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Alternating literary analysis with imaginative writing, students examine principles and practices of fiction writing, such as plot, theme, and character development. Fiction assignments are typical of those in John Gardner's books The Art of Fiction and On Becoming a Novelist and of those in undergraduate fiction courses such as the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars.
The course strongly emphasizes comprehensive revision based on comments from the instructor. By the end of the course, students have polished pieces of short fiction which demonstrate their working knowledge of the principal tenets of writing fiction.
Grammar Note
Skilled, careful writers follow the conventions of Standard Written English, but writing is much more than mere adherence to convention. Instructors discuss grammar only when it affects meaning. Writing courses are not remedial. Students must already be proficient in Standard Written English.
Lesson | Skills/Concepts Emphasized: |
---|---|
#1: Character Sketch Based on Photographs | Creating a character through character history and back-story; selecting character detail; the importance of showing versus telling in writing; the resonance of image in story |
#2: Beginning a Story | Analysis of story beginnings; effective strategies for beginning a story and introducing character, setting, and/or narrative situation |
#3: Character Sketch Based on an Imagined Character and Description of Character Performing an Everyday Action | Creating a character through character likes and dislikes, physical details, personal possessions, spoken language or thoughts, gestures that reveal a character’s personality and psychology |
#4: Ending a Story, Ursula Hegi’s “Doves” | Close reading to understand the “clues” a narrative holds for how a writer might end a story; imitation of an author’s writing style; using the present tense in storytelling; creating satisfying closure to a story |
#5: First Draft, Short Story Using Character from Assignment 3 | Crafting a character-driven story; the “center” of stories |
# 6: Inspiration, Place, and Story | Using music as a source for inspiration (brainstorming, pre-writing); attention to setting detail; using musical tone to understand tone and tonal effects in language |
#7: Revision of Short Story from Assignment 5 | Revision (beginning and ending, character development, narrative movement/plot, narrative structure, voice) and editing (language choice, grammar, punctuation) |
#8: First Draft, Short Story Using Pre-writing to Music from Assignment 6 | How setting/place shapes story and story shapes setting/place; relationship of character(s) to setting; creating a narrative from descriptive writing |
#9: Short-Shorts and Microfiction | Pacing; narrative modes (summary, scene, dialogue, indirect discourse); irony; word choice; resolving a story within a small narrative space |
#10: Revision of Short Story from Assignment 8 | Revision (beginning and ending, character development, narrative movement/plot, narrative structure, voice) and editing (language choice, grammar, punctuation) |
Demo
Welcome to another year of writing!
Your fiction course requires both imaginative and critical writing. Your assignments are typical of those in John Gardner's books The Art of Fiction and On Becoming a Novelist and of those in undergraduate fiction courses.
Your first assignment, which was prepared by instructor Tracy Wallace, is:
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Chose five or six photos of yourself or of one relative. Then write paragraph long descriptions of each photo. Together, your five or six paragraphs, or prose snapshots, will comprise a character sketch of just one subject (either you or your one relative).
An example paragraph:
Here's a picture of my grandmother in the mid-1960's taken when she was in her early 50's. It's black and white. She's looking at the Grand Canyon through a pair of binoculars. She's wearing a faded, paisley dress and clunky, orthopedic shoes. My grandfather took the picture, which is appropriate since all his life he was looking at her while she was looking into the distance. My grandmother was an intelligent, inquisitive woman who always regretted the social convention that made her drop out of college when she married. She had probably read several library books about the southwest before she headed for Arizona with my grandfather in their big Buick and small trailer. Her head is probably swimming with facts about the Indians as she scans the horizon. Her body is like the big rocks in the background of the picture. Some people might call her fat. But what I see is a woman not afraid to take up space on this planet, a woman who is strong and constant, and enormously beautiful, just like the looming red rocks of the Grand Canyon.
The above example is only one paragraph. If I were to continue my character sketch based on photographs, I might include a picture of my grandmother as a young girl, looking mean and sassy; a picture of her at her wedding, looking regal and stunned; a picture of her as a young woman with my mother and uncle on either hip, looking overwhelmed and surprisingly flirtatious; and a picture of her at my college graduation. If I were going to do myself, likewise I would choose pictures of myself as a baby, a child, and an adolescent, as well as some more recent shots, like the one taken of me last spring at San Marco, Venice in my tan duster raincoat, looking as if I'm an aging member of the R.E.M. generation (which is how my friend describes me).
Your photos should all be of the same person. You are creating a single character sketch based on five or six photographs.
Items to Consider
Why You're Doing This Assignment
Fiction starts with what you know. Characters certainly begin with yourself and with your closest relationships. That's part of why I want you to kick off this fiction course with a nonfiction assignment. But by all means, you're welcome to fictionalize. Make any (or even all) details up. The aim is to produce a convincing, interesting, believable person based on photos.
Nuts and Bolts
I'm looking forward to see what you have done!
This course requires a properly maintained computer with high-speed internet access and an up-to-date web browser (such as Chrome or Firefox). The student must be able to communicate with the instructor via email. Visit the Technical Requirements and Support page for more details.
"This course tested my writing abilities in an extremely fun yet challenging way. It was great!"
"I absolutely loved this course for its unique, useful exercises and wonderful instructor!"
"I found Crafting Fiction to be a very interesting course, and only helped to strengthen my love of fiction writing. I hope to continue taking CTY courses in the future."
"I really like the fiction writing class, [Instructor's First Name] is a great teacher and I like all the assignment questions and his comments. I learned a great deal!"
"It was an amazing experience and journey for me. I learned how to come up with entirely new stories every week. I realized how difficult it could be to vary each story's tone and plot while remaining true to my own style. I loved the course and was very satisfied with the results."
"Taking this course was actually the first time I had ever wrote a fictional story that I was proud of. In school, the restraints stifled my creativity, but here, I was actually able to create successful stories. I've become much more interested in writing fiction, either for the heck of it, or as a potential career."
"The teacher, was extremely thorough in explaining the lessons and offering advice."
"Ms. S was outstanding! Her comments and suggestions were always constructive and our daughter, P, found it easy to incorporate what she learned in the critiques into her next assignment. This is P's third CTY online summer program and she enjoyed every assignment. We've seen a significant improvement in P's writing as a result of these courses.
"Many thanks and P plans on taking other CTY courses."