LITR 3731: Creative Writing
Lecture Notes

review genres, conventions

genres > fiction basics:

conventions

Question: What are different strengths, appeals of narrative + dialogue?

assignments & deadlines

[break]

fiction workshop: Karina, Jackie

quiz

[break]

reading: Jennifer


Thursday, 5 November: Fiction workshop + discussion of reading assignments

Reading assignmentThree Genres, ch. 19 "Escapes" (pp. 209-216); ch. 20 "Creating Tension" (pp. 217-225)

Reading highlight: Jennifer M. Leonard

1st Fiction Author: Karina Ramos

1st fiction Author’s Discussion Leader: Jackie Baker


assignments & deadlines

 

Thursday, 12 November: Fiction workshop + discussion of reading assignments

Reading assignmentThree Genres, ch. 22 (pp. 238-246)

Reading highlight: Karina Ramos

1st Fiction Author: Jeff Derrickson

1st fiction Author’s Discussion Leader: Amanda Pruett

2nd Fiction Author: Jennifer M. Leonard

2nd fiction Author’s Discussion Leader: Jackie Baker & Alicia Costello


Thursday, 19 November: Fiction workshop + discussion of reading assignments

1st Fiction Author: Naomi Gonzales

1st fiction Author’s Discussion Leader: Ryan Smith

2nd Fiction Author:  Christi Wood

2nd fiction Author’s Discussion Leader: J J Torres


Thursday, 26 November: No meeting--Thanksgiving holidays


1 October-3 December:  The following students are required to do Draft Exchanges for their fiction manuscripts: Marcus Austin, Niki Bippen, Alicia Costello, Tara McGee, Veronica Nadalin, J J Torres


Thursday, 3 December: Last fiction workshop + discussion of final exam

Fiction final submissions & revision accounts due by noon Monday 7 December

1st Fiction Author:  Amanda Pruett (extra time for final submission)

1st fiction Author’s Discussion Leader: Jeff Derrickson

+

Roundtable discussion of final exams: each student discusses emphases or asks questions on assignments


Thursday, 10 December: Final Exam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

review genres, conventions

genres > fiction basics:

conventions

Question: What are different strengths, appeals of narrative + dialogue?

 

chapter 12. 150 five narrative modes of fiction: dialogue, thought, action, description, & exposition

 

"genres"—types or classes of literature

 

(last week's reading assignment)

145 three types of prose writing: factual, creative, and creative nonfiction

149 plot: conventions, formulas [add elements]

 

So genres are types, kinds or classes of literature (or art, music, etc.)

What are the identifying marks or signs of a genre?

"conventions"

formulas

elements

expectations

can be challenged, varied, or broken

 

genres can go stale > jazz up, refresh

 

genre = contract with the reader

 

 

 

Hard to summarize fiction b/c multi-voiced

"Novel theorists" defend fiction as best imitation of modern reality

modern reality is multi-voiced > novel automatically multi-voiced (narrator + characters in dialogue, each expressing a different take on the world)

poems make you feel, open up your heart-mind to totally new impressions

fiction makes you see or experience reality from different angles, perspectives

 

 

 

 

 

 

ch. 20 (pp. 217-225) Creating Tension

217 pleasant is not a compliment

no complaints, no improvements

(good student / writer = criticism absorbed x rejected as personal attack > learning)

217 lack tension—keeps the reader reading

conflict—internal or external

anxiety of uneasy relation—mutual suspicion

withholding information from reader

conjunction

 

218 conflict x character development & subtlety of theme

x-inner doubts

beginning writers keep characters passive or isolated

 

219 is it resolved? Never fully disappear > manageable

 

220 internal conflict

x-reliance on protagonist’s thoughts

reveal conflicting attitudes < characters act and talk

221 dynamic opening < freshness of initial circumstances & rate at which details revealed

221 flagrant hooks: plot dominated and obvious

221 x-lengthy physical description or character sketch

221 ongoing action in medias res

 

221 actual, ongoing situation

 

222 dramatic questions

 

222 rate of revelation

 

223 blatant suspense > melodrama

 

223 melodrama: intense, unrelenting action

x depth of character and originality

 

223 Is your story long enough to make it credible, or have you packed too much into a short space?

 

223 x-simple winning or losing

 

224 tension should not be most memorable aspect

 

224 revision: relations between characters

 

225 hold interest without sacrificing characterization and thematic insight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Leftover notes from previous classes

 

literary / popular fiction?

Question announced last week:

How are our last two stories ("Escapes" & "Obst Vw"--ch. 22) identifiable as "literary fiction" instead of "popular fiction?"

 

ch. 20

217 lack tension—keeps the reader reading

conflict—internal or external

anxiety of uneasy relation—mutual suspicion

withholding information from reader

 

ch. 21

221 flagrant hooks: plot dominated and obvious

221 actual, ongoing situation

 

 

 

260 simple fiction (thrillers, most historical novels): primarily, action reveals characters > blots out subtle aspects

260 action restrained in sophisticated fiction [cf. “muting rhyme” in poetry]

“Escapes”: traumatic events offstage

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary:

base of support: sales, $, mass market

Popular fiction: usually nothing wrong about it, but little learning involved (which is fine by most people)

popular attitudes reinforced: terrorists have bad manners, children are cute and adorable, a big strong guy who knows what's right will restore order

escapes everyday world of conflicts and complications--boss comes in to worker at desk, "I'm giving you an assignment in Honduras."

 

literary fiction

base of support: intellectuals / writers / teachers / students

if no learning, why bother? Not just did you enjoy, but what did you gain by reading?

popular attitudes complicated or challenged: terrorist has a bad cold, children are cute but troubled, a big strong guy who knows what's right will restore order in which others suffer?

accepts everyday world of conflicts and complications--boss comes in to worker at desk, "I'm giving you a promotion but not a raise."

 

 

Occasional overlap:

Shakespeare, Dickens, Twain, Brontes

 

 

 

 

 

ch. 21 (pp. 226-237) Setting: Where are we?

 

226 setting, or orientation

if delay, good reason

(unstated, even unknown expectations)

 

227 launch; perspective; where

 

227 literary short stories

x-sitcom living room

 

228 distinctive and specific

 

228 descriptions spaced out in fragments to make less obtrusive

 

229 setting to highlight aspect of theme

 

229 prisoners

 

230 actual city or state

imagination

Midcourse—suggest region without names

 

230 actual place, still illusion, imagination

 

231 avoid most obvious aspects of city

 

232 cliché: wake-up opening

start of day: start of story (ends at sunset)

 

235 transformational

in fiction, everything connected

 

236 mute details > stress elements that reader will see as though for the first time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instructor's question for reading assignment:

How are our last two stories ("Escapes" & "Obst Vw") identifiable as "literary fiction" instead of "popular fiction?"

 

 

ch. 22: Dialogue & Thoughts (pp. 238-246);

 

238 x-dialogue > informal essay

reveal character

advance plot

 

238 analyze, eavesdrop

x-tape recording

phatic speech = sociability, x-info

 

239 conventions of fictional dialogue and thoughts

 

239 conventions of dialogue

dialogue tag “s/he said”

okay repeatedly

 

240 alternatives become obtrusive

tone clear from dialogue itself

 

240 x-phonetic spelling—slows pace, draws attention to itself, patronizing

regional flavor < word choice and characteristic phrasing

 

240 if stops advancing plot or advancing understanding of speaker > paraphrase

 

241 paraphrase events not central to story

 

241 indirect quotations in conjunction with direct quotations

 

241 illusion of thoughts

 

242 descriptive passage but not objective

 

243 thoughts, like dialogue, have to be motivated by situation

x-exposition, background facts

 

243 illusion of a foreign language

 

244 word order that is characteristic of that language

cf. Hemingway

 

Pacing: Maintaining forward motion

 

244 thumb through without reading

 

245 speech patterns: character and mood

 

245 people with consistently distinctive speech patterns are a minority

 

245 calm, reflective mood < longer sentences, grammatical

moments of crisis < dialogue becomes fragmentary, abrupt, and frequently redundant

 

 

 

 

 

Ch. 23, 247-55 “Obst Vw” a story by Sharon Solwitz

247 loathing for Rachel > desire for baseball

248 dads, fluke, college

249 inactive

250 flash-forward

251 disappointed Man in his mother’s fiction

251 flashback

 

ch. 24: (256-66): Characterization

256 illusion of actually getting to know people

round x flat

256-7 physical characteristics, conversation ritual = exploration, action, stressful experience

257 how learn about fictional characters

x-leisurely

months > 15 minutes: hints, stealthily

257 x-solid block of characterization

author’s intrusion

258 slows pace; cf. extended physical descriptions

258 maintain forward motion with dialogue, action, thoughts

258 show, don’t tell

258 characterization through dialogue and thoughts

259 Damien’s mother > family myth

260 simple fiction (thrillers, most historical novels): primarily, action reveals characters > blots out subtle aspects

260 action restrained in sophisticated fiction [cf. “muting rhyme” in poetry]

“Escapes”: traumatic events offstage

261 dialogue, thought, action used together in single sentences

262 analysis not same as writing story

intuitive, messy in development

discover more about characters with each new draft

264 three goals of effective characterization

264 consistency, especially for minor characters

265 complexity

establish a pattern, both elements part of same character > fresh insight, but credible

265 individuality > memorable

266 point where distinctiveness turns artificial and unconvincing

> gimmick, contrived and superficial, attention-getter

 

By preferring first person and third person limited, Minot again shows his preference for "literary" creative writing, not "popular"

In popular fiction, "third person omniscient" is still popular

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Genres, ch. 19 (pp. 209-216) A story by Ann Hood. “Escapes”

 

210 invented a story

 

212 almost happy

 

213 but I say none of these things

 

214 smile . . . hurts

 

214 Cal Berkeley . . . ninth grade; cf. 209

 

215 scars are revealed

 

215 no escaping

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ch. 20 (pp. 217-225) Creating Tension

 

217 pleasant is not a compliment

no complaints, no improvements

(good student / writer = criticism absorbed x rejected as personal attack > learning)

 

217 lack tension—keeps the reader reading

conflict—internal or external

anxiety of uneasy relation—mutual suspicion

withholding information from reader

conjunction

 

218 conflict x character development & subtlety of theme

x-inner doubts

beginning writers keep characters passive or isolated

 

219 is it resolved? Never fully disappear > manageable

 

220 internal conflict

x-reliance on protagonist’s thoughts

reveal conflicting attitudes < charactersa ct and talk

 

221 dynamic opening < freshness of initial circumstances & rate at which details revealed

 

221 flagrant hooks: plot dominated and obvious

 

221 x-lengthy physical description or character sketch

 

221 ongoing action in medias res

 

221 actual, ongoing situation

 

222 dramatic questions

 

222 rate of revelation

 

223 blatant suspense > melodrama

 

223 melodrama: intense, unrelenting action

x depth of character and originality

 

223 Is your story long enough to make it credible, or have you packed too much into a short space?

 

223 x-simple winning or losing

 

224 tension should not be most memorable aspect

 

224 revision: relations between characters

 

225 hold interest without sacrificing characterization and thematic insight

 

 

ch. 21 (pp. 226-237) Setting: Where are we?

 

226 setting, or orientation

if delay, good reason

(unstated, even unknown expectations)

 

227 launch; perspective; where

 

227 literary short stories

x-sitcom living room

 

228 distinctive and specific

 

228 descriptions spaced out in fragments to make less obtrusive

 

229 setting to highlight aspect of theme

 

229 prisoners

 

230 actual city or state

imagination

Midcourse—suggest region without names

 

230 actual place, still illusion, imagination

 

231 avoid most obvious aspects of city

 

232 cliché: wake-up opening

start of day: start of story (ends at sunset)

 

235 transformational

in fiction, everything connected

 

236 mute details > stress elements that reader will see as though for the first time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instructor's question for reading assignment:

How are our last two stories ("Escapes" & "Obst Vw") identifiable as "literary fiction" instead of "popular fiction?"

 

 

ch. 22: Dialogue & Thoughts (pp. 238-246);

 

238 x-dialogue > informal essay

reveal character

advance plot

 

238 analyze, eavesdrop

x-tape recording

phatic speech = sociability, x-info

 

239 conventions of fictional dialogue and thoughts

 

239 conventions of dialogue

dialogue tag “s/he said”

okay repeatedly

 

240 alternatives become obtrusive

tone clear from dialogue itself

 

240 x-phonetic spelling—slows pace, draws attention to itself, patronizing

regional flavor < word choice and characteristic phrasing

 

240 if stops advancing plot or advancing understanding of speaker > paraphrase

 

241 paraphrase events not central to story

 

241 indirect quotations in conjunction with direct quotations

 

241 illusion of thoughts

 

242 descriptive passage but not objective

 

243 thoughts, like dialogue, have to be motivated by situation

x-exposition, background facts

 

243 illusion of a foreign language

 

244 word order that is characteristic of that language

cf. Hemingway

 

Pacing: Maintaining forward motion

 

244 thumb through without reading

 

245 speech patterns: character and mood

 

245 people with consistently distinctive speech patterns are a minority

 

245 calm, reflective mood < longer sentences, grammatical

moments of crisis < dialogue becomes fragmentary, abrupt, and frequently redundant

 

 

 

 

 

Ch. 23, 247-55 “Obst Vw” a story by Sharon Solwitz

 

247 loathing for Rachel > desire for baseball

 

248 dads, fluke, college

 

249 inactive

 

250 flash-forward

 

251 disappointed Man in his mother’s fiction

 

251 flashback

 

 

ch. 24: (256-66): Characterization

 

256 illusion of actually getting to know people

round x flat

 

256-7 physical characteristics, conversation ritual = exploration, action, stressful experience

 

257 how learn about fictional characters

x-leisurely

months > 15 minutes: hints, stealthily

 

257 x-solid block of characterization

author’s intrusion

 

258 slows pace; cf. extended physical descriptions

 

258 maintain forward motion with dialogue, action, thoughts

 

258 show, don’t tell

 

258 characterization through dialogue and thoughts

 

259 Damien’s mother > family myth

 

260 simple fiction (thrillers, most historical novels): primarily, action reveals characters > blots out subtle aspects

 

260 action restrained in sophisticated fiction [cf. “muting rhyme” in poetry]

“Escapes”: traumatic events offstage

 

261 dialogue, thought, action used together in single sentences

 

262 analysis not same as writing story

intuitive, messy in development

discover more about characters with each new draft

 

264 three goals of effective characterization

 

264 consistency, especially for minor characters

 

265 complexity

establish a pattern, both elements part of same character > fresh insight, but credible

 

265 individuality > memorable

 

266 point where distinctiveness turns artificial and unconvincing

> gimmick, contrived and superficial, attention-getter

 

By preferring first person and third person limited, Minot again shows his preference for "literary" creative writing, not "popular"

In popular fiction, "third person omniscient" is still popular

 

Paragraphs on subject from my book on Cooper 

 

Today’s tastes in literary fiction discount third-person omniscient viewpoint in favor of more limited perspectives like “first person” and “third-person limited.” With their internal views, these limited styles expose deeper psychological identities and conflicts. In contrast, “omniscient” or “all-seeing” view may appear old-fashioned and shallow. Along with first-person style, omniscient perspective dominated the early novel, with third-person limited perspective developing later. Yet third-person omniscient viewpoint remains standard for mass-market fiction—e. g., The Da Vinci Code or The Hunt for Red October—which rapidly shifts perspective from one character or scene to another like a movie camera. For later readers this resemblance between Cooper’s viewpoint and cinema remains one of the author’s greatest appeals.

Third-person omniscient also succeeds with populous social scenes in which characters’ speech and gestures declare their identities and, to an extent, their inner states of mind. Cooper found this style comfortable for novels of manners like Precaution and The Spy. In Pathfinder he relocates it to the frontier of North America. The novel’s richest social scene is a “shooting match” at Fort Oswego. Like medieval ladies at jousting tournaments in Scott’s Ivanhoe, the spectators—officers’ wives, Mabel, and the common soldiers’ wives—seat themselves on planks according to “the etiquette of rank” (XI). Everything glitters, but all is witnessed from outside.

By 1840, however, fashions in literature were changing. As fiction matured, perspective became more personal. “Third-person limited” point of view focuses selectively on the internal consciousness of individuals. Fiction by Nathaniel Hawthorne such as The Scarlet Letter influenced this style’s development. Abandoning the omniscient’s wide scope, limited viewpoint deepens psychological intensity. The resulting ambiguities appeal to modern tastes for irony and self-deception.

 

 

 




 


 


 

ch. 20 (pp. 217-225) Creating Tension

 

217 pleasant is not a compliment

no complaints, no improvements

(good student / writer = criticism absorbed x rejected as personal attack > learning)

 

217 lack tension—keeps the reader reading

conflict—internal or external

anxiety of uneasy relation—mutual suspicion

withholding information from reader

conjunction

 

218 conflict x character development & subtlety of theme

x-inner doubts

beginning writers keep characters passive or isolated

 

219 is it resolved? Never fully disappear > manageable

 

220 internal conflict

x-reliance on protagonist’s thoughts

reveal conflicting attitudes < characters act and talk

221 dynamic opening < freshness of initial circumstances & rate at which details revealed

221 flagrant hooks: plot dominated and obvious

221 x-lengthy physical description or character sketch

221 ongoing action in medias res

221 actual, ongoing situation

222 dramatic questions

222 rate of revelation

223 blatant suspense > melodrama

223 melodrama: intense, unrelenting action

x depth of character and originality

223 Is your story long enough to make it credible, or have you packed too much into a short space?

223 x-simple winning or losing

224 tension should not be most memorable aspect

224 revision: relations between characters

225 hold interest without sacrificing characterization and thematic insight

 

 

ch. 21 (pp. 226-237) Setting: Where are we?

226 setting, or orientation

if delay, good reason

(unstated, even unknown expectations)

227 launch; perspective; where

227 literary short stories

x-sitcom living room

228 distinctive and specific

228 descriptions spaced out in fragments to make less obtrusive

229 setting to highlight aspect of theme

229 prisoners

230 actual city or state

imagination

Midcourse—suggest region without names

230 actual place, still illusion, imagination

231 avoid most obvious aspects of city

232 cliché: wake-up opening

start of day: start of story (ends at sunset)

235 transformational

in fiction, everything connected

236 mute details > stress elements that reader will see as though for the first time