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RHET 3110 02
The Writers’ Workshop: Fall 2014
“…your own culture, your own language, your own communality which you shared with your
forebears – is actually shaping the future, too. It's people without a sense of the past who are
alienated and rootless, and they're losers; they lose out.
To make any political statement you first of all have to know who and what you are; what shaped
your life, what is possible and what isn't. That's not nostalgia. That's a kind of grappling with the
past – an ache for it, perhaps sometimes a contempt for it. But the past commingles with everything
you do and everything you project forward.”
(Quoted in Fuller, 1993, p. 23)
Instructor: Kathleen Saville
E-mail: Blackboard
Office: HUSS CP 87
Office Hours: UW 12 – 1:30 pm and by appointment
Course Description This course focuses on the writing and critique of personal narratives,
reflecting students’ places within the larger contexts of family, country and/or region. Students will
learn fundamentals of narrative life writing, understand the crafts of writing and revising, and
consider their life stories in the wider context of cultural theory. Students will also learn and practice
advanced discussion techniques in workshops, when narratives are critiqued by instructor and peers.
(Prerequisite 1020 or equivalent. 3 credit hours.)
Learning Outcomes:
*Analyze and evaluate personal narratives and memoir
*Understand how a cultural context can impact personal narrative
*Identify various rhetorical strategies in narrative: point of view, scene, dialogue, description,
character and voice
*Identify meaningful memories and develop into structured narratives, using rhetorical strategies
*Give constructive feedback to their peers in a workshop situation
*Revise drafts based on teacher and peer feedback
Readings posted to Blackboard:
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (complete pdf file)
The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornack (excerpts to be posted)
Tell It Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction by Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola (excerpts and
exercises)
Writing Memoir by Judith Barrington excerpts to be posted)
“Emily Applies for a Job” by Chelsey Clammer
“On Coming Back as a Buzzard” by Lia Purpura
“The Art of the Memoir No. 1 – An Interview with Mary Karr”
“The 4th State of Matter” by Joanne Beard (example of a braided essay)
*Other materials will be distributed in class or through e-mail. I may also use the on line journal
Brevity.
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The Course: Welcome to The Writer’s Workshop!
I hope you enjoy writing creatively and taking chances with form. This semester’s Writer’s
Workshop: Writing Life Stories will focus on different personal essay forms to present your best
life stories. We will experiment with the narrative essay, hermit crab essay and braided essay. This
may be more challenging and difficult than it might first appear: good writing requires a great deal of
planning, reflection and revision. You can’t skimp on the writing process. However, in the process
of writing you will discover how you have been transformed and changed by your experiences.
We will do in-class and out-of-class exercises which will help you to discover topics for your essays.
The exercises are important. Just as musicians must practice their scales, so must writers practice
their prose writing.
We will also be reading narratives of published writers and discuss these narratives in terms of
technique and elements of life stories writing. We’ll ask questions like: How did the writer use
dialogue, detail, and scene? The readings should also provoke you to think about your own life.
It is important that you read the assigned narratives, do the homework and participate in the class
activities because they are all part of the writing process.
Writer’s Workshop: Writing Life Stories is also about reading and critiquing your peers’ essays in
a workshop. In a workshop, the writer listens to a critique of her/his work without defending their
work. You will be working in groups of 4 – 5 students with each of the 4 essays that you will write
this semester. You will submit a formal, typed page of each essay you critique to me and to the
student writer. I will give you a guided handout on how to write a critique.
When these small workshops are finished, we will take time to listen to students who would like to
read short excerpts of their writing to the whole class. This part of the class is called “Open Mic”
and everyone is invited to share their writing.
Evaluation
Assignment
1
Short
Exercises
2
Narrative 1
3
Narrative 2
Description
Throughout the semester, students will do a number of short
in and out-of-class exercises. Failure to submit these
exercises will result in a lowered grade. I may not give
lettered grades on each exercise, but they must be
completed.
Topic: Your role in the family
Form: narrative essay
Focus: Description
Word Count: 750 words
Focus: Any topic you wish. To brainstorm, first write a list
of 5 topics that you’ve been avoiding and choose one for
your essay.
Percentage
of Grade
10%
15%
15%
3
Form: Hermit Crab Essay
Focus: Scene
Suggestions: A weather report, a to-do list, a public service
announcement, a police report, a set of dictionary entries, an
eviction notice, an interoffice memo, a restaurant menu,
nutrition facts, scientific observations, a love letter, a book
dedication
Example: “Emily Applies for a Job” by Chelsey Clammer
http://thedoctortjeckleburgreview.com/2013/04/09/essaysemily-applies-for-a-job/
Resource:
http://thedoctortjeckleburgreview.com/2014/01/21/craftessay-from-the-shell-exploring-the-hermit-crab-essay/
Narrative 3
4
Narrative 4
5
Workshop
Critiques
Word Count: 750 – 1000 max.
Topic: Your choice
Form: braided essay:
Focus: setting, voice, dialogue
Word Count: 1000 - 1200
Topic: Your choice
Form: Your choice
Focus: Time
Example:
“On Coming Back as a Buzzard” by Lia Purpura
http://www.orionmagazine.org
/index.php/articles/article/4939/
Word Count: 1200 – 1500
For every story that is workshopped in groups of 4, students
must submit a 500-word critique, discussing in detail the
strengths and weaknesses of the story.
20%
20%
10%
*A copy of this critique must be submitted to the students in
their groups and to me. The work will be counted late if it is
not submitted on the day of the workshop. (10 points off for
every day the paper is late.) The purpose of the critique is for
you to think and reflect on the student’s essay. You never
know who will give you the most insightful feedback on your
story.
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Participation:
(Attendance,
Punctuality,
Mobiles and
Attitude)
Pay special attention to this because it can raise or lower your
grade. Every semester students are shocked to learn that teachers
take the following into consideration at the end of the semester.
Here is what I consider when I calculate your participation grade:
Attendance: Your daily attendance in the class is required. This
means, coming prepared to class ready to either write or
10%
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participate in a discussion. You must bring the readings and stories
with you to class. Punctuality: I will take attendance at the
beginning of the class. If you are ten minutes late, I will mark you
for ½ absence absent. If you are late for 30 minutes, you are
absent for the class. It is disruptive for students to come in late.
Mobile phones: Your phone should be on silent. If you keep
texting during the class, I will either take your phone away or ask
you to leave the class. Leaving the classroom: Students should
be prepared to stay in the classroom the entire time. If you leave
without permission, you can be counted absent. Impoliteness or
a rude attitude: Students should treat their teachers and other
students with respect. Students should not talk when others are
talking or act insensitively toward others. Students should critique
other students’ essays in the same way that they would like to be
treated.
In addition:
Conferences: I am available on Sunday and Wednesday to meet with you about your stories or
about ideas you might want to discuss with me. If you make an appointment, let me know via
Blackboard if you must cancel or will be late.
Deadlines and Late Work : For the class to function successfully as a workshop, students must
submit their essays on time so that the teacher and other students have time to read the essay. It is
your responsibility to e-mail your essay to other students a week before the workshop. * You need
to bring me a hard copy for me. If you are late, your essay will be marked down 10 points for every
day. *You will also be marked down for participation. If you fail to show up on the day that your
essay is being discussed, you will be given a zero for the essay.
Important University Policies:
Please see our Blackboard course site for the following policies that apply to all students:
-Attendance & Tardiness
-Work During Absence
-Writing Center
-Student with Special Needs or Concerns
-Academic Integrity and Turnitin
-IRB
-Drop Policies
-Contingency Plan
Academic Grievance
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RHET 3110 Tentative Schedule:
Week
Week
1
Sept. 7
& 10
Week
2
Sept.
14 &
17
Topic
Introduction to the Course. Early
Memories. Finding your story.
Readings Due
Getting Started: Writing the
Family. Permission to Speak.
Bearing Witness.
READ “The Art of the Memoir No. 1 – An
Interview with Mary Karr”
http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5992/theart-of-memoir-no-1-mary-karr
Week
3
Sept.
21 &
24
Point-of-View. How do we write
about ourselves? Our Historical,
Universal Selves. Ourselves at a
particular place in history. The
narrative essay.
Week
4
Sept.
28 &
Oct. 1
Week
5
Hand out First Assignment &
critique guidelines
Writing About Family & Visual
Cues
How to Critique an Essay.
Giving Constructive Feedback.
Finding your voice.
The Bigger Story Inside Your
Experience. Who are the other
important characters in my story?
Developing Characters.
Oct. 8
*EID:
Oct. 3
-7
Week Telling Your Story & the Hermit
6
Crab Essay
Oct. 12
& 15
Week Scene, Story, Detail
7
Oct. 19
& 22
Week
8
Oct.
Location and Landscape
Link also on Blackboard
READ “What is Memoir?” from Writing the Memoir by
Judith Barrington. Posted on Blackboard.
Jeanette Walls – You Tube on writing The Glass Castle
Day 1 – READ pp. 3 – 19 The Glass Castle. pdf for
entire book posted on Blackboard, Critique
Guidelines
Day 2 – Workshops – Essay # 1 D1
READ pp. 19 – 47 The Glass Castle
DUE: Essay # 1 Final Draft (Oct. 8)
Character exercise @ The Glass Castle – to be done
over holidays
Day 1 - READ pp. 47 – 65 The Glass Castle,
“Emily Applies for a Job” by Chelsey Clammer Link
on Blackboard
Day 2 - The Hermit Crab essay
Day 1 –Essay # 2 D1 - Workshops
Day 2 – READ pp. 65 – 97 The Glass Castle
Day 1 & 2 - READ pp. 97 – 103 The Glass Castle
DUE: Day 2 - Essay # 2 Final Draft
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26 &
29
Week
9
Nov. 2
&5
Time & the Braided Essay
Day 1 & 2 - READ pp. 103 – 124 The Glass Castle
“The Forth State of Matter” by Joanne Beard (posted
on Blackboard also link given above)
Week
10
Nov. 9
& 12
Week
11
Week
12
Week
13
Voice
Day 1 – READ pp. 124 – 144 The Glass Castle
Suspense and plot. How do I
create tension in my narrative? ?
DAY 1 - Essay #4 D 1 Workshops
Week
14
How to Listen to Feedback and
Take Criticism. The Importance
of the Revision Process. How to
revise.
DUE Essay # 4 2nd draft (Day 2)
Week
15
Sharing my finished story. How
do I find an audience for my
work?
DUE December 18 Essay 4 FINAL with portfolio
(Classes end Dec. 14)
Day 2: Essay # 3 D1 Workshops
Day 1 & 2 READ pp. 144 – 181 The Glass Castle
DUE: Day 1 Essay # 3 D2
DAY 1 DUE Essay # 3 final
Portfolios due DECEMBER 18 (Thursday). All exercises completed during the semester, 4
essays & 1 reflective end-of-course essay