CRWR 404:
Creative Writing for the Professional
Market
Fall 2013
Instructor:
Cynthia Hand Struloeff, Ph.D.
Class Time:
T Fr 12:00-1:50 p.m.
Class Location: CAC
214
Office Location: CAC 205
Office Hours: F 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. or by appointment
Home Phone: I gave it to you in class (No calls after 10 pm or before 7 am)
E-mail: CStruloeff@aol.com
CATALOG COURSE DESCRIPTION
An advanced-level course in
writing popular and literary forms with an emphasis on style and on producing
publishable work. Course writing is supplemented with texts and professional
market guides.
PREREQUISITES
Prerequisite: CRWR 303.
CREDIT HOURS
Four (4) units. This translates to approximately 2-3 hours of
studying outside of the classroom for every hour you spend in the classroom for
the course. (Which means you should spend 8-12 hours per week studying for this
course. Ha. But seriously, how accurate this estimate is depends on how fast
you read.)
COURSE OBJECTIVES (Learning Outcomes)
·
To advance as a writer of fiction in
general, literary short stories in particular.
·
To gain a working knowledge of the publishing
industry.
·
To effectively establish and improve
critical and analytical skills in the oral and written interpretation of both
manuscripts and published creative writing.
In
other words: to become a better writer, to learn how publishing works, and to hone
your skills in reading and analyzing creative work.
COURSE FORMAT
Class
will meet once a week, with each meeting lasting a little less than 4
hours. Class will consist of lecture on
the writing craft, discussions of published work, a short break, writing
exercises, and class workshops.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
·
Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular by Rust Hills.
·
The Best American Short Stories 2012. Edited by Tom Perotta.
·
Volt by Alan
Heathcock.
·
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by
ZZ Packer.
·
2014 Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market. Edited by Rachel
Randall.
·
Access to the internet and a Dropbox
account
·
A binder to hold all of the handouts with
extra notebook paper.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Stories: You will write
TWO complete 10-20 page stories for the semester. All
work must be typed, double-spaced, titled, and page numbered. Use a 12 point font size in Times New Roman
font with one inch margins. You will
upload this story into our Student Stories Dropbox folder in the appropriate
week by 10am on the day the story is due (see the workshop schedule for the
specifics).
WARNING: Because
I take workshops so seriously, if you do
upload your story on the day that it is due, you can expect your assignment
grade to drop by a full letter.
If you are having trouble writing or finishing your story, please
contact me and I will read what you have and help you.
Workshops: Much of our class time will be spent in what writers refer to
as workshops. You should come to class
having closely read and marked the student stories up for discussion,
and also equipped with a 1 (single spaced) page typed critique that I may ask
you to read on occasion and that I will collect. Make two
copies of these letters, one to give back to your colleague along with
his or her story at the end of the workshop session, and the other to give to
me at the end of the class.
Readings: Every week I will assign readings from class texts or handouts
that I will provide. You should come to
class having fully read the material and prepared to participate in discussion
on it. As a rule of thumb, always come
with two or three passages from the text that you would like to examine. There will be periodic quizzes.
Conferences: The
week after your first story is workshopped, I will schedule a conference so
that you may speak with me one-on-one about how you feel your workshop went,
your writing, ideas, and whatever else it would benefit you to discuss. These conferences are mandatory.
WIG Leader: Several times throughout
the semester you will be responsible for "unpacking" a section from
Rust Hills: you will come to the class ready to summarize the gist of each
section and add some questions / comments of your own.
Publishing Topics Group Project: In the early weeks of
the class you will be divided up into groups of 2 or 3 and pick a topic about
the publishing industry that interests you. Then your group will research this
topic and be responsible for leading the discussion on the day we discuss it.
Portfolio: The
portfolio will be due at the end of the semester, (December 11 by 1pm) and it
will constitute 50% of your final grade.
The portfolio consists of:
1.
Your submission packet (a revised story,
query letter, SASE (plus a letter to me about your choice of journal, publication
strategy, and a printed copy of your tracking system).
2.
Your best 2 responses to other people’s
stories.
3.
An end-of-the-semester letter, detailing
your progress as a writer over the course of the semester.
COURSE POLICIES
Attendance:
·
You will be expected to attend every
class. Simply put, if you miss class,
your grade will suffer. If you have more than THREE absences
for any reason, your grade will drop one grade step for each absence
(e.g. A to A-, B+ to B, C-to D. . .) With excessive absences (6 or more)
you will fail the course. I
realize that sometimes emergencies will come up, but more importantly, you
should realize this and save those free absences for a time when you will
really need them.
·
It is
inexcusable to miss a day in class when you own work is to be discussed. You will go to fiction
writer’s Hades for such heinous abuse of our time. In the case that the unimaginable does
happen, you can expect your grade to drop at least one full letter, and I might
even allow the class to poke you with pointy objects.
·
If you do happen to miss a class, you are
responsible for all announcements made, policies set, and materials covered
during any class meeting. Please check our
Dropbox folder for materials handed out in class.
·
Students who participate in official
University activities (athletics, debate, drama, etc.) need to submit to me by
the end of the second week of classes a schedule of events that will require
them to miss class. Non-validated
absences will be penalized accordingly.
·
3 tardies equals an absence
Participation:
Each day in the course we will be discussing and/or engaging in
writing. Whether we are working in small groups or as a whole class, I will expect
active participation from everyone, which means engagement in course materials
and in-class assignments, as well as sharing your opinions in small group and
whole-class discussions. Each day I will
award you one point for participating in the course. If you don’t speak, you will not receive a
participation point for the day. I also occasionally require participation in
posts on our website, which will be given points in the same fashion.
Extra Credit:
I
will occasionally bestow an extra participation point upon you if your
contribution to the class discussion on a given day was simply outstanding, or
if you. Other ways you can earn extra
credit participation points in my class:
·
Attending published fiction or poetry
readings. There are a few of these on
campus every semester and several readings in the larger LA area. To get credit you must write a quick
response/analysis of the reading.
·
Attending amateur readings, such as student
readings or area open mics. Again, you
must write up a short response in order to receive credit.
·
Commenting in a meaningful way on the
course website.
Late work: I do not accept late work, not even in the face of the modern
“the dog ate my homework” excuse-- “the
computer ate my homework.” I recommend
saving your stories, exercises, and responses to the hard-drive if possible,
saving to two disks if not possible, and making frequent hard copies. If you have a problem meeting a scheduled
deadline, please discuss this with me prior to when the assignment is due and
we will work something out.
Academic Integrity:
Within
Seaver College Code of Academic Ethics, sanctions are imposed upon those who
participate in dishonest academic behavior.
Three basic categories of dishonorable behavior are noted below, along
with several examples of each. This is
neither an exhaustive list of examples not an exhaustive list of categories of
dishonorable behavior.
1. Misrepresentation of
academic work:
a.
Plagiarism: To plagiarize is to use the words, ideas, or
original research of another entity (person or organization) without proper
citation or acknowledgment. Always
reference (credit) the source of the words, ideas, or research in the text of
your writing. If you use the exact words
of another entity, use quotation marks for quotations shorter than 40
words. For quotations longer than 40
words, use block format.
b.
Submission of the same paper/work for
credit/grading for two or more courses.
c.
Submission of a purchased paper for credit.
d.
Submission of an assignment
prepared/completed by another person (or persons)
2. Interference with fair competition and with independent
intellectual pursuits.
a.
Giving, receiving, or using unauthorized
aid on quizzes or exams
b.
Colluding with others when independent work
is specified
c.
Deliberate defacing or removing course
materials and thereby making them unavailable to others
3. Solicitation of dishonorable behavior.
a.
Offering to buy or sell unauthorized aid on
exams or assignments
b.
Offering or accepting bribes related to
academic work
WARNING: I report all violations of the Seaver College
Code of Academic Ethics to the Academic Integrity Committee.
Students with Disabilities:
The
Disability Services Office (DSO) offers a variety of services and
accommodations to students with disabilities based on appropriate
documentation, nature of disability, and academic need. In order to initiate services, students must
meet with the Director of DSO at the beginning of the semester to discuss
reasonable accommodations. If a student
does not provide documentation to DSO and request accommodations, then the
faculty member is under no obligation to provide accommodations. You may contact the Director of DSO at Tyler
Campus Center 264, ext. 6500. Go to http://www.pepperdine.edu/disabilitiesservices/ for additional information.
Dropbox / Courses (Sakai): Nearly
everything that I use in this class (the syllabus, schedule, workshop and
presentation schedules, hand-outs, assignments, and so on) is posted in our
Dropbox folder. Again, if you miss a day
of class, it is your responsibility
to find out what needs to be done for the next class, and to come to class
prepared. If for some reason you cannot
find what you need in Dropbox, please e-mail me or one of your fellow students
(all of our e-mails can be found on Courses) and arrange to get the
materials. I will also attempt to keep a
current grade standing on Courses.
GRADING
50% Portfolio (The quality, effort, and revision
that I find in your collected work at the end of the semester.)
25% Assignments (Quizzes, peer responses, presentations, and exercises. I will grade these for quality, effort, and
simply whether or not you turn them in is a big part of it.)
25% Participation (Your level of involvement in class discussions and the quality
of your feedback.)
Grading Scale:
A 93-100
A-
90-92
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B-
80-82
C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C-
70-72
D+ 67-69
D 63-66
D- 60-62
F below 60
Qualifier:
Changes
to the requirement are extremely unlikely to occur. However, I reserve the right to change the
nature, number, and weights of the course requirements. Any changes will be announced in class or by
e-mail before they take effect.
