LITR 3731 Creative Writing
 
Lecture Notes

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

Reading assignment:  Three Genres, ch. 22 (pp. 238-246)

Reading highlight: Karina Ramos

1^st Fiction Author: Jeff Derrickson

1^st fiction Author’s Discussion Leader: Amanda Pruett

2^nd Fiction Author: Jennifer M. Leonard

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

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

1^st Fiction Author: Naomi Gonzales

1^st fiction Author’s Discussion Leader: Ryan Smith

2^nd Fiction Author:  Christi Wood

2^nd 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

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

1^st 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

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