Instructor:
Allie Wollner
wollner.5@osu.edu
Office Hours:
Tues 2:30-4:30 pm
or by appt.
Denney Hall 555
Location/Schedule:
Bolz Hall 0311
Tues/Thurs 12:40-2:00
Introduction to Creative Nonfiction
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Creative nonfiction makes art out of truth. This is a genre that celebrates the inventive
rather than the invented by reaching deep roots into fact, research, interview, and
memory. Creative nonfiction is an exciting genre because it is a shape-shifter that can
assume many forms: memoir, personal essay, feature writing, cultural criticism, profile
writing, lyric essay, literary journalism, travel writing, and food writing, to name a few.
This is also a genre that prompts us to consider questions of ethics. Where does truth
end and imagination begin? What can you claim as “your” story? Through the
investigation of questions like these and the artful presentation of truth, we’ll strive to
create work in which the writer’s voice and consciousness shines off the page.
ABOUT WORKSHOP:
Having one’s art workshopped is a vulnerable process. It asks us to draw deep from our
reserves of empathy, goodwill, and compassion when we critique. In this course, we’ll
endeavor always to be inquisitive, generous, and insightful readers, a skillset that
translates directly into our becoming more inquisitive, generous, and insightful writers.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
-Regular attendance
-Completion of assignments
-Close reading
-Radical revision
TEXTS:
All readings available on Carmen.
-Emotional risk-taking (on the page)
-Empathy
-Active Listening
-Curiosity about yourself & wider world
ASSIGNMENTS:
-Short writing exercises (in class and out)
-One personal essay (1000-2500 words)
-One lyric essay (1000-2500 words)
-One profile (1000-3500 words)
-One “radical” revision of the essay of your choice
-Three workshop reflections (500-800 words)
SUBMISSION FORMAT FOR THREE LONG-FORM ESSAYS
Typed, 12-point font, with your name, numbered pages, !DOUBLE SPACED!, with hard
copies printed for everyone in your workshop group, and copy one submitted to
Carmen.
WHAT IS A WORKSHOP REFLECTION?
A workshop reflection is a short-ish paper/letter in which you will revisit the experience
of having your piece workshopped. This assignment is intended to help you think
through what was helpful, surprising, difficult, and confusing about the workshop
experience. In this assignment, you’ll also assess how well your piece was conveying
your intentions and consider possibilities for revision based on the feedback of your
group members.
YOUR REVISION PIECE
During the course of the semester, you’ll do significant revision on either one of your
three essays, and submit it to me. You can turn in this revision at any time during the
semester up until our last class.
ATTENDANCE:
The ideal is that you attend every class this semester. However, life throws curveballs.
Whether it’s illness, religious observance, ROTC training, family emergency or something
else entirely, the key is communication. In order to be granted an excused absence
from class, please reach out to me at least 24 hours in advance, save in the case of
emergency, to let me know what’s going on. Everyone gets one unexcused absence for
the semester, no questions asked. After three unexplained, non pre-arranged absences
than that, your grade will drop 1/3 of a letter grade.
NOTA BENE: If you’re absent for any reason, please check in with a classmate to find out
what you missed, not me!
GRADES (some thoughts about them):
Assigning grades for creative expression goes against my core beliefs about making art.
As such, none of your essays will come back with a letter grade attached. Instead,
expect line-edits, in-text comments, and a letter in response to the first draft of each of
your three big essays, and a short note observing the changes you’ve made after turning
in the final draft of each. We’ll take two class session during the semester for each
student to have a one-on-one check-in with me about your work, development as a
writer, and anything else you want to discuss. At the end of the day, however, OSU
requires I give you grade. To meet this requirement, I’ll be grading you on effort and
commitment, rather than the quality of your creative expression. See the table below
for my expectations regarding effort and commitment and how different levels of these
two things will correlate with your final grade.
Grade
A
What Do To Do Get It
 Miss no classes beyond the one grace class and other pre-cleared absences
 Complete all assignments on time
 Complete all assignments within word count specifications
 Communicate proactively with me to seek clarification, get help, or arrange extensions
 Actively listen and engage in class
 Thoughtfully critique and empathetically support your classmates’ creative efforts during workshop
sessions
 Engage the process of radical revisions with your three essays
 Invest in your essays—time, effort, research, emotional risk-taking
 Ask good questions—of me about writing and of your fellow classmates about their creative work
 Integration/implementation in your pieces of writerly tools and skill sets we study during the
course of the semester
B
 Miss no classes beyond the one grace class and other pre-cleared absences
 One assignment NOT completed on time
 Complete all assignments within word count specifications
 Sometimes communicate proactively with me to seek clarification, get help, or arrange extensions
 Sometimes engage in class
 Thoughtfully critique and empathetically support your classmates’ creative efforts
 Revise your first drafts, but not substantially
 Integration/implementation in your pieces of SOME writerly tools and skill sets we study during the
course of the semester
 Miss classes beyond the one grace class and other pre-cleared absences
 Turn in more than one assignment late
 Don’t proactively communicate proactively with me to seek clarification, get help, or arrange
extensions
 Critique classmates’ work with more criticism and cutting down than support and compassionate
feedback
 Engage minimally in class
 Make insignificant revisions to rough drafts
 Integrate/implement a FEW writerly tools and skill sets we study during the course of the semester
 Misses MANY classes without making arrangements head of time
 Completes few to no assignments on time
 Doesn’t proactively communicate
 Attacks or tears down classmates’ writing in workshop
 Disengaged in class
 Makes no revisions or has missing revisions
 NO integration/implementation in your pieces of writerly tools and skill sets we study during the
C
D
E
course of the semester
 Complete lack of effort
DISABILITY STATEMENT:
The Office for Disability Services, located in 150 Pomerene Hall, offers services for
students with documented disabilities. Contact the ODS at 2-3307.
PLAGIARISM STATEMENT:
Plagiarism is the representation of another's works or ideas as one's own: it includes the
unacknowledged word for word use and/or paraphrasing of another person's work,
and/or the inappropriate unacknowledged use of another person's ideas. All cases of
suspected plagiarism, in accordance with university rules, will be reported to the
Committee on Academic Misconduct.
SYLLABUS:
All readings are due the day they appear on the syllabus
Thurs Aug 28
ONLINE CLASS
Write post on Carmen Discussion Board
Tues Sept 2
Course Introduction
“Why I Write” by Terry Tempest Williams
“Why I Write” by Joan Didion
Thurs Sept 4
“The Particular Challenges of Creative Nonfiction” by Brenda Miller
Tues Sept 9
“On The Necessity of Turning Oneself Into a Character” by Philip Lopate
Excerpt from The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick
“The Love of My Life” by Cheryl Strayed
“What’s Inside You, Brother” by Touré
Thurs Sept 11
“Picturing the Personal Essay: A Visual Guide” by Tim Bascom
Tues Sept 16
“The Ring of Time” by E.B. White, “Big Boy” by David Sedaris
Thurs Sept 18
PERSONAL ESSAY 1ST DRAFT DUE
Mock workshop session
Sample essay TBA
Tues Sept 23
WORKSHOP DAY
Thurs Sept 25
“Death of a Moth” by Annie Dillard
“How I Wrote the Moth Essay—And Why” by Annie Dillard
Tues Sept 30
PERSONAL ESSAY WORKSHOP REFLECTION DUE
“Playing with Form: The Lyric Essay and Mixed Media” by Brenda Miller
“Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid
“Boy” by Bret Anthony Johnston
Writing: Lyric Word experiment
Thurs Oct 2
“Abracadabra” by Sharon Solowitz
“Delft” by Albert Goldbarth
Tues Oct 7
“Craigslist: Missed Connection” by Anonymous
“Craigslist Missed Connections for Cicadas” by Frank Lesser
“Outline Toward a Theory of Mine Versus The Mind and the Harvard Outline” by
Ander Monson
“So You Want to Get Into an MFA: A Decision Tree” by Rebekah Frumkin
“We Regret to Inform You” by Brenda Miller
Thurs Oct 9
‘The Pain Scale” by Eula Biss
Writing: Hermit Crab experiment
Tues Oct 14
LYRIC ESSAY 1ST DRAFT DUE
Thurs Oct 16
WORKSHOP DAY
Tues Oct 21
CONFERENCES
Thurs Oct 23
CONFERENCES/LYRIC ESSAY WORKSHOP REFLECTION DUE
Tues Oct 28
“Writing Creative Nonfiction: The Profile/Biography Sketch” by Dave Hood
“Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” by Gay Talese
“Dinner at Uncle Boris’s” by Charles Simic
Thurs Oct 30
Recording and Interviewing Tutorial Day
Tues Nov 4
Lyric essay/Profile Bridge Piece due
“The American Male at Age Ten” by Susan Orlean
“Rachel McAdams: The Notebook, Part Two” by Sally Singer
Thurs Nov 6
“Immersion”
Field Trip
Tues Nov 11
NO CLASS Veteran’s Day
Thurs Nov 13
“The Girl of the Year” by Tom Wolfe
“Baby Jane Holzer’s Flight from High Society to Warhol Superstar” by Jacki Lyden
Tues Nov 18
“Death of An Innocent” by John Krakauer
Thurs Nov 20
PROFILE 1ST DRAFT DUE
Tues Nov 25
NO CLASS- Thanksgiving
Thurs Nov 27
NO CLASS- Thanksgiving
Tues Dec 2
WORKSHOP DAY
Thurs Dec 4
“Not Every Sentence Can Be Great But Every Sentence Must Be Good” by
Cynthia Newberry Martin
“Three Very Cool Sentence Patterns” author unknown
Tues Dec 9
PROFILE WORKSHOP REFLECTION DUE
“Doing Good Work Together: The Politics of Storytelling” by William Kittredge