Fiction Workshop
AS.490.660.01
“…you always have this image of the perfect thing which you can never achieve, but which you
never stop trying to achieve. But I think… that's your signpost and your guide. You'll never get
there, but without it you won't get anywhere.” –Cormac McCarthy
“I am not afraid that the book will be controversial, I'm afraid it will not be controversial.” |
“I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.” –Flannery
O’Connor
“For me, a work of fiction exists only insofar as it affords me what I shall bluntly call aesthetic
bliss.” –Vladimir Nabokov
Summer 2014 | Tuesday 6:00-9:00 PM
Baltimore, MD
Hodson 216
Rae Bryant
Office Hours: Tuesdays 5-6 by appointment
301-514-2380 (cell & text)
rae@raebryant.com, raebryant@jhu.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND GOALS
This course concentrates on intensive writing and revision, with some required reading. Students will submit three
new short stories or novel chapters (never before submitted to a workshop) to their instructor and to their peers for
regular critiques. The third submission may be a revised version of one of the two earlier submitted stories. Students
will also complete a few craft exercises. Workshop participants also must submit detailed critiques of their fellow
students' writing.
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To provide critical feedback on stories or chapters you are currently writing so you can revise them and make
them as strong as they can be;
To help you further strengthen your knowledge of the short story form and novel form, and to provide you with
the environment to better understand your individual voice so you can apply this to future storytelling;
To help you learn and improve on the techniques of fiction—traditional forms with a taste of innovative
forms—so that you are aware of your preferred forms and boundaries and consider how you might push your
preferred forms into your best storytelling.
TEXTS AND MATERIALS
Required materials…
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Hardcopies of assigned
workshop stories and critiques
Instructor-provided handouts
Internet Access
MS Word
Johns Hopkins Email account
set up and functioning
Suggested materials…
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Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
The Complete Stories, Flannery
O’Connor
Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson
The Vintage Book of
Contemporary American Short
Stories, ed. Tobias Wolff
Collected Stories, Gabriel
García Márquez
The Collected Stories of Lydia
Davis
Native Son by Richard Wright
DIAGRAM, Conjunctions
Writing Fiction: A Guide to
Narrative Craft / Edition 8 by
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Janet Burroway, Elizabeth
Stuckey-French, Ned StuckeyFrench
Writing the Other by Nisi
Shawl and Cynthia Ward
Woe is I: The Grammarphobe’s
Guide to Better English in Plan
English: Third Edition, Patricia
T. O’Conner
Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The
Zero Tolerance Approach to
Punctuation, Lynne Truss
R. Bryant/Fiction Workshop Summer 2013/2
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND METHODS
All students should arrive to class on time and with all assignments completed. Students are expected to engage with
discussion and feedback regarding peer work with thoughtfulness, decency and constructive criticism while
identifying strengths and needs. In addition to general impressions, written feedback and class discussions should
also identify specific and detailed areas in each work, citing page numbers and sections. Students should be prepared
to read short excerpts of their submitted stories in class. Students should also be prepared to engage with innovative
forms as exploratory and risk-taking creative writing exercises. Students will be assessed on innovative explorations
holistically, completion-based as opposed to end product.
NOTE: We will have one or more remote students in our course this semester. To accommodate our remote
student(s), we will be using an online and MS Word track changes format in addition to our on-campus format.
For students who are unfamiliar with MS Word track changes and online workshop format, this will be helpful,
as you will encounter this form of editorial interaction with editors who are publishing your stories.
GRADING
Grading is holistic and takes into account both your performance in the classroom portions of the course and the
quality of your writing submissions. The goal is to focus on performance and writing, without fear of taking risks.
Hard work, courage, and seriousness of purpose are valued highly. Attention to submission format is important as it
is an important attribute of being a conscientious and professional writer, author and submitter. Editors will not
thank you for disregarding submission format.
ABSENCES
Attendance matters and will be recorded. Students who are absent are expected to contact the instructor prior to the
absence, and with instructor approval, will be required to submit the assignment or assignments upon return to class.
Students are expected to contact fellow students and/or instructor for missed assignments. Missed classes,
assignments and tardiness may negatively affect your grade.
WORKSHOP PROCEDURES
Our goals in the workshop are to be honest, constructive and open to taking risks so to improve our crafts. This will
require time, patience, thought and courage. What you say and how you say it are both important. How you receive
constructive criticism is important. The writer who is merely looking for confirmation of craft will find the fiction
workshop to be of little benefit.
Each student will sign up for three workshop spots. A week before each date, students will bring to class a hardcopy
of the work for each person (students and instructor) as well as uploading a digital copy to the online portal.
(Remote students will engage with the class through our online portal and workshop forums at
www.eckleburgworkshops.com). The draft must be a combined fifteen pages and can be up to twenty pages. It must
be typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman font, 12 point, one-inch margins and proper heading, as given in this
syllabus. This is the universal submission format used by editors at both independent presses and big house
publishing companies. Please see the attached format and follow it closely. The only time you should derivate from
this format is if an editor requests a particular submission format. Your third submission may be a new submission
or a revision of one of the two pieces already submitted.
When responding to peer work, read each piece at least twice. Make brief marginal comments. On a separate piece
of paper, write or type a note addressed to the writer, in which you discuss at least three things that are working in
the piece and three things that could be improved. You may address more than three things if you wish. Be specific,
detailed and give page numbers. “Your language is really nice” or “This character doesn’t work” are too general.
Give detailed examples as to why you had the reactions you did. Remember this is a reader’s response. You are one
reader. There are many aesthetics, styles and reader preferences just as valuable as your own.
Sign your name to your Reader’s Response and make TWO copies. Attach one copy to the original draft, which you
will return to the writer at the end of that workshop session. The second copy, you will submit to me, the instructor.
On this copy, type or handwrite an additional note on how the experience of reading and responding critically to the
piece has affected you and your own writing. This note need not be more than a few sentences or a paragraph but
should be detailed.
FOR INSTANCE
Too general: “The characterization in this piece made me think more on my own characterizations.”
R. Bryant/Fiction Workshop Summer 2013/3
A good detailed reaction: “The writer gave vivid detail about the protagonist. Instead of the usual hair and eye
color, the writer focused on the protagonist’s hands, the length of the fingers, the lines and a scar. This gave me
a more intimate view of the character and made me think the hands would be important later in the narrative,
which was exactly the case. I will be more sensitive to finding intimate and active details when describing my
characters in the future.”
REMOTE ACCESS & ONLINE VENUES
The helpful aspect of participating in a course that is run partially online is that it will teach you the more common
form of editorial practices used today. Though some editors and agents, including my own, still prefer to deliver
manuscript edits via snail mail, they will also use digitally delivered responses in the form of MS Word track
changes, too. Most, if not all, editors of online journals and indie print journals prefer to offer edits in the form of
MS Word track changes.
Learning MS Word track changes, this valuable and easy form of giving and receiving editorial feedback, is a vital
skill for all writing students who wish to become professionally published authors. Likewise, it is vital to learn MS
Word track changes and online editorial feedback if you wish to become an editor at any point in your writing
career. Editing for a publication that reflects your artistic aesthetics is one of the best avenues toward familiarizing
ourselves with the writing markets in which we wish to be published, as well as, building our networks and
connections.
TO SET UP YOUR ONLINE ACCESS
1. Go to http://eckleburgworkshops.com/course/jhu-fiction-workshop-summer-2014/
2. Click the blue TAKE THIS COURSE button below the course description
3. Complete the Registration page by adding your username, email and password and typing the secret key in
the box. Make sure you remember your username and password. Write it down. If you have a smartphone,
there are many excellent password keepers. The one I use and like very much is an app called “1Password.”
4. Once you have completed your registration, please click on the blue MY PROFILE button and complete
your profile information. Add a headshot photo. This is very important. Our remote student(s) will be able
to interact more easily and feel better involved with our on-campus group if the faces and information of
our students are present.
5. After you’ve completed your profile, you may explore the course page tabs, Welcome, Syllabus and Tech,
as well as view our first week’s lesson, “The Character Arc: Antagonist.” Each week a new lesson will post
to this course page. From these course pages, on-campus students will be able to access our lesson
information, intros, etc. and interact with our remote student(s).
FORUMS
All workshop stories—each week, whether we are meeting on-campus or online—must be uploaded to the forum
(accessible by link through each online lesson) in MS Word .doc or .docx format so that our remote student(s) can
access and provide feedback, as well as, deliver their remote stories to the on-campus group. Using the forums will
be easier and more organized than email, and the instructor will be able to better monitor and make sure the stories
are being exchanged each week in an appropriate and timely manner. Guidelines for uploading stories and uploading
feedback to the FORUMS will be provided both online, as part of each lesson. We will also review this in class.
TRACK CHANGES
We will be reviewing track changes in class. Because there are different tabs and clicks depending on which system
you are using—i.e. IBM vs. Mac—and different click progressions depending on your version of MS Word, please
access the MS Word Support site for specific guidelines regarding your particular system and MS Word version:
http://office.microsoft.com. Remote students, who are not familiar with MS Word track changes, should resource
this site and contact the instructor directly with any questions and needed clarifications.
ASKING FOR HELP WHEN DIGITAL AND ONLINE VENUES ARE NEW TO YOU
There is a common avoidance practice amongst individuals who are new to digital and online venues. Please do not
hesitate to contact the instructor with questions if you have trouble accessing online courses, lessons, forums, etc. or
are having difficulty familiarizing yourself with MS Word track changes. If online formats are new to you, you may
find you will benefit from a little focused help. This is unfamiliarity is not a weakness. It is simply new to you. Do
not hesitate to ask for this help. Asking for help, in a timely manner, is not an issue and asking for help will not
negatively affect your grade in this course. Procrastinating in seeking needed help can result in frustration, and if the
avoidance in asking for help is ongoing, it can then present as a performance issue. At this stage, your performance
R. Bryant/Fiction Workshop Summer 2013/4
and grade could be affected. The current authorial and editorial markets require writers who are comfortable with
autonomous and deductive learning, as well as, knowing how and when to ask their superiors for assistance. Again,
do not hesitate to ask for help with digital and online questions. I’m very happy to review, again, any steps, as well
as, clarify any information.
EMAIL
Email is essential to our course. Please make sure you are providing the email that is the most consistent and usable
email. Changing emails mid-course is neither preferred nor suggested. Johns Hopkins requires that your JHU email
be active during the semester due to weather and campus information. If you choose to use your JHU email as your
point of contact for this course, make sure you are checking it regularly and/or have it forwarded to your regular
email.
TO USE HOPKINS EMAIL (FROM JHU IT)
Access the Johns Hopkins portal at either:
my.JHU.edu
my.johnshopkins.edu
If you do not know your LOGIN ID, go to the search box in the upper right corner of the screen and type in
your name. The search will give you your LOGIN ID along with other information.
If you know your LOGIN ID but not your password, click “New visitor?” This will allow you to create a new
password.
If you know your LOGIN ID and password, click LOGIN
Be sure to save your LOGIN ID and your password where you can access them again.
To have your JHU email forwarded to another account:
Access the Johns Hopkins portal
LOGIN
Click on the tab that says “myJHED”
Under the different applications available, click on “Email Alias”
Accept the policy form
You will be taken to a screen with options to create an alias and to forward your email to another account.
If you use the email forwarding option, PLEASE note that if a forwarded-from-JHU email comes to you at a
non-JHU address and you reply to it, your email that appears in the reply will not the your JHU address but the
address from which you replied. Please try to avoid this happening, as it again gives the indication that you’re
using a non-Hopkins email address.
R. Bryant/Fiction Workshop Summer 2013/5
Schedule
Please note that the syllabus is subject to change with notification by instructor. Required reading may be assigned
and due in addition to workshop pieces. Workshop sessions will run as follows: 20 minutes for hellos, distributing of
stories, reader responses and other paperwork and short intro; 40 minutes for 1st response session, 20 minutes for
bathroom/dinner break, 40 minutes for 2nd response session, 40 minutes for 3rd response session, 20 minutes for
overtime and follow up. Workshop sessions not used will be filled with craft exercises. We will have one or more
remote students signed up in our class this semester. For this reason, we will be using an online lesson and MS Word
track changes format in addition to our on-campus format.
JUNE 3
FIRST CLASS | Introductions, Syllabus, Online Course Portal, MS Word Track Changes, Schedule
Sessions, Making Your Antagonist Work Hard in Your Story
JUNE 10
The Antagonist and the Protagonist
JUNE 17
ONLINE
Emily Turner
JUNE 24
JULY 1
4th of July Holiday
JULY 8
JULY 15
ONLINE
Emily Turner
JULY 22
JULY 29
AUGUST 5
ONLINE
Emily Turner
AUGUST 12
AUGUST 19
LAST CLASS
R. Bryant/Fiction Workshop Summer 2013/6
Rae Bryant
205 North Pointe Terrace
Middletown, MD 21769
301-514-2380
raebryant@jhu.edu
5,000 words
A Story about a Visceral Truth
by Rae Bryant
My story will not flinch. My story will not forgive. It will not let you hide behind rosy
splayed fingers or warm glow lenses. My story will make you peer into pieces of yourself you
knew or you thought you knew one day when you forgot to put the toilet seat down or the fist
down or the tongue flapping bad words.
Will you like yourself after reading my story?
No. Most certainly not. But you might find you are less alone.
R. Bryant/A Story about a Visceral Truth/2
The problem with most antagonists is they should have been written as protagonists. The
problem with most protagonists is they are the too polite characters of the world. Give me a
pariah, an irredeemable secret and you will have me forever.
R. Bryant/Fiction Workshop Summer 2013/7
Attendance
NAME
BEST EMAIL
R. Bryant/Fiction Workshop Summer 2013/8
Class Email
Hello Everyone,
I’m looking forward to meeting each of you and working with you this summer. This evening is our first class
session for “Fiction Workshop: AS.490.660 (51).” We’ll be meeting at the Homewood Campus in Hodson, Room
216, from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Our first meeting will include introductions and the syllabus, along with a craft
exercise to start us off. We will determine the workshop schedule, and I will distribute information and materials for
the following week.
PLEASE let me know you’ve received this email by replying, so I know I have the right email addresses for
everyone.
Have a good day, and I’ll see you tonight.
All best,
Rae Bryant
Senior Faculty, M.A. in Writing Program
Editor in Chief, The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review
Curator, The Eckleburg Gallery
Founder, Rue de Fleurus Salon & Reading Series (DC, Balt, NY, Chicago, Cambridge)
The Johns Hopkins University
Author of The Indefinite State of Imaginary Morals (Patasola Press, NY, 2011)
www.jhu.edu
www.thedoctortjeckleburgreview.com
www.raebryant.com
rae@raebryant.com
raebryant@jhu.edu
301-514-2380