English 302/304—Fiction I/II
Spring 2012
TR 2:30-3:45 Newton 212
Kristen Gentry
Office: Welles 218A Phone: 245-5321
Office Hours: TR 1:00-2:15 and by appointment
gentry@geneseo.edu
Course Description:
This is an advanced course for those with a sincere interest in literary
fiction. This is not a course for students interested in writing formulaic
genre fiction such as science fiction, mystery, horror, gothic, Western,
romance, fanfiction, etc. I say this not to discourage you from exploring
those genres of writing on your own time, but to warn you before you
churn out your masterpiece of a CSI: Chattanooga murder mystery or
prequel to Twilight that I won’t be accepting work of that sort for this
class. If you are sketchy about where your work stands, ask so that you
don’t face a canceled workshop. In this class, you will further explore
the craft elements of fiction presented in the introductory course,
primarily through workshop (during which you will offer verbal and
written feedback for stories written by your classmates and twice during
the semester, receive the same feedback for your work), but you will
also read and respond to work by established contemporary authors, and,
of course, you will write—during every class.
Over the course of the semester you will write two short stories (the
minimum goal is ten pages, but the ultimate minimum is seven pages;
the maximum is twenty-five pages) and various creative responses to
prompts and exercises. At the end of the semester you will revise one of
those short stories and submit three of your best in-class writing pieces
and five of your best reading responses for the portfolio. With that said,
this is also not the class for you if your intentions are to get feedback on
your novel. It is ineffective for the class to read a story that has no
resolution and offers the author a built-in defense against criticism (“It
doesn’t make sense because I forgot to tell you that her house caught fire
in 1987 in chapter four,” or “I can’t tell you if she takes the job until the
next chapter”). So unless your novel is comprised of autonomous
chapters, continue to pursue that endeavor on your personal time.
If you are serious about writing, love reading, have a desire to
understand how and why great writers do what they do, are willing to
spend frustrating hours in front of blank space, face workshop with open
ears and a closed mouth, courageous enough to “kill your little darlings,”
curious enough to confront what you do not understand 1and be
unflinchingly honest about the things you do understand, this is the
course for you. Welcome.
Learning Outcomes:
 Students will demonstrate an understanding of fiction through
verbal discussion and written analysis of work by their peers and
contemporary fiction writers.
 Students will illustrate an understanding of fictional craft through
writing short stories.
 Students will assess their development as a writer through written
self-analysis and revision of a short story.
Texts:
All readings can be found under the “Course Materials” tab on
Mycourses. Bring hard copies of all readings to class on the scheduled
discussion days.
Additional Course Requirements:
 Bring a journal/notebook and writing utensil to class every session.
1
If you have no imagination, curiosity, or get-up-and-go to do something about your lack of
both, you should drop this class immediately since they are the essential elements of good
writing. I can teach you about craft and give you prompts and exercises to enhance awareness,
but I cannot teach you genuine inquisitiveness or the willingness to “go there” (physically or
emotionally) to write what needs to be written to give your work life.
Note: Unless you have documentation from Tabitha Buggie-Hunt (see
the section entitled “Accommodation) stating otherwise, you are
expected to take notes and respond to creative writing prompts for this
class by writing longhand, not typing into a word processing program,
and, as stated above, you are to bring hard copies of readings posted on
Mycourses, not read from your laptop.
 You will be writing two stories this semester and distributing them
to me and your fellow students. It is your responsibility to make
sure that you have enough money allotted for printing so that
everyone has a legible copy of your story printed double-spaced
in twelve point Times New Roman font.
Grading Requirements:
 Participation
In-class discussion /writing exercises
25%
Reading responses/workshop comments
15%
 Portfolio
60%
You will receive my comments on your work, but you won’t receive
grades for them. As a writer, you need to be focused on the process of
creation as opposed to being preoccupied with receiving a certain grade
for your initial efforts that could very well be frustrated by trying to
produce “A+” material in a piece’s premature stages. If this is going to
cause you anxiety, you may need to consider if taking this class is the
best option for you.
A cancelled or missed workshop will lower your final grade earned by
ten points.
All writing submissions (stories and workshop comments) are to be
typed and printed double-spaced in twelve point Times New Roman
font. I will not accept handwritten assignments under any conditions and
e-mailed assignments will not be accepted without my prior consent.
Participation
It is your responsibility to come to class regularly and in a timely
manner No extra credit make up work will be given to substitute for
any form of participation.
In-class participation entails being fully engaged in course discussion
and you can’t be fully engaged if you are sleeping, texting, listening to
your MP3 player, reading non-course related materials, or generally
spacing out. If you are caught engaging in non-course related activity
during class your final grade will be dropped a third of a letter grade for
each incident. If you are tired, sick, or think you will be distracted from
participating for any reason, stay home. It’s true that you won’t receive
discussion participation points for that day, but you also won’t receive
discussion participation points for coming to class and filling a seat.
Raising your hand to spew randomness at frequent intervals during
discussion for the sake of saying something or simply piggy backing
what another student says does not equal excellent participation. A
student who exhibits excellent participation will come to class prepared
and alert, respond thoughtfully to their peers’ comments, and contribute
significantly and daily to our semester long discussion with focused
comments and interpretations that illustrate careful reading of the texts
through analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of the readings by putting
them into conversation with outside texts, earlier readings, previous inclass discussion and relevant personal experiences, demonstrating a
willingness to complicate ideas and a desire to reach new levels of
understanding.
Participation in a Workshop
Generally speaking, in most classes when verbal participation is a factor
in the final grade, your silence is largely to your own detriment. You
miss out not only on participation points, but the opportunity to
experience the texts and presented ideas with a deeper level of
understanding and engagement. This also holds true for a writing
workshop, but your silence in a writing workshop is also poor etiquette.
A student who remains silent during their peers’ workshops adds
nothing to the conversation that can help their fellow writers, yet
receives the verbal feedback that they did not provide in return. It’s
downright rude. If you are experiencing difficulty speaking up in class,
please come and speak to me so we can work on ways to remedy the
problem.
Online discussion forum
The definition of excellent participation also extends to online
participation via the discussion forum. The discussion forums are
another venue for you to share your comments, questions, and analysis
of class texts. You are expected to add your voice to this discussion and
read what your peers have to say regularly. By the end of the semester
you need to have a minimum of seven posts, contributed on seven
different post days. In other words, do not expect that by posting three
times for one post day and four posts on five other days that you have
fulfilled this requirement. Given the number of days when we’ll have
reading assignments to discuss this means that you can only miss
one day of posting and still fulfill the required minimum. The
discussion forum is on Mycourses and can be found on the class home
page.
For the vast majority of the time (if not all of the time) there will be no
formal prompts for the forum. Your comments and questions are to be
responses to the day’s reading (and sometimes listening) assignments.
The forums will be due at 1:00 PM on T-TH before class, and they will
be dated according to the class day in which the comments correspond.
For example, if a forum is dated (and titled) Thursday, January 19, the
comments for that forum will be due at 1:00 PM on Thursday, January
19, and the comments posted will be discussed in class on Thursday,
January 19. You will not be able to post comments after the 1:00
deadline. Please do not send me comments if you miss the deadline; I
will not read them and I will not count them toward your required
number of posts.
The intent of these responses is to get you thinking about the text and
preparing for more in-depth discussion and consideration of the craft
elements/issues/characters you’ve just encountered. The forum is the
place for you to begin generating ideas, not for you to feel that you have
to have everything figured out. Please keep your comments to a
maximum of seven sentences. Save lengthier analysis and consideration
for class discussion and essays.
As with in-class participation, exemplary credit will not be given for
random pop-up comments with the obvious intention of announcing
your presence on the forum or a portfolio of comments that add up to a
chorus of dittos (often submitted right before the post deadline) to
classmates’ comments. Mere emoting or ranting about the texts week
after week will also not be acceptable. We may be reading material that
will draw strong reactions and those reactions are valid and do have a
place, but it is imperative that you move beyond the heat of your anger
or frustration. Ask yourself why you’re feeling this way. What factors
in the text are contributing to this reaction? What led to those factors?
How did they originate? Can those factors be changed? How? It is great
to ask questions and admit moments of confusion, oftentimes others may
be experiencing the same uncertainty and this opens the conversation.
However, if these moments of confusion become a continual theme of
your comments I suggest that you come see me during my office hours.
Friendly critical debate is fine, but the discussion forum will not be the
place for you to settle personal vendettas. If you’ve found outside
material that is valid and can add depth to the conversation, please share
it providing titles, authors, and links. I will be reading the forum
(though not commenting, unless necessary to remedy any of the
aforementioned cautions) and it will not be uncommon for the forum
comments and linked sources to find their way into our class discussion.
Writing for the online forum will be informal. This means that the
writing is exploratory and you may refer to yourself in the first person.
This does not mean that you are to disregard everything you’ve learned
about grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Your comments are to follow
the conventions of Standard English and should not be filled with the
abbreviations and emoticons used when texting.
At the end of the semester, you will review your posts and choose the
three you feel are strongest, date them, print them, and submit them in
your portfolio for a grade. These “greatest hits” posts will be due on the
last day of class (Tuesday, May 1). You will be graded on the strength of
your comments and your development as a forum contributor over the
course of the semester.
Accommodation
SUNY Geneseo will make reasonable accommodations for persons with
documented physical, emotional, or learning disabilities. As early as
possible in the semester students should contact the Director in the
Office of Disability Services (Tabitha Buggie-Hunt, 105D Erwin) and
their faculty to discuss needed accommodation.
Plagiarism
Every student in this course is expected to submit their original work for
each and every assignment. By “original,” I mean the work must be
authored by you (and only you) and only for this course. Any
referenced sources must be cited. Failure to do so will be considered
plagiarism and handled with academic discipline that will generally lead
to notification of the Dean of Students and a failing grade for the course.
Workshop
During your workshop you will share your work with peers and receive
feedback to be used for revision. You will be responsible for providing
each of your classmates with a copy of your story (typed in 12 point,
Times New Roman font) on the class day before your scheduled
workshop. Copies of your work must be collated and stapled before you
come to class. If you forget your copies, you forfeit your workshop. The
class will read your work and discuss its strong points, explaining what
worked for what they identify as your (the writer’s) purpose and why.
They will also provide constructive criticism to pinpoint weaker spots,
offer suggestions for improvement, and pose questions that urge further
exploration.
You will remain silent and take notes as your classmates discuss your
work. Bring a copy of your story to follow along during the
conversation. At the end of the discussion, you will have the
opportunity to ask the workshop to clarify points made, address elements
of the story that weren’t mentioned, and/or provide suggestions about
revision. Do not take advantage of this time and use it to defend your
work.
When you are not being workshopped you will contribute to the
workshopping by reading and offering written and spoken comments on
your peers’ work. Your written comments will consist of your annotated
copy of the writer’s work and a one-page double-spaced response. The
statements and questions explored in your workshop comments should
address the work’s greatest assets and the elements that require the most
urgency in revision. Your comments need to be specific to the piece, not
rote, generic responses like “The protagonist is flat” or “There’s no stake
in the conflict.” Your comments should allow the writer to understand
how you interpret their work, why, and pose questions to get them to
probe deeper, gain a surer sense of direction, and, when possible,
provide examples of how they can remedy what you interpret as a
problem without becoming overly prescriptive and/or losing sight of
what appears to be the writer’s vision for the work.
Print a copy of your comments to give to the author. Occasionally, I will
collect the comments before passing them to the writer to assess whether
you are providing relevant, specific, and helpful comments to your peers
that indicate careful reading and genuine effort to improve the work. I
will not accept late written workshop comments in the event that I
collect them and you don’t have yours to offer, however in the spirit of
the workshop you should still give comments to your peer even though
you won’t receive credit.
Everyone will contribute to workshop discussion, and your verbal
comments should follow the same vein as your written comments,
meaning they should be specific to the work, present examples from the
work for support, and be offered with the primary purpose of helping to
make the piece under discussion the best that it can be. Workshop is not
a lovefest; nothing gets accomplished if we are coy and anxious about
being honest about what needs to be done to improve the work. Telling
any serious writer a true “This isn’t working” is a greater act of love
than a dishonest “It’s perfect!” With that being said, workshop is also
not a war meant to hurt others. Our intentions are to be honest about the
work’s strengths and weaknesses. This classroom is not the place to be
malicious or settle personal vendettas.
Portfolio
Your portfolio will be comprised of the following in the following order:
 A two-page double-spaced letter to me about your revision and
development as a writer over the course of the semester
 Three of your strongest in-class writing pieces
 Three of your strongest forum posts
 Every draft of both of your short stories, earliest drafts to the most
recent draft. Include the annotated copy of the draft you submitted
for workshop with my written comments attached in the
corresponding order.
 Your revised story
The letter to me should not be a flippant thing pounded out moments
before submitting the portfolio. It is your final word about why you
chose the particular story for revision, the decisions you made during
revision, and the inspiration and influences that shaped the story from its
origin to the final draft so make it count.
Your portfolio should illustrate your development as a writer throughout
the course and reflect a willingness to take risks, heed critique, and “kill
your little darlings” for the sake of the work as a whole in efforts to
present a moving story in striking clarity through the artful use of
language and literary technique. You will be graded on your growth and
strength as a writer based on how strong the work has become since the
original draft, the explanation of your revision, and the overall quality of
the revised story and your short pieces. I understand that much work
often goes into revision, and that willingness and diligence is needed for
writing (especially those who decide to pursue writing for the longterm), but the portfolio grades are not based on effort. A’s for portfolios
are given for work that is publishable or near-publishable with the help
of a few more revision suggestions.
Schedule
*All readings are to be completed by the assigned date. Readings may
be added or removed as necessary.
Week 1
T 1/17 Course introduction
Th 1/19 “The Promised Land” Kate Cortese
Week 2
T 1/24 “A Long Net” Anna Solomon
Th 1/26 “Second First Night” Jan Ellison
Week 3
T 1/31 Workshop 1 and 2
Th 2/2 Workshop 3 and 4
Week 4
T 2/7 Workshop 5 and 6
Th 2/9 Workshop 7 and 8
Week 5
T 2/14 Workshop 9 and 10
Th 2/16 Workshop 11 and 12
Week 6
T 2/21 Workshop 13 and 14
Th 2/23 Workshop 15 and 16
Week 7
T 2/28 Workshop 17 and 18
Th 3/1 “It Looks Like This” Caitlin Horrocks
Week 8
T 3/6 “Palm Springs, 1985” Dana Johnson
Th 3/8 “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” Karen Russell
Week 9
T 3/13 Spring Break
Th 3/15 Spring Break
Week 10
T 3/20 Workshop 1 and 2
Th 3/22 Workshop 3 and 4
Week 11
T 3/27 Workshop 5 and 6
Th 3/29 Workshop 7 and 8
Week 12
T 4/3 Workshop 9 and 10
Th 4/5 Workshop 11 and 12
Week 13
T 4/10 Workshop 13 and 14
Th 4/12 Workshop 16 and 15.
Fiction writer Diane Simmons visits Geneseo.
Week 14
T 4/17 Great Day—No class
Th 4/19 Workshop 17 and 18
Week 15
T 4/24 “Inclusion/Exclusion: A Story of Sex, Death, and Real Estate”
Th 4/26 “If I Loved You” Robin Black
Week 16
T 5/1 “Son of Wolfman” Michael Chabon
Your portfolio is due Thursday, May 3 at 3:30.
Workshop Schedule
1. Ben
2. Maris
3. Alicia
4. Pam
5. Megan
6. Liz
7. Charles
8. Sam
9. Melissa
10. Shea
11. Kyle
12. Christine
13. Alyssa
14. Elena
15. David
16. Walter
17. Colleen