Writing
is easy; you just open your veins and bleed. Red
Barber
A
book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your
own version in return. Salman Rushdie
It
wasn’t by accident that the Gettysburg address was so short. The laws of prose
writing are as immutable as those of flight, of mathematics, of physics. Ernest Hemingway
The
most durable thing in writing is style, and style is the most valuable
investment a writer can make with his time. It pays off slowly, your agent will
sneer at it, your publisher will misunderstand it, and it will take people you
have never heard of to convince them by slow degrees that the writer who puts
his individual mark on the way he writes will always pay off. Raymond
Chandler
All
good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath. F.
Scott Fitzgerald
All
good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and
after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you
and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the
remorse, and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was.
Ernest
Hemingway
I
try to leave out the parts people skip-Elmore
Leonard
Creative writing is a semester class designed to help develop your skills as a writer, increase confidence in your ability and develop the mindset that is necessary to write well. If you want to try to publish your work this year I will assist you in your effort. Writing well is a skill, but in order to write you must discover an authentic context. You may be writing for any number of reasons:
Writing
as a career. Developing the skills, the mindset and the understanding of
what it means to be a writer. Writing
for graphic comic books, web content, journalism, fiction, video games, poetry
or advertising is all areas where creative writing can help you develop skills.
Writing
as Exploration-Whether
or not you want to publish, writing fiction and poetry can develop thinking
skills, help one to deal with the world or just be an outlet for the imagination
and madness that lurks inside your skull. The
act of writing is a journey and the process can lead you many paces. You
do not need to try to publish but you do need to be committed to the process of
writing.
All
writing in this class will be for an audience.
You do not need to censor what you write but you do need to consider the
audience and the implications of your words.
Explicit drug use, violence or sex is not appropriate to share with a
high school class.
Syllabus-
The
syllabus leaves open five weeks. This
is because some units will take longer to complete, the class will want to go in
a different direction or new ideas will present themselves as we see fit/
please bring it work you find interesting to share with the class
Subject to change depending on the direction the class wants to go, the mood of the instructor and the solar sun spot activity for that particular week.
Ongoing-The
writer’s tools-Grammar, vocabulary and structure.
Week
one and two-Capturing
the reader and finding your narrative voice.
The importance of truth, honesty and writing without the critic looking
over your shoulder. The hook
and setting in opening your fiction. Autobiography/memoir
Week
Six –Plot:
conflict, conflict, and conflict. Fiction continued
Week
Nine-Writing
for the web-a new medium with unlimited creative potential
Notebook/portfolio-Grading in this class will be similar to an art class-You must keep a portfolio that will be divided into three parts. I will check the portfolio every two weeks. Every two weeks you will need to have in your notebook:
a.
All daily exercises and homework-At least one, sometimes two a day.
Grading on these will be done on a completion/no completion basis.
Exercises should be legible, a minimum one page and show thought and
effort. I will give zeroes to
obviously uninspired work.
90%
completed = A
80%
completed = B
70%
completed =C
60%
completed =D
b.
Daily reading check-it is your responsibility to have a free reading
piece with you every day in class-Since I have many books in class to lend out
this should not be a problem-Please come before class or the break to pick up
book if you do not have one-Magazines, plays, poetry and non-fiction are all
acceptable reading
c.
Critiques-On
Thursdays or Fridays we will have reader critique groups-You must bring copies
of your writing for four people that day and keep track of your critiques an
other’s critiques of your writing
d.
Final, edited drafts-There will be approximately four major projects a
quarter-one will be due every two weeks-some of these will take you one week,
some will take you three-it is up to you to complete them, have them edited and
critiqued and turned in every other week into your portfolio
A
final draft is
·
Typed
·
Has more than one draft
·
Shows evidence of editing
·
Error free
What
you choose to work on is up to you-I will have an assignment notebook in the
back of the room as well as a weekly/biweekly assignment.
You can follow the syllabus assignment or you can choose your
assignments. Final drafts will be
graded on a rubric-Your content will not be graded-You grade will be based on
the thoroughness, dedication and writing skills evident in your work.