CRWR 321 - Special Topics Studio

Fiction Now!
No matter how far into the future or back into the past we set our fiction, we are always writing from the now. How do we consciously and unconsciously bring the present moment to the page? How do contemporary events, aesthetics, technologies, and cultural and political understandings shape the fiction we write? How might being attuned to our selves-our bodies-in the present open up new possibilities in our work? In this class students will tune in to the contemporary through generative exercises and the writing and workshopping of short stories. Our reading of published authors will focus on writing published within the last decade, including works by Adania Shibli, Megan Milks, Amina Cain, Brandon Shimoda, N.K. Jemisin, and early-career writers in print and online journals. Class sessions will be used primarily for discussion of assigned readings and student work.

Flash Nonfiction
This workshop is designed for students with considerable experience in writing short prose. Students will read essays by authors such as Ross Gay, Lydia Davis, Sei Shōnagon, Sarah Manguso, and Brian Blanchfield in order to learn to manage effects economically and to write with maximum efficiency and suggestion. Students will write one short piece of prose every or every other week; critically responding to others’ work, and the revision of one’s own stories, will also be emphasized. Class sessions will be used for discussion of assigned readings and work in progress.

The Realistic and the Fantastic
This workshop is designed for students with considerable experience in writing short fiction. Readings and discussion will focus on storytelling that relies upon a “realistic” depiction of our world, combined with narratives that contain events and situations that are exaggerated, surreal, speculative, and/or out of the “ordinary.” How are such stories similar, and how are they different? Students will read published stories by writers such as Munro, Gaitskill, Hemingway, Cheever, Dybek, McPherson, Poe, Bradbury, Borges, Cortázar, Henry James, Octavia Butler, Kelly Link, Shirley Jackson, Haruki Murakami, and Angela Carter, as well as fairy tales, folktales, and other texts. Special emphasis will be given to individual voices, critically responding to others’ work, and the revision of one’s own stories. Class sessions will be used for discussion of assigned readings and work in progress.

Revision and Beyond
Often, we talk about writing as if the bulk of the work is in generating the first draft, and revision isn’t much more than a final polish. But most writers eventually find that revision is as creative and gratifying a part of the writing practice as the earlier stages. In this course intended for writers of prose (fiction and creative nonfiction), students will practice and develop strategies for revision from sentence to overarching narrative level, focusing on elements of craft as well as considerations of audience, genre, and the ethical dimensions of prose writing. Students will generate new work through in-class exercises and will workshop longer pieces with an eye toward putting revision strategies into practice. The course will also offer students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the contemporary literary landscape through discussion and research around publishing, literary community building, the practice of creative writing in the academy, and other timely conversations in the field.

Short Prose Forms
This workshop is designed for students with considerable experience in writing short prose. Students will read stories and essays by authors such as Ross Gay, Lydia Davis, Yasunari Kawabata, and Sandra Cisneros in order to learn how to manage effects economically, and to write with maximum efficiency and suggestion. Students will write one short piece of prose per week; critically responding to others’ work, and the revision of one’s own stories, will also be emphasized. Class sessions will be used for discussion of assigned readings and work in progress.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): Fiction Now!
A three- to five-page fiction writing sample, one 200-level CRWR course, and instructor approval.

Flash Nonfiction
Sophomore standing, a writing sample of three to five pages, one 200-level CRWR course, and instructor approval.

The Realistic and the Fantastic
Sophomore standing, a writing sample of three to five pages, one 200-level CRWR course, and instructor approval.

Revision and Beyond
A writing sample of one short story or creative nonfiction essay of any length, one 200-level CRWR course, and instructor approval.

Short Prose Forms
Sophomore standing, a writing sample of three to five pages, one 200-level CRWR course, and instructor approval.
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Repeatable for Credit: May be taken 3 times for credit
Notes: Enrollment limited to 15. Not all topics offered every year. Review schedule of classes for availability.
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).