04.06.11: UPDATE

READING: For Monday's class session, please read pages 195-202 in Best American Essays; likewise, read pages 3-16 and 78-83 in Telling True Stories.

WRITING: Write a one page, single-spaced "Contributor's Note," similar to Martone's piece for Monday. We will be working with these in class, so come prepared to read and talk about one another's work.

NOTE: We will not have class on Friday. Instead, we will attend the Clean Part Reading at the Drift Station at 7PM on Saturday. For more information on the readers, as well as specific directions, check out the reading series' blog.

04.04.11: UPDATE

READING: For Wednesday's class session, please read both the Martone and Masello essays, which can be found on pages 131-138 in Best American Essays (2005).

WRITING: Please read the portfolio guidelines in the blog post below.

FICTION PORTFOLIO

For your final, Fiction Portfolio, please place all materials in a pocketed-folder in the following order and arrangement:

The left-side pocket should contain all the workshop peer-reviews. Each review should be separately stapled and be comprised of that specific day's cover sheet, which is to be properly filled out, and the corresponding paragraphs that were written by your reviewer.

The rights-side pocket, from bottom-to-top, should contain the earlier draft on which I wrote and annotated, the final, polished draft of your story, and a one page, single-spaced author's note that addresses your composition process, focusing primarily (but not exclusively) on our revisions. As opposed to merely listing the global alterations you made (I'm not interesting in line-item edits), please provide explanations for why you made those particular revisions, referencing both craft-oriented changes spurred on by Building Fiction and model-based changes inspired by the stories we read in Best American Short Stories (2008). Please staple the author's note and final draft together.

FICTION WORKSHOP 4

FICTION WORKSHOP 4

Reviewer:_____________________ Reviewed:_____________________

1) For the first step of today's workshop, exchange hard-copies of your rough draft with someone in your assigned workshop group and read their story from beginning to end.

2) Once you read your partner's entire story, write one paragraph wherein you a) diagnose what type of opening your peer employs for their short story and b) assess its overall use, implementation, and effectiveness. Make sure you offer critical suggestions for how the opening functions, or could function better.

3) Write a new opening for your peer's story that is at least one paragraph in length. The new opening should be of a different type. For example, if the story you read begins with an "Into the Pot" style opening, try your hand at "Calm Before the Story" or "Statement to the Jury" style opening.

4) Write one paragraph wherein you a) diagnose what type of ending your peer employs for their short story (i.e. understands or fails to understand), b) address whether or not they make use of a symbolic gesture or object, and c) assess its overall use, implementation, and effectiveness. Again, as with the openings, make sure you offer critical suggestions for how the opening functions, or could function better.

5) Write a new closing for your peer's story that is at least one paragraph in length. The new closing should conclude the story differently and should focus on the crisis point (decision the central character makes), falling action, and resolution (if the ending is not ambiguous).

NOTE: When writing your responses to your peer's short stories, make sure you incorporate specific concepts and terminology from Kercheval's Building Fiction. Likewise, when offering revisions to your partner's conflict and scenes, refer to particular examples from the selections we've read in Best American Short Storiesduring this genre cycle as models of justification for why you've made certain suggestions

FICTION WORKSHOP 3

FICTION WORKSHOP 3

Reviewer:_____________________ Reviewed:_____________________

1) For the first step of today's workshop, exchange hard-copies of your rough draft with someone in your assigned workshop group and read their story from beginning to end.

2) Once you read your partner's entire story, write two paragraphs concerning the characterization of the central characters. The first paragraph should detail the external characterization. Does the writer offer limited but salient traits for the audience to visualize the main characters? What visually differentiates them? How do they sound (i.e. speak)? Does the writer employ dialect? If so, what problems could arise from this choice? Additionally, what textures, smells, and tastes describe these characters? If the writer does not use any of these senses to develop the main characters, what can you suggest? The second paragraph should detail the internal characterization of the main characters. Does the writer provide insights into the psyche, desires etc. of the main characters through the creation or development of thoughts, memories, dreams, and imaginings? If so, do these moments occur at appropriate times throughout the story? Are they presented with subtlety, or do they read as heavy-handed? Likewise, as Kercheval writes, such thoughts function best within the framework of a story when they reveal something about the characters that the characters themselves are reluctant to reveal. Given this claim, do the thoughts of the main character in your peer's story operate in such a manner?

3) How does the writer employ or engage minor characters? Do they serve a specific purpose, in that they work to move the plot forward or reveal a particular characteristic about the one of the main characters? If the story contains minor characters that are superfluous to the narrative or development of the main characters, how could they be altered or re-introduced so that they properly accomplish this task? If the story you are reading does not contain minor characters, suggest ways in which your peer could write them into the story. Write at least two paragraphs the deal with this issues.

NOTE: When writing your responses to your peer's short stories, make sure you incorporate specific concepts and terminology from Kercheval's Building Fiction. Likewise, when offering revisions to your partner's conflict and scenes, refer to particular examples from the selections we've read in Best American Short Stories during this genre cycle as models of justification for why you've made certain suggestions