Syllabus ENGL 210C
Genres of Creative Writing
General Information
Term: Winter 2022
Lecture Number: 02
Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 1:00-2:30 (Synchronous online until Jan. 27)
Location: LEARN and Microsoft Teams until Jan. 27; after that, PAS 2086
Instructor
Bruce Dadey
Office: Hagey Hall 257 (not on campus winter 20220
Email: badadey@uwaterloo.ca
Office Hours: Online Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:30-3:30 p.m.
Course Description and Objectives
Catalogue Description: This course introduces students to both contemporary and historical forms of creative writing. Students will explore genres of poetry, prose, and/or drama through their own writing. Students will also investigate the culture of publishing, learn key revision strategies, and workshop the writing of their peers to develop their critical abilities.
In this offering of ENGL 210C we will be concentrating on two genres: short fiction and poetry. We'll be starting off the course online, but we'll switch to in-person classes at the end of January, circumstances permitting. This is a writing-focused course, so you'll be doing a lot of writing and a lot of commenting on other people's writing.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course, students will
- Understand the basic elements and conventions of fiction and be able to employ them to write their own works of short fiction.
- Understand the basic elements and conventions of poetry and be able to employ them to write in a variety of poetic forms.
- Be familiar with a variety of methods for producing fiction and poetry, and choose those methods that best suit their own writing processes.
- Be aware of options for sharing and publishing their written work.
Texts
All texts for the course are provided in LEARN and Teams.
Assignments
- Short Story 1 10%
- Short Story 2 15%
- Poem or poem collection 15%
- Peer Editing 15%
- Exercises 15%
- Final Portfolio 25%
- Participation 5%
Details of assignments will be distributed during the course.
Schedule
This schedule is tentative and may change if we return to in-person classes.
|
Week |
Topic and Readings |
Activities and Assignments |
|---|---|---|
|
1 Jan. 6-7 |
Introductions Thursday: Flash Fiction |
|
|
2 Jan. 10-14 |
Writing Fiction Tuesday: Six Word Stories and Flash Fiction; "Writers on Writing"; Lamott, "Shitty First Drafts" Thursday: LeGuin, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"; Hawthorne, "Young Goodman Brown"; Coover, "The Babysitter" |
Monday: Introductions, Exercises |
|
3 Jan. 17-21 |
Showing and Telling Tuesday: Peer work Thursday: Bloom, "Silver Water"; Hemingway, "A Cat in the Rain"; Bradbury, "The Veldt" |
Monday: Exercises Friday: Short Story 1 Draft Due |
|
4 Jan. 24-28 |
Creating Character Tuesday: Peer Work Thursday: O'Connor, "A Good Man is Hard to Find"; Carver, "Cathedral"; Kincaid, "Girl" |
Monday: Exercises Friday: Short Story 1 Feedback Due |
|
5 Jan. 31-Feb. 4 |
Narrating the Story Tuesday: Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants"; Thompson-Spires, "Suicide, Watch"; King, "Strawberry Spring"; Gaiman, "Down to a Sunless Sea" Thursday: Peer work |
Monday: Exercises Friday: Short Story 1 Due |
|
6 Feb. 7-11 |
Dialogue Tuesday: Lecture Thursday: Peer work |
Monday: Exercises Friday: Short Story 2 Draft Due |
|
7 Feb. 14-18 |
Style and Setting Tuesday: Cisneros, "Woman Hollering Creek" Kincaid, "Girl," and Borges, "The Library of Babel" Thursday: Peer work |
Wednesday: Exercises Friday: Short Story 2 Feedback Due |
|
Feb. 21-25 |
Reading Week |
|
|
8 Feb. 28-Mar. 4 |
Writing Poetry/Imagery Tuesday: Poetry 1 Thursday: Peer work |
Wednesday: Exercises |
|
9 Mar. 7-11 |
Using Sound Tuesday: TBA Thursday: Peer work |
Monday: Short Story 2 Due Wednesday: Exercises |
|
10 Mar. 14-18 |
Poetic Structure/Figurative Language Tuesday: TBA Thursday: Peer work |
Wednesday: Exercises |
|
11 Mar. 21-25 |
Genres of Poetry Tuesday: TBA Thursday: Peer work |
Wednesday: Exercises |
|
12 Mar. 28-Apr. 1 |
Genres of Poetry Tuesday: TBA Thursday: Peer work |
Monday: Poetry Drafts Due Wednesday: Exercises Friday: Poetry Feedback Due |
|
13 Apr. 4-5 |
Sharing and Publishing Tuesday: Peer work |
Tuesday: Poetry Assignment Due |
Portfolio due April 15
Course Policies
Assignments and Class Procedures
- Exercise assignments are to be submitted to the appropriate folder or dropbox by noon of the due date. All other assignments are to be submitted to the appropriate course dropbox by 11:55 p.m. of the due date, unless otherwise specified.
- Assignments that are late without good reason will be penalized at a rate of two percentage points for every week day late (10% per week). Exercise assignments will not be accepted if late.
- Class discussion is a prominent part of the course, so students are expected to attend all classes, whether online or in-person, and to come with the readings completed. In my lectures and in my questions to the class and individuals I will assume the assigned readings have been done. Attendance is one of the foundations of your participation mark (You can’t participate if you’re not in class!), but it is also based on how active you were in class. In general, you are given two absences' grace, and then your base mark goes down one per cent for every class missed. From there, the mark might go up based on your class activity, but too many absences could lead to a mark of zero.
- We will often be using email to communicate with one another. All email communication will occur through your uWaterloo account, which you should check regularly.
Electronics
When we return to in-person classes, please mute your phones and do not use them in class. If you have a genuine emergency for which your phone is needed during a particular class, contact me beforehand. Laptops and tablets are allowed for class-related purposes only. Use of devices for non-class-related purposes (surfing, email, chatting) or in a manner that is distracting to other students will lead to my requesting that you not bring your device to class. At some points in the class I may ask the class to shut their laptops.
Academic integrity
In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.]
Grievance
A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.
Discipline
A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.] A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties, check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.
Appeals
A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals.
Note for students with disabilities
AccessAbility Services, located in Needles Hall, Room 1401, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.