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ENGLISH 208 CREATIVE WRITING

Contact Information

  • Prof. M. Marca
  • Department of English
  • mary.marca@csun.edu
  • Office Phone: (818) 677-0917
  • Office Hours: TR 9:30-11:00 or by appointment
  • Office: ST 425

Instructional Materials

All books are available at the Matador Bookstore.

Additional Materials

  1. 8 1/2” x 11” notebook paper
  2. CSUN Email account

Important Notices

Plagiarism Policy: DON'T DO IT.
Plagiarism is “Intentionally or knowingly representing the words, ideas, or work of another as one’s own in any academic exercise.” (CSUN Catalog.) “Cheating or plagiarism in connection with an academic program . . . (is) an offense for which a student may be expelled, suspended, or given a less severe disciplinary sanction.” (CSUN Catalog.)

Policies

Student Conduct Code

Academic Policy

English Major: The Creative Writing Option

Class Accommodations

Accommodations will be extended to Students with Disabilities. If you will need this accommodation, please notify instructor as soon as possible.

  1. Center On Disabilities
  2. National Center On Deafness

Course Information Overview

Course Description


This course is an introductory workshop course in creative writing. The emphasis is on student responses to structured exercises designed to familiarize them with the form and process of writing in Drama, Poetry, and Narrative Fiction. The students will participate in small-group workshops, as well as full-class workshops. We will discuss professional and student material to try to determine how a writer creates material, what works, what doesn't work, and why. The goal of this course is to provide a safe environment for the beginning writer to nurture his/her own writing life.

Course Prerequisites

Prerequisite:

Completion of the lower division writing requirement (English 155 or equivalent)

 

Course Requirements

WRITING
Weekly Writing Exercises (plays, poems, short stories).

Each student must sign up for one whole-class workshop date for at least two genres (schedule permitting). One week before the date, s/he will make copies of the work and pass them out to the entire class (or post in Moodle when instructed.) No make-ups for these workshops. All students will then workshop the other students' assignments in small groups. Enough copies must be made for each small-group participant. The weekly writing assignment turned in to me must be attached to their rough drafts.

Writing and Reading Journals: (See below)
Final Project.

For the Final Project the student may choose from the following: six revised poems, or the revised full-length short story (5-8 pages, double-spaced with 1" margins), or the revised one-act play (5-8 pages).The Final Project is an exercise in revision and therefore must be attached to the original exercises that bear my comments.

The Exercises and the Final Project must be submitted in a PORTFOLIO at the end of the semester, so students are urged to file papers carefully.

Do not plagiarize. Penalties are severe, i.e. a grade of F for the semester.

ATTENDANCE:

This is a workshop class so attendance is mandatory. Please notify me before class if you absolutely must be absent. Any absences will affect your grade, but each absence after five will LOWER your final grade one full grade.

PARTICIPATION: 15%

All students are expected to participate in the writing and the discussions of student and professional writing. You will be expected to participate in the class discussions of the assigned readings, although we may not have time to get to them all. Responses to student writing will be through written comments and through class discussions. All written or spoken comments must be delivered in a spirit of constructive discussion.


WRITING JOURNAL: 15%-- BRING TO ALL CLASS MEETINGS

In this journal you will reflect on the writing exercises, what you learned from them, anything that surprised you, and your responses to your group's comments about your work. They should be an informal notebook of your writing ideas or plans. You might include a list of words or lines that surprised or interested you. Or you might want to analyze more formally your response to a particularly provocative work. At other times you will comment on your peers' writing, what you learned, and how you would like to use the lessons in your own work. There must be thoughtful comment and reflection each week on the class readings and on YOUR OWN writing. I expect to see three-four pages weekly. Your writing journal must be up-to-date at all times. The journal responses may be hand-written or typed. I will collect them intermittently to check on your progress. Final Journal due May 3.


READING JOURNAL: 10%

Written responses to the professional writing must be posted in Moodle. Your focus should be about the way in which the authors use words, sentence, and paragraphs, the effectiveness of their techniques and the ways in which you could, or would not, try those techniques in your own work. Content (what the story is about) is secondary. Your reading journal must be up-to-date at all times. (10 required responses)


PORTFOLIO:

At the end of the semester I will collect a portfolio of work from each student. This portfolio contains of all of the writing exercises, plus the Final Project in your selected genre. The Final Project will consist of: the revised final play, or six revised poems, or the revised final short story. The Final Project is an exercise in revision and therefore must be attached to the original exercises that bear my comments.
Due May 10 .

GRADING GUIDELINES:

The final grade is based on the Final Project, the responses to the writing exercises, the quality of the writing in the portfolio, the improvement made during the semester, critical contributions (class participation), and the reading and writing journals. The Portfolio must contain all of the written material for this class except for the Moodle posts. I use the Plus/Minus grading system.

 

Grading

Exercises 30%
Writing Journal 15%
Reading Journal (in Moodle) 10%
Class Participation 15%
Final Project 30%

 

Course Schedule

DUE DATES: Non-negotiable.
Poetry and Drama exercises are single-spaced.
Short stories and fiction exercises must be double-spaced, using 12 point font and one-inch margins.
Student must keep all originals and give me copies.

 

SCHEDULE:

Weeks 1-2: Creating characters
Weeks 3-6: Drama.
Weeks 7-10: Narrative Fiction
Weeks 11-15: Poetry.

Writing Journal due: May 3

Portfolio due: May 10

Final Project due: May 10 in the Portfolio. (See Portfolio above.)