04.13.11: UPDATE

READING: For Friday's class, please read pages 109-121 in Telling True Stories, and pages 271-278 in Best American Essays (2005).

WRITING: In addition to more formally incorporating today's in-class writing assignments into your 1-page, single-spaced anecdote of a mundane or common-place event, extend the narrative so that it reaches the 2-page, single-spaced mark. Do not continue on with the narrative, but instead, develop, enhance, and intensify your current anecdote by incorporating highly-specific and descriptive writing that offers readers a detailed, sensory experience from both long and short narrative distances, as well as cultivating a more thorough context. To this extent, think about when long-range, mid-range, or short-range distance would best serve your piece. Likewise, incorporate small bits of dialogue in order to reveal something about the narrative voice and its relation to another character.

REMINDER: Your 1-page, single-spaced responses to last Saturday's reading are due at the beginning of Friday's class-session.

04.11.11: UPDATE

WRITING: Write a 1-page, single-space anecdote of a mundane or common-place event that occurred during the past week of your life. In an effort to make this event interesting, though, develop your character (i.e. the "I" of your essay) in such manner that you create a theatrical or dramatic persona by highlighting a particular idiosyncrasy, personality tic, or peculiar aspects of yourself.

Additionally, you also will need to write a 1-page, single-spaced response to a particular image, phrase, or poem (or 2 poems if you're engaging in a relevant comparative analysis) from Saturday's reading. Responses will be due Friday and will be worth 5 points.

READING: For next class session, please read pages 97-108 in Telling True Tales, as well as pages 1-8 in Best American Essays.