to the present.
We will also explore ways in which the essay has been employed outside the traditional
form, and the ways in which supposedly non-traditional writers, such as Dave Eggers, are
very much in keeping with the tradition. Assignments will include exercises, original
creative prose, extensive reading, and short response papers.
Books:
The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
The Complete Essays of Montaigne Translated by Donald Frame
Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Requirements:
1. A series of short reaction pieces. These will come in several flavors: 1. Pre-assigned
questions on the reading (see week one). 2. Questions about the reading to be completed
in class (not quizzes, though they may feel like them.) 3. Creative responses (such as
imitations.)
These are short (2 double spaced pages tops) and are meant to get you thinking
about the reading so we can have a lively and engaged class. Therefore:
2. The main requirement of the class is keeping up with the reading.
3. Instead of a final paper you will be asked to do an oral presentation (20-30 minutes) on
a writer. The dual emphasis of this report should be on how the writer fits in the greater
tradition and on what particular craft techniques the writer uses. In fact, this will be the
emphasis of the class as a whole: getting to know the tradition and seeing what we, as
writers, can steal from it.
Attendance:
Consistent attendance is essential. If you are absent without medical excuse more
than twice, you are eligible to be officially excluded and failed.
Grading:
50%--Completion of Responses, Reading, Exercises.
25%--Class participation.
25%--Oral Report
Reading:
August 21
Introduction to Course
FOR NEXT CLASS PLEASE READ:
Two Introductions.
* Lopate's Introduction in The Art of the Personal Essay. (Feel free to stop at the section
called "The Rationale and Argument of This Book.")
* Dave Egger's preface to Staggering. Read through the Roman numerals before the text
(up to the drawing of the stapler).
Also please complete the first short response paper. Describe the way in which Egger's
intro is--and is not--part of the tradition that Lopate describes. Or, to put it another way,
how is his writing new, and how is it traditional?
August 28
STARTING AT THE END.
FOR NEXT CLASS PLEASE READ EGGERS THROUGH PAGE 103.
SEPT 4
FOR NEXT CLASS:
EGGERS PG.279
SEPT 11
FOR NEXT CLASS:
EGGERS THROUGH END. (INCLUDING "MISTAKES WE KNEW WE WERE
MAKING" [FLIP THE BOOK OVER])
SEPT 18
BACK TO THE SOURCE.
MONTAIGNE INTRODUCTION BY DONALD FRAME IN COMPLETE ESSAYS.
39. "OF SOLITUDE" PG 174
"OF BOOKS" PG.296.
SEPT 25--MONTAIGNE ESSAYS TBA.
OCT 2
LOPATE TBA. THE ENGLISH TRADITION.
OCT 9 NO CLASS. FALL VACATION.
OCT 16--LOPATE TBA. THE ENGLISH TRADITION.
OCT 23--LOPATE TBA. OTHER CULTURES, OTHER CONTINENTS.
OCT 30--LOPATE TBA. THE AMERICAN SCENE.
NOV 6--LOPATE TBA. THE AMERICAN SCENE.
NOV 13.--DIDION
NOV 20.--FINISH DIDION.
NOV 27. NO CLASS. THANKSGIVING.
DEC 4. LAST CLASS.
David Gessner
CRW 550-003 (43308) CREATIVE NONFICTION
Office Hours: Mon 9-10, Wed 5-6:15, Thurs 5-6:15
E-mail: Gessnerdm@uncw.edu
ALL NEW REVISED SYLLABUS
This workshop focuses on writing creative nonfiction, a genre which includes and
combines the personal essay, memoir, new journalism, nature writing, and the literature
of place.
Books:
The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick
The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate
This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
Patrimony by Philip Roth
Requirements:
1. Two completed nonfiction pieces, one of which will have been substantially revised by
the end of the term. A cover letter detailing the process of revision should accompany
the final revised piece.
2. Throughout the term we will have occasional writing exercises and short (1 pg.)
written responses to the reading. At the end of the term you will hand in a list of
exercises/responses completed along with your cover letter.
ADD IF YOU MISS CLASS GET ASSIGNMENT....
Attendance:
Consistent attendance is STILL essential. If you are absent without medical
excuse more than twice, you are eligible to be officially excluded and failed.
The class is primarily a workshop. Due to this, and the need to get an intelligent,
thoughtful dialogue going, I will ask that for each piece you read, you give me a copy of
the comments that you give to the piece's author.
Grading:
25%--Completion of response pieces, critiques, exercises.
25%--Class participation.
50%--Final essay. Based on both quality and sweat.
Reading:
August 20
Introduction
Autobiographical writing exercise
For next Class please read:
* Scott Russell Sanders, "Under the Influence." p 733 in Lopate
* Joan Didion "Goodbye to All That." 681 in Lopate.
August 27
* Lopate's Introduction in The Art of the Personal Essay.
* Richard Rodriguez "Late Victorians." p 756 in Lopate.
September 3
* Read The Situation and the Story through page 42.
* This includes an analysis of "In Bed" by Joan Didion so please also read this short (3
page) essay that begins on page 689 of Lopate.
Sept 10
* Gornick 42-52
* Hoagland's "The Courage of Turtles." Pg 657 in Lopate.
* Harry Crews handout. "Why I Live Where I Live."
Sept 17
* Gornick 52-77
* Ginzburg's "He and I" in Lopate. Pg 423.
Sept 24
* Gornick 77-89
* Baldwin "Notes of a Native Son." Pg 587.
October 1
* Gornick 89-128
October 8
* Finish Gornick
October 15
* Read This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff--through page 85.
October 22
Wolff--through 178.
Craft Exercise.
October 29
Finish Wolff.
November 5
Patrimony by Philip Roth--through page 65.
Nov 12
Roth through 149.
Nov 19
Finish Roth.
Nov 26
NO CLASS THANKSGIVING VACATION
Dec 3
Last Class
Dec 10
Final Projects Due.
David Gessner
HARVARD SUMMER SCHOOL
BEGINNING CREATIVE NONFICTION
SEVER 212
If you haven't had a chance to talk to me yet, let's plan a meeting. Send me an email at Gessner52@hotmail.com
NEXT READING
For Thursday July 24:
Read "Late Victorians" by Richard Rodriguez, pg 771 in Lopate.
Consider how Rodriguez uses the mosaic technique to build up momentum toward the
end of the piece. What are the advantages of jumping around? The disadvantages? How
does he get across what he wants to say without saying it directly?
For Tuesday July 29:
Read "He and I" by Natalia Ginzburg, pg 423 in Lopate.
Exercise:
Write about a person who was or is important to you in the same style that Ginzburg uses
in "He and I." Try making it more than a mere list by selecting the particulars you
choose to reveal.
MONDAY JULY 28: DENNIS LEHANE, AUTHOR OF MYSTIC RIVER, READING
AT 6 PM. THOMPSON ROOM. BARKER CENTER.
1¾___«________ïÖ__ò_ô_ô_÷_____C:\WORD\NORMAL.STY___________________
_______________________________HPDJ__________________________* Scott
Russell Sanders, "Under the Influence." p 733 in Lopate
IMITATION EXERCISE
Re-read a paragraph of two of the Scott Sanders essay. Then, re-read it again.
Let yourself absorb the rhythm of the sentences, the variety, the use of transitions or nontransitions. Without further thought, write a paragraph or two (or more) in the voice of
the passage, propelled by the active verbs. Over-do it at first if you like. You can always
pare back later. "Excess is preferable to deficiency."--Samuel Johnson. Don't worry
about copying, plagiarizing, anything....just write. Try to write in the rhythm of the
writer. If it makes it easier, copy the sentence variety and, to some degree, the subject
matter: "My Aunt smoked pot...."
Later, if you like you can set to tearing it apart the piece you imitated. What
makes it distinct? Voice? If so, how would you categorize that voice? What elements is
it made up of? What about other strengths? The characters? The way info presented?
Details? The sentence variety and pacing? Read it through a few times with pen in hand
and really try to determine where it's strength comes from.
Gessner
Forms
October 30, 2003
Reading for Next Week:
Other Continents, Other Cultures
Natalia Ginzburg p423 "He and I" in Lopate
Carlos Fuentes p432 "How I Started to Write."
Wole Soyinka p454 "Why Do I Fast?"
Creative Exercise (Due Next Week):
Write about a person who was or is important to you in roughly the same style
that Ginzburg uses in "He and I." It can be a significant other, but can also be mother,
father, brother, sister, friend. Try making it more than a mere list by selecting the
particulars you choose to reveal. As usual, try to be as (brutally) honest as possible. But
also note Ginzberg's almost scientific distance.
*MAKE COPIES OF NEW SYLLABI
THE EXERCISES WILL WORK. PORTRAIT AND BOOK PROPOSAL.
Workshop Class 2
WE WILL HAVE SOME EXERCISES. ENOUGH PEOPLE CAME UP TO ME
AND SAID THEY ARE HELPFULL. I WOULD IMAGINE THEY WILL TAKE UP
TWENTY MINUTES, HALF HOUR, TOPS IF YOU ARE JUST DOING THEM TO
DO THEM. AND IF THEY GO THEN GO WITH THEM. THEIR PURPOSE IS TO
GET YOU WRITING...AND MAYBE, FOR THOSE WITH SET PROJECTS, TO GET
YOU GOING INTO NEW AREAS.
WE WILL DO A COUPLE TODAY SINCE THERE SHOULD BE TIME.
1. WRITE A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE DIFFERENT WAYS THAT SANDERS
AND DIDION AND SANDERS USE VERBS AND TENSE. HOW DO THEY USE
VERBS TO CREATE PACE? HOW DO THEY USE TENSE TO MOVE THROUGH
TIME?
IMITATION EXERCISE
Re-read a paragraph of two of the Scott Sanders essay. Then, re-read it again.
Let yourself absorb the rhythm of the sentences, the variety, the use of transitions or nontransitions. Without further thought, write a paragraph or two (or more) in the voice of
the passage, propelled by the active verbs. Over-do it at first if you like. You can always
pare back later. "Excess is preferable to deficiency."--Samuel Johnson. Don't worry
about copying, plagiarizing, anything....just write. Try to write in the rhythm of the
writer. If it makes it easier, copy the sentence variety and, to some degree, the subject
matter: "My Aunt smoked pot...."
Later, if you like you can set to tearing it apart the piece you imitated. What
makes it distinct? Voice? If so, how would you categorize that voice? What elements is
it made up of? What about other strengths? The characters? The way info presented?
Details? The sentence variety and pacing? Read it through a few times with pen in hand
and really try to determine where it's strength comes from.
MEMORY AS SCENE
Try to write about a memory that is important to you. It could be an important
emotional event in your life or just something that stuck. Don't worry so much about
getting the memory exactly right. Write honestly and simply and try to make it a scene.
Slow it down. Draw it out. Show us something happening detail by detail. Don't rush or
overfill the sentences. Use dialogue and action verbs and don't spend any time telling us
what things "mean."
Write the memory in the past tense. Read the first short chapter in Tobias Wolff
as an example. Tell it plainly, without frills, and let the material carry it a la Wolff. Try
not to color it too much as the narrator. Take it one thing at a time: practice endurance
with the scene. Don't give up on it.
COMBINING PLACE AND MEMORY SCENE
Return to the details you dredged up about a particular place and now use those
details. Have the first-person narrator (you) walk into that place in the present tense. ("I
walk...I see two pear trees...etc.) Then have that place prompt the memory that was our
first exercise. This will feel awkward and unnatural at first, and may also come out that
way on the page, but forge ahead. Go into that past tense memory and then re-emerge
into the present and the place. Play with the transitions and see how you can give it a
"natural" feel, despite the obvious artificiality.
FORMS CLASS TWO
An exercise. How to parody and not parody at the same time. He has a serious
agenda. What is it? How does he put it ofrth. "Silly ha ha and therefore does not need to
be take serioulsy."
Take a genre or better yet a specific trapping of a genre and mock it but at the
same time try and get something serious across.....
FIND AN EXERCISE FOR THIS CLASS.
LOPATE INTRODUCTION NOTES
1. intimacy. "The hallmark of the personal essay is its intimacy."
2. unity to human experience. "every man has within himself the entire human
condition." by talking about himself he is, to some degree, talking to all of us.
3. personal element--"an open drive toward candor and self-disclosure.'
I. The Conversational Element
1. The mind works by contradcition. Dialogues and dispute with ourslves.
(eggers seems to be in a battle, even in the intro
about the value about what he is doing. He is
alternately defensive, self-mocking, earnest, angry.)
Anticipating the reader's doubts. Pre-emptive strikes.
conversational style to establish intimacy with author.
II. Honesty, Confession, Privacy
Honesty but also a basic skepticism about the possibility of honesty.
Eggers blurting stuff out but then questioning his own motives. Winning sypathy-movie of the week, etc...
Baring a mask...but how much of this can we actually do?
Again a technique of