CREATIVE NONFICTION
English 191 Stanford University
Sarah Frisch, sfrisch@stanford.edu
Office 430, Margaret Jacks Hall (Building 460)
“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” - Anaïs Nin
“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have
a dozen.” - John Steinbeck
In English 191, we’ll explore creative nonfiction in its various forms, including memoir, lyric
essay, and literary journalism. The class is designed to foster creative risk-taking and artistic
growth within a supportive community of fellow writers. Assignments are geared toward
encouraging experimentation with a range of form, style, and subject matter. During the quarter,
you’ll write and workshop three essays (two short, one long). We’ll also read essays with a range
of voices, styles, and structures, and examine how writers create vivid nonfiction prose using
diverse techniques, including those commonly found in fiction. As always, the writing workshop
is an essential part of the course, and students are expected to actively read and discuss each
other’s work.
Texts and Materials:
 Class Reader (available for purchase in class. Estimated price, $45)
 A journal or notebook for note-taking.
 A budget for making multiple copies of your work for workshops.
Course Requirements:
Class Participation (45%)
The success of a writing workshop depends, above all else, on student participation. Your peers
will be looking to you to engage with them in class and read and discuss their work with
thoughtfulness and generosity. Your participation grade will be based on the following criteria:
1) Attend all classes and arrive on time. 2) Speak up in class discussions. 3) Complete
readings and turn in all writing assignments and projects 4) Write thoughtful response
letters to other students and make comments in the margins of their manuscripts. 5) Help
create a supportive, thoughtful environment for sharing work. 6) Post responses to
Creative Writing events on the class blog.
Creative Work (45%)
Assignments for the quarter include two short essays (2-4 pp.) and a larger nonfiction project
(10-15 pp.). Revisions of the final essay and one of the short essays are due at the end of the
quarter. Your grade depends on your ability to complete all your creative work on-time and with
real thought and energy. I’d like you to push yourself to take artistic risks, and therefor I do not
grade on creative quality
Readings Attendance (10%)
Attend 3 readings in the Creative Writing Program (poetry, fiction, or nonfiction) and post a
brief response to each on the class blog.
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CLASSWORK
Writing Assignments:
The course requires two short essays (2-4 pp.) and a quarter project (10-15 pp.). You will be
asked to write each essay in a different form:
 an inward investigation (memoir, meditation)
 an outward investigation (personal reportage, experiment)
 an essay where you invent or play around with form (lyric essay, invented or hybrid
forms, etc.)
You may choose how you order these assignments. (For instance, you can reserve the memoir or
personal essay for your long essay.) You’ll need to bring copies of all your essays for your peers
to workshop, so please budget for the expense. We’ll discuss the guidelines for these
assignments in more in detail in class.
Reading Assignments:
We will read a wide variety of essays over the quarter, including personal essays, meditations,
lyric essays, and personal and literary reportage. We will be discussing reading assignments in
class and on the class blog.
Program Readings:
A list of Creative Writing events can be found at http://creativewriting.stanford.edu and
http://events.stanford.edu/. You can also attend a Poet’s House or Art of Writing workshop in
lieu of one of the readings. You’ll need to post a one-paragraph response to program readings on
the class blog.
Blog:
We’ll be posting some of the work for class on our class blog, including responses to program
readings. I’ll email you an invite to the blog after the first class, and we’ll discuss the blog in
more detail after the first week.
Final Portfolio:
Your final portfolio is due at the end of the quarter and includes revisions of your quarter project
and one of your shorter essays, as well as a reflection letter. Revisions are major overhauls of
your essays using the feedback you’ve received in class.
POLICIES
Attendance Policy:
Consistent, on-time attendance is essential for the success of our workshop. One or two absences
will affect your participation grade, and every absence beyond this will lower your final grade by
a third. Students with five absences will be asked to leave the course. Every incidence of lateness
beyond the first two will count as half an absence. If you miss a class you are responsible for
obtaining and completing the work that was assigned that day before the next class. If you end up
missing class because of illness or personal problems, please talk to me.
Late Assignments:
Any assignment (including blog posts) submitted after the due date will receive an automatic
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grade of “C” unless we have made other arrangements prior to the assignment’s deadline.
Formatting:
All manuscripts should be double-spaced in 12 point Time New Roman with
1.25-inch margins. Paragraphs should be formatted for print (i.e. not in web style, but with
each paragraph indented, no line breaks between them). Make sure that anything more than one
page is stapled, and your pages are numbered. Manuscripts may be graded down for poor
formatting.
Laptop Policy:
Laptops are not to be used in class with two exceptions: you may use laptops to complete in
class writing exercises, and you may take notes on your laptop when your work is being
critiqued. All other note-taking should be done by hand.
MISCELANY
Calendar
We will spend the first half of the quarter completing in-class writing exercises, discussing
published readings, and workshopping the first two short assignments in small groups. We will
workshop the long essay as a whole class during the second half of the quarter. During that time,
we’ll also continue to complete writing exercises and discuss the published essay we read. A
detailed calendar will be available on the first day of class.
Office Hours:
I love talking with students individually about their work and look forward to seeing you in
office hours. If my office hours don’t work for you, let me know and we can schedule an
appointment at another time.
Academic Advising:
Academic advising is available throughout the year. Please stop by the Creative Writing office to
learn more about the program or to ask questions or make suggestions. For this quarter's hours
and location, visit http://creativewriting.stanford.edu.
Creative Writing Listserve:
All students will be automatically signed up for the Creative Writing Events Listserve. If you
aren’t receiving CW emails after a week, please go to http://mailman.stanford.edu and join “cwundergrad”.
Students with Documented Disabilities: Students who may need an academic accommodation
based on the impact of a disability must initiate the request with the Office of Accessible
Education (OAE). Professional staff will evaluate the request with required documentation,
recommend reasonable accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty
dated in the current quarter in which the request is being made. Students should contact the OAE
as soon as possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. The OAE is
located at 563 Salvatierra Walk (phone: 723-1066, URL:http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/oae).
The Honor Code: The Honor Code is the University's statement on academic integrity written by
students in 1921. It articulates University expectations of students and faculty in establishing and
maintaining the highest standards in academic work. You can find the full text of the honor code
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at the following link: http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/judicialaffairs/policy/honor-code
Plagiarism: Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, using ideas, information or quotes from
published work or online sources without providing proper citations; copying all or part of an
assignment from someone else; and turning in work you did for other classes.
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