CRW 325E  l  Personal Essay-WB

Instructor:  Casares, O

Unique #:  35325

Semester:  Spring 2021

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  One of the following: C L 315, E 303D (or 603B), (316K,) 316L, 316M, 316N, 316P, 316K, or T C 303D (or 603B).

Description:  Students in this course will read, discuss, and write a wide range of personal essays.  Different from the persuasive and analytic essays students write for other classes, the personal essay is a literary genre related to the memoir and autobiography.  A major component of this form is the writer’s “voice” on the page, which we will spend a considerable amount of time identifying in various texts.  The goal here is for students to become more aware of the writer’s language, both in its tonality and rhythm, as well its impact on the reader, and then use this insight to write their own personal narratives.  Every student will write two personal essays that will be discussed in a workshop setting.  Students will revise one of these essays by the end of the semester.  During the workshop phase of the course, students will also write critiques for every essay discussed in class.

Requirements & Grading:  Essays 50%; Revision 30%; Class Participation (including critiques) 20%

CRW 325F  l  Fiction Writing-WB

Instructor:  Sylvester, N

Unique #:  35335

Semester:  Spring 2021

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  One of the following: C L 315, E 303D (or 603B), (316K,) 316L, 316M, 316N, 316P, or T C 303D (or 603B).

Description:  This is an entry-level course on the craft of writing fiction.  Using a combination of short stories and novel excerpts, we’ll learn about the fundamental elements of narrative and how to use them to tell the stories each writer is called to tell.  Classes will be a combination of lecture, in-class writing prompts, discussion, and workshop participation with an emphasis on fostering the trust and community necessary for providing effective feedback on peers’ creative work.  During workshop, we will also discuss effective tools for revising, rewriting, and reimagining an original draft to improve it.

Texts:  Craft in the Real World, Matthew Salesses, Catapult (publisher).  Handouts and excerpts will be provided in class.

Requirements & Grading:  Two writing assignments: 35% each; class participation, workshop discussion: 30%. No final exam.

CRW 325F  l  Fiction Writing-WB

Instructor:  Harvey, J (aka E Carey)

Unique #:  35330

Semester:  Spring 2021

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  One of the following: C L 315, E 303D (or 603B), (316K,) 316L, 316M, 316N, 316P, or T C 303D (or 603B).

Description:  In this class, we will discuss, dissect, criticize, and write short fiction.  We will examine through each other's work and through work previously written the possibilities of the short story.  We shall examine topics such as character, dialogue, setting, plot and language.  Students will read each other’s work with rigor and generosity.

Requirements & Grading:  Attendance: Regular attendance is essential.  A workshop class is a community, and if you don’t show up to discuss your colleagues’ work, there’s no reason for them to read yours with any attention.

You may miss two classes without it affecting the final grade in your class.  You will fail the class after four absences.  Perfect attendance will improve your grade.  Please let me know ahead of time if you know you will miss a class for any reason.

Please be on time to class.  More than four late arrivals will affect your final grade.

Please submit stories to the class via e-mail before class the day your story is due.  I will send out an e-mail list after the first class meeting.  Make sure your work is double-spaced and page-numbered.

Laptops are not allowed to be open and on during class.  Please bring in hard copies of all notes you may need to consult.

All work must be original—that is both your own work, and written for this class.  Please do not recycle work written for other courses.  Do not submit work written by other people, even substantially rewritten.  That includes characters and scenarios: please, no fan fiction or alternate versions of other people’s published work.  If you have any questions, please talk to me.  For additional information on Academic Integrity, see http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acadint.php 

FOR WORKSHOP:  you are required to read the other students’ work and to type at least two paragraphs of respectful critical response.  Please bring in two copies of your critiques, one for the author, and one for me in hard copy.  If I don’t have a hard copy of your student critiques, they will be marked as missing.  You are responsible for critiques even if you are absent for the workshop.

GRADING:  WRITTEN COMMENTS ON OTHER STUDENTS’ WORK: 15%; CLASS PARTICIPATION: 20%; CLASS ASSIGNMENTS: 20%; FIRST STORY: 20%; SECOND STORY: 25%; each story must be a minimum of six pages, double-spaced.

CRW 330  l  Literature for Writers-WB

Instructor:  Berry, B

Unique #:  35340

Semester:  Spring 2021

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  One of the following: CRW 325 (or E 325), 325F (or E 325F), 325M, 325P (or E 325P).

Description:  “Literature for Writers” is a fledgling course, though new courses are frequently the perfect opportunity in which to create unique and vibrant writing.  CRW 330, originally created for graduate creative writers, is only in its second semester at the undergraduate level, so we are all getting in on the ground floor of what I plan to be a memorable course.  The class will introduce to creative writers literary readings that inspire, motivate, and encourage the best from one’s own work.  Sportswriter Red Smith famously quipped “Writing’s easy.  You just sit down at the typewriter and open a vein.”  But focused assignments and professional advice on what to write and how to do so can make the job easier, ideally resulting in solid, memorable results.  Thoughtful direction, motivation, and imaginative prompts that seek imaginative responses are tools of the trade that I will use to encourage the best writing from my students, forging a strong foundation for the future of your craft, what I like to call the writing life.

We will look with a careful eye at several successful writers whose prose offers highly “teachable” literature.  We will focus on such strategies as point of view, voice, place, atmosphere, author imitation, character names and development, and of course plot.  We will neither study nor be writing sci-fi, fantasy (gothic or otherwise), or YA (as in Young Adult).

Texts:  We will most likely be using a textbook by the aptly named Francine Prose, Reading for Writers: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them.  (I might also be using various writing examples and suggestions from Janet Burroway’s Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft, but this text will not be required.)  We will also be reading Australian writer Kate Jennings’ novel Snake, a unique novel in its plot and telling, probably like nothing you have ever read.  We will read from master stylist Ernest Hemingway’s first story collection, In Our Time, published when Hemingway was 27.  We will also be reading a memoir, which is what I am working on in my own writing at present, so I won’t have a final choice in that important category until nearer the beginning of our course.  I will post required course texts on Canvas when they are available.

Requirements & Grading:  There will be weekly writing briefs, written responses to both the readings and my own writing assignment concoctions (which I try to make challenging, fun, and rewarding).  One piece of writing will be initiated early and revised through the semester.  Specifics will be outlined on the course syllabus, presently a work in progress.

CRW 340F  l  Short Story Workshop

Instructor:  LaSalle, P

Unique #:  35350

Semester:  Spring 2021

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  CRW 325F (or E 325F), or 325M.

Description:  This is an intermediate fiction-writing course.

The student will be responsible for two complete short stories, 10-15 pages each.

Student work will be examined in class with workshop discussion, and the student will meet with the instructor in conference to discuss projects and progress.

There will also be discussion of some larger ideas concerning theory and technique of fiction writing, reading from an anthology of short stories, and a project involving reading and reporting on literary magazines.

Requirements & Grading:  The grade will be a matter, essentially, of the quality of the written work (90%); in-class quizzes and class participation will also be figured in (10%).

This is a writing course with no final exam.

CRW 340F  l  Short Story Workshop-WB

Instructor:  Unferth, D

Unique #:  35365

Semester:  Spring 2021

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  CRW 325F (or E 325F), or 325M.

Description:  This is an intermediate course in fiction writing for students working toward the creative writing certificate.  Students will write three original stories of 7-12 pages each and write extensive comments (1-2 pages) on their classmates’ stories.  All work must be original, written for this class, not for another class taken earlier or concurrently.

Texts:  This course is primarily a workshop, but we will also read some published stories for discussion of craft.  These stories will be posted on Canvas.

Requirements & Grading:  Three stories (7-12 pages each) and writing critiques.

Story 1: 20%; Story 2: 20%; Story 3: 20%; Writing critiques of classmates’ stories: 20%; Class participation: 20%.

CRW 340F  l  Short Story Workshop-WB

Instructor:  Sylvester, N

Unique #:  35360

Semester:  Spring 2021

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  CRW 325F (or E 325F), or 325M.

Description:  This class is primarily a workshop with a focus on writing the short story and aided by the study of contemporary models. Classes will be a combination of craft discussion and workshop participation with an emphasis on fostering the trust and community necessary for providing effective feedback on peers’ creative work. During workshop, we will also discuss effective tools for revising, rewriting, and reimagining an original draft to improve it.

Texts:  Various texts will be provided in class.

Requirements & Grading:  Two short stories (each 8-15 pages) that will be discussed in a

Workshop, 60%. One of these stories will be revised for an additional grade, 30%. Classroom participation, 10%.  There will be no final exam.

CRW 340F  l  Short Story Workshop-WB

Instructor:  Casares, O

Unique #:  35355

Semester:  Spring 2021

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  CRW 325F (or E 325F), or 325M.

Description:  Practice in writing the short story, with study of contemporary models.

This course is designed for students who have already taken Fiction Writing (325F or 325M) and have a serious interest in writing fiction.  Since the class is primarily a workshop, we will discuss student work for the majority of the semester.

Texts: Various texts posted on Canvas

Requirements & Grading:  Students are required to write two short stories (each 8-15 pages) that will be discussed in a workshop.  One of these stories will be revised for an additional grade.  For all the other student work discussed in class, you will be responsible for writing detailed critiques (1-2 pages).  Attendance is required.  There will be no final exam.

Two Stories, 50%; Revision, 30%; Class participation, 20%

CRW 340P  l  Poetry Workshop-WB

Instructor:  Bennett, C

Unique #:  35370

Semester:  Spring 2021

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  CRW 325F (or E 325F), or 325M.

Description:  In this workshop you will develop a distinctive writing practice within a community of fellow poets.  Our work will include weekly exercises in poetic craft, class workshops of student poems, and a wide range of readings in poetry and poetics.  Our goal will be to better understand both how different poems achieve their effects and why poets—including yourself—might seek those effects.

Texts:  Course reading will consist equally of 1) original student poems and 2) published poems and essays on poetry and poetics that will provide models for considering and enacting your own poetic practice.

Requirements & Grading:  Over the course of the semester regular assignments will include original poems to be workshopped, creative exercises, a memorization of a poem, and reading and responding to peer poems and other course texts.  Final grades will be based on the successful completion of these weekly assignments (40%); your thoughtful and generous participation in class discussions, activities, and workshops (30%); and a final portfolio of original poems and revisions (30%).  Attendance is mandatory.

CRW 355F  l  Advanced Fiction Workshop-WB

Instructor:  Pipkin, J

Unique #:  35375

Semester:  Spring 2021

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  CRW 340F (or E 341).

Description:  This is an advanced workshop in writing short fiction, designed for students working toward the creative writing certificate.  Students will write two pieces of short fiction, and we will read each other’s work with rigor and generosity, consisting of analysis, critique, and in-depth discussion.  The workshop format is essential to this class, so reading each other’s work and commenting on it in a substantial and productive way is crucial component of the semester.

Students will also write extensive comments (1-2 pages) on their classmates’ stories.  We will also read published stories with an eye to the study of craft in order to identify effective narrative techniques.  All work must be original, written for this class, and not for another class taken earlier or concurrently.  Please do not recycle work written for other courses.

Stories should be at least 1,600 words and no longer than 5,000 words.  No novel excerpts.

Policies:  You may miss two classes without penalty.  After that your grade will begin to drop.  You will be expected to attend and participate in class online with the same decorum and professionalism that you would maintain in a physical face-to-face class.

Readings:  Our primary text will be The Story Behind the Story, ed by Andrea Barrett and Peter Turchi, (Norton, 2004 ISBN-13: 978-0393325324), but I will provide copies of selected readings on Canvas.  I will also provide additional stories on Canvas as needed.

Requirements and Grading:  First story 20%; second story 30%.  Comments on classmates’ work 25%; participation and attendance 25%.  All work will be turned in via email.

CRW 370H  l  Honors Creative Writing Project-WB

Instructor:  Pipkin, J

Unique #:  35380

Semester:  Spring 2021

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites:  Consent of the honors advisor.

Description:  The Honors Creative Writing Project is intended for advanced students in fiction, creative nonfiction playwriting, poetry, and screenwriting, those who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to writing and wish to work under supervision on a particular project to culminate in a final creative thesis.  In addition to providing an opportunity for creative concentration, the Creative Writing Honors Project allows students to further refine their analytical and critical capabilities through intensive peer review workshops.

Please note:  Applicants must have completed or be enrolled in their third upper-division Creative Writing certificate course at the time of application.  A University Grade Point Average of GPA of at least 3.33 and a grade point average of at least 3.66 in program courses are required for the Honors Creative Writing Certificate to be awarded.

Requirements and Grading:  Grades will be based on the final thesis of original creative work (50%); thesis status reports (15%); class participation (25%); and a thesis reading (10%).

Attendance is mandatory.  More than three absences may negatively impact the final grade.