Zuromski
CRW 2001 In-class
Schedule, Spring 2012
Date
Week 1
T Jan. 10
Topic
Welcome Module
Task
Read/view welcome documents
 Syllabus & schedule
 View Power Point: “First Things First”
Find in “Content”: “Rubrics and Formatting Guides” Folder
 Formatting your papers (MLA & Short Story)
 Rubric for creative nonfiction & fiction
Links:
How to Email a Professor: Read info found at the two links
listed on my Front Door site:
http://frontdoor.valenciacollege.edu/?jzuromski1
If needed, read “How to Mark a Book”:
http://grammar.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=g
rammar&cdn=education&tm=16&gps=486_8_1366_673&f=
00&tt=13&bt=1&bts=1&st=11&zu=http%3A//www.tnellen.
com/cybereng/adler.html
(A fun essay that also instructs how to critically read while
marking a text)
HW: Critically read Ch. 1 (23-38) in LaPlante, marking
terms and profundities as needed.
R Jan. 12
Week 2
T Jan. 17
Module One: Definitions
of the Craft
What is creative writing?
Module Two: Nonfiction
or Fiction?
Shared elements of fiction
and creative nonfiction:
Writing what we know?
R Jan. 19
Discuss reading: Quiz?
HW: Read Didion’s essay, “On Keeping a Notebook” and
Johnson’s fiction, “Emergency” (40-56).
“Germ Generator” 1 (50 pts.): Choose Exercise #1 (38) OR
Exercise #2 (39). Type and submit.
Creative Nonfiction
Discuss reading: Quiz?
Critically read Ch. 2 (57-69) in LaPlante, marking terms and
profundities as needed.
HW: Read Oates’s fiction, “Where Are You Going, Where
Have You Been?” (72-86) and Ehrenreich’s essay,
“Welcome to Cancerland” (87-106).
HW:“Germ Generator” 2 (50 pts.): Choose Exercise #1 (69)
OR Exercise #2 (71). Type and submit.
Discuss reading(s): Quiz?
HW: Critically read Ch. 14 (619-633) in LaPlante, marking
Zuromski
CRW 2001 In-class
Schedule, Spring 2012
Week 3
T Jan. 24
Module Three: Details
through showing AND
telling
How many details do we
need?
R Jan. 26
Narration: Show and Tell
Week 4
T Jan. 31
Module Four: Plot
R Feb.2
Plot
terms and profundities as needed.
HW: Read Pollitt’s “Learning to Drive” essay (633-642).
HW: View Lee Gutkind’s website
http://www.leegutkind.com/
and find his videos under “Genre.” All are helpful, but do
listen closely to the one about the “Yellow Test.”
Discuss reading(s): Quiz?
HW: Critically read Ch. 3 (107-27) in LaPlante, marking
terms and profundities as needed.
HW: Read Hansen’s “Nebraska” essay (147-151).
Discuss reading(s): Quiz?
Critically read Ch. 5 (204-24) in LaPlante, marking terms and
profundities as needed.
HW: “Germ Generator” 3 (50 pts.): Do exercise #1 (224).
Type and submit.
HW: Read ZZ Packer’s fiction, “Brownies” (227-45) and
Cooper’s essay, “Winner Take Nothing” to see excellent
blends of showing/telling in both genres.
HW: Journal 1: Choose any ONE of the exercises that you
have turned in so far—the one with the best STORY—and
flesh it out into a readable piece (500-700 words). For this
first one, you may choose to keep it REAL (nonfiction—
write it in 1st person) or to have some fun and MAKE
THINGS UP (fiction—write it in 3rd person; it will help you
gain distance). Label it Journal 1, Draft 1 and submit by
SUNDAY AT 11:59pm.
Discuss reading(s): Quiz?
HW: Critically read Ch. 4 (152-65) in LaPlante, marking
terms and profundities as needed.
HW: Read Prose’s essay, “What Makes a Short Story?”
(167-78) and Stone’s fiction, “Helping” (178-202).
HW: “Germ Generator” 4 (50 pts.): Choose Exercise #1
(165) OR Exercise #2 (166). Type and submit.
Discuss reading(s): Quiz?
Discussion groups for workshop!
HW: Read Baldwin’s fiction, “Sonny’s Blues” (390-417)
(reading this piece FIRST will be helpful in understanding
Ch. 9). 
HW: Critically read Ch. 9 (375-87) in LaPlante, marking
terms and profundities as needed.
HW: Post REVISED Journal 1 in “Discussions” (attach);
Zuromski
CRW 2001 In-class
Schedule, Spring 2012
Week 5
T Feb. 7
R Feb. 9
Beginning the story
print, mark, and read your assigned stories for next class.
Workshop!
Theme
HW: Critically read Ch. 11 (465-75) in LaPlante, marking
terms and profundities as needed.
HW: Read Moore’s fiction “People Like That . . .” (479-506)
HW: “Germ Generator” 5 (50 pts.): Choose Exercise #1
(475) OR Exercise #2 (477). Notice how either needs BOTH
an original and a revised paragraph. Type and submit.
Discuss reading(s): Quiz?
HW: Critically read Ch. 12 (507-18) in LaPlante, marking
terms and profundities as needed.
HW: “Germ Generator” 6 (50 pts.)Choose Exercise #1 (518)
OR Exercise #2 (519). Type and submit.
HW: Read the sample pieces for inspiration.
Journal 2: Choose another ONE of the exercises that you
have turned in so far,(and have not already used!), and
flesh it out into a full piece (500-700 words)—this one will
be fiction. Label it Journal 2, Draft 1 and submit by
SUNDAY AT 11:59pm.
Week 6
T Feb. 14
R Feb. 16
Module Five: Characters
Discuss reading(s): Quiz?
Dialogue
HW: Critically read Ch. 10 (418-35) in LaPlante, marking
terms and profundities as needed.
HW: Read Sharma’s fiction, “Surrounded by Sleep” (44153).
Discuss reading(s): Quiz?
HW: Critically read Ch. 8 (341-54) in LaPlante, marking
terms and profundities as needed.
HW: Read Hemingway’s fiction, “Hills Like White
Elephants” (356-60) and Sack’s essay, “Inside the Bunker”
(360-74).
HW: “Germ Generator” 7 (50 pts.) Choose Exercise #1 OR
Exercise #2 (355). Type and submit.
HW: Journal 3: Complete Exercise #1 on page 435-36 for
THREE new characters, and give them names. Then, using
those three characters, “write a fairly long, complicated
Zuromski
CRW 2001 In-class
Schedule, Spring 2012
phone conversation overheard by someone in the room.
Let us hear the other end of the conversation without
actually hearing it. This means you’ll be giving us only one
side of a conversation, so you’ll have to work to make the
side we’re hearing intriguing and capable of carrying a
story” (Kiteley 90-91).
Use conventions for dialogue to tell the story; use
narration to reveal things like facial expression, body
movement, and time. Attach exercise to the story, label
the whole thing Journal 3, Draft 1, and submit by SUNDAY
AT MIDNIGHT.
Week 7
T Feb. 21
R Feb. 23
Module Six: Point of
View (POV)
POV & Reliability
Discuss reading(s): Quiz?
HW: Critically read Ch. 6 (258-81) in LaPlante, marking
terms and profundities as needed.
HW: Read Chekhov’s fiction, “The Lady with the Little Dog”
(284-98)
HW: “Germ Generator” 8 (50 pts.) Choose Exercise #1
(282) OR Exercise #2 (283). Type and submit.
Discuss reading(s): Quiz?
HW: Critically read Ch. 7 (318-28) in LaPlante, marking
terms and profundities as needed.
HW: Read Cheever’s fiction, “The Swimmer,” (330-40)
HW: “Germ Generator” 9 (50 pts.) Choose Exercise #1
(328) OR Exercise #2 (329). Type and submit.
Week 8
T Feb. 28
Module Seven: Revision
Discuss reading(s): Quiz?
Revision: What are we
looking for, and what are
we trying to do?
HW: Critically read Ch. 13 (23-38) in LaPlante, marking
terms and profundities as needed. Read the drafts and
revisions for illustration (and inspiration!)
Read Lamott’s essay, “Shitty First Drafts” (574-78)
MIDTERM TIME! QUIZ ON READINGS?
HW: Read Max’s “The Carver Chronicles” (578-91), and
then the two Carver pieces that follow it, “The Bath” and
“A Small Good Thing.”
R Mar. 1
Week 9
3-5 thru
3-11
Spring Break
Zuromski
CRW 2001 In-class
Schedule, Spring 2012
Week 10
More on Revision
T Mar. 13
Practice
Of course, the essay on Carver discusses revision—
specifically, revision as suggested by others, which we know
is often not the best way to go. The two stories
demonstrate the “real” Carver and the heavily revised
Carver. Be ready to address the questions from page 591.
HW: Post REVISED Journal 2 or 3 in “Discussions” (attach);
print, mark, and read your assigned stories for next class.
Workshop!
HW: TBA
TBA
Practice
HW: “Germ Generator” 10 (50 pts.) Choose one of the
description ideas below and write 2-3 well-developed
paragraphs. Type and submit.
a) Describe a landscape as seen by an old woman whose
disgusting and detestable old husband has just died. Do
not mention the husband or death.
b) Describe a landscape as seen by a bird. Do not mention
the bird.
(both from John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction, 201)
TBA
Practice
HW: Journal 4: Choose another ONE of the exercises that
you have turned in so far (and have not already used!),
and flesh it out into a full piece (500-700 words)—this one
will again be fiction. Label it Journal 4, Draft 1 and submit
by SUNDAY AT 11:59pm.
TBA
R Mar. 15
Week 11
T Mar. 20
R Mar. 22
Week 12
T Mar. 27
R Mar. 29
HW: Journal 5: Confessions. Write a short story with the
main character confessing something (you choose what
the person confesses, to whom it is revealed, and why it is
confessed at all). Begin at the END, with the confession
and the consequence(s), and then have the character flash
back to let us readers see what happened as the dirty
deed unfolded, and then loop back around to the
confession—circular story! Label it Journal 5, Draft 1 and
submit by SUNDAY AT 11:59pm.
TBA
HW: Post any NEW piece of fiction (may be triggered by a
“Germ Generator” or your own idea) in “Discussions”
(attach); print, mark, and read your assigned stories for
Zuromski
CRW 2001 In-class
Schedule, Spring 2012
Week 13
T Apr. 3
Practice
next class.
Workshop!
R Apr. 5
Week 14
T Apr. 10
Reflection and looking
ahead
How you’ve changed as a writer AND as a reader
Practice the craft and find
some readers!
HW: One way writers commit to writing is through a
college graduate program (after your bachelor’s degree),
either an MFA or a PhD in creative writing. Research
programs online and see what you find of interest.
OR
Writers like to get published. Our country has MANY
literary magazines, some in print, some online, and some
that do both. Research online and find a couple of
magazines you’d consider submitting to. Be sure to find
out if they charge for submissions (reading fee), whether
or not they pay writers they publish, and their submissions
guidelines.
OR
Search for writing conferences or summer workshops,
which are usually offered in the summer for a week or
two. How much do they cost? What are the benefits?
**Bring a typed paragraph of your favorite info!
Discuss research: Quiz?
Final Exam Info
Journal #6 TBA
R Apr. 12
Week 15
T Apr. 17
R Apr.19
Final exam
week:
4-23 thru
4-29