32 Jenny Fran Davis – Foundations of Creative Writing – Spring 2022
Instructor: Jenny Fran Davis
MWF 10:30am – 11:20am
Spring 2022
Course Description
In this creative writing seminar-workshop, we will consider how the framing of time helps us manage the details of our creative writing. We will attend more specifically to queer time, or ways in which time is manipulated and wielded to produce new possibilities. We will concentrate on poetry and works of prose in which a fixed time frame—from a few moments to a few hours—gives urgent shape to the details of our writing as they unfold, essentially pondering how to write in-scene while asking ourselves how the art of description moves through syntax, and the art of syntax moves through time. How do certain works heighten our experience of time’s passage, giving us the illusion of speeding it, or stopping it? What is lyric time? What is real time? How do digression and plot relate to time? What are pace and pause and momentum, and how does the experience of movement or stasis mark a literary style?
You will want to have a notebook to use just for this class.
Texts
Available at Prairie Lights:
The Art of Description, by Mark Doty
Grades
30 points: Class participation, classroom citizenship, and attendance
20 points: Workshop letters
20 points: Writing exercises
30 points: Final portfolio
Class participation, citizenship, and attendance
We are forming a literary community in this class, and part of being in a community is being generous with sharing your questions and ideas. Please read actively for this class. Mark up pages, writing notes in the margins that laugh at, argue with, or question the text. Whether or not you like a text is beside the point—what can it teach you? If you don’t like it, what can it give you to push against? Inspired class participation is always mandatory.
Students who will be up for workshop the following week will be responsible for printing 15 copies of their piece to distribute to the class. You can choose any piece you’ve written for this class to be workshopped.
Creative writing exercises
There will be a total of four creative writing exercises assigned throughout the semester. In each assignment, you’ll try out working with how time functions in a different genre: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or hybrid.
Exercise 1: Due Monday, February 7
Write a piece of creative nonfiction.
Exercise 2: Due Monday, February 28
Write a poem.
Exercise 3: Due Monday, March 28
Write a short story.
Exercise 4: Due Monday, April 18
Write a piece that blends two or more genres.
30 points. Revision Portfolio. (Due Friday, May 6)
Part I: After having had the benefit of absorbing all the possibilities revealed through our readings, as well as the comments that you have received from your classmates and from me, you will be asked to turn back to one of the pieces you wrote for this class and revise it. Because this is the only piece you’ll be asked to revise, you should look at this as a way to demonstrate to me what you learned over the course of the term and to that end, it would make a lot of sense to push yourself to risk, to try new approaches or techniques. There is no page limit.
Part II: Along with this, you’ll submit a letter addressed to me reflecting on what you learned as a result of slowing down and looking at others’ writing and your own, as well as the larger changes you can register in yourself as a writer as you look back over the semester: What new awareness do you have of your capabilities as a writer? Put another way: what are you doing now that you weren’t doing before? Think of the letter as a kind of map, in which you record the territories you traveled as a writer this term, as well as the new spaces that have opened up for you. The letter should be about one page, single-spaced. Please include it as the first page of your portfolio.
Course Expectations
Because of the nature of creative writing courses, it is important we hold each other to certain expectations in order to create and sustain a healthy and inclusive writing community. Each of you deserves a safe environment to learn and develop your craft.
- Be excellent to each other: respect each other’s opinions, experiences, differences, identities, and backgrounds. Respect each other’s needs and boundaries.
- Be responsible: Show up on time and with all necessary materials. Do the assigned readings, complete assignments on time, ask questions when necessary, and stay aware of deadlines. Be responsible for your words and actions, and be aware of the affect your actions have on others, regardless of your intentions. It is your responsibility to attend class regularly and on time. I understand that life happens. If something comes up that impacts your attendance and your ability to turn in assignments on time, let me know and we’ll work together to get you back on track. And don’t plagiarize! I am interested in and excited by your writing and your ideas, no one else’s. If you are unsure if something constitutes plagiarism, reach out to me and we can discuss it.
- Be involved: Participate to the fullest extent that you can. Be an active participant in discussions. Ask questions. Answer questions. Step up and step back—be aware of how much or how little space you are taking up in conversations, and decide if you need to share more or listen more.
Schedule
The schedule will be updated biweekly on ICON and is subject to change based on your needs and…. everything going on in the world.
Unit 1: Creative Nonfiction
Week 1: Introductions
Wednesday, January 19
- In Class:
- Introductions
- Syllabus review and course overview
- Homework:
- To read: “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua and “From the Poets in the Kitchen” by Paule Marshall
Friday, January 21
- In Class:
- Discuss Anzaldua and Marshall
- Literacy narrative
- Homework:
- To read: Selections from The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson and “Instruction and Resistance,” by Mark Doty
Week 2
- Homework:
- To read: Citizen, Claudia Rankine (pp. 1-77)
Wednesday, January 26
- In Class:
- Discuss assignment 1 and Rankine, watch Rankine lecture
- Homework:
- To do: Finish Citizen (p. 77-end)
Friday, January 28
- In Class:
- Discuss Rankine
- In class: Write a single anecdote
- Homework:
- To do: n/a
Week 3
- Homework:
- To read: “The Fourth State of Matter,” Jo Ann Beard
Wednesday, February 2
- In Class:
- Discuss Beard
- Homework:
- To read: “Mississippi,” Kiese Laymon
Friday, February 4
- In Class:
- Discuss Laymon & in-class exercise
- Homework:
- To read: “Party Dress for a First Born,” by Rita Dove
Unit 2: Poetry
Week 4
- Homework:
- To read: “How It Feels,” by Jenny Zhang
- *Exercise 1 due on ICON by midnight*
Wednesday, February 9
- In Class:
- Discuss Zhang
- Homework:
- To read: “Sunshine Belt Machine,” Sophie Robinson; “Description’s Alphabet,” Mark Doty; “Cirque d’Hiver” and “At the Fishhouses,” Elizabeth Bishop
Friday, February 11
- In Class:
- Discuss Robinson, Doty, and Bishop poems
- Homework:
- To read: “Word into Word” and “A Tremendous Fish,” in The Art of Description, Mark Doty
Week 5
- Homework:
- To read: “Kitchenette Building,” “The Lovers of the Poor,” “Beverly Hills, Chicago,” Gwendolyn Brooks
Wednesday, February 16
- In Class:
- Discuss Brooks and assignment 2
- Homework:
- To read: “Those Winter Sundays,” by Robert Hayden
Friday, February 18
- In Class:
- Discuss Hayden, work on assignment 2
- Homework:
- To do: n/a
Week 6
- Homework:
- To do: Read “Peanut Butter,” Eileen Myles
Wednesday, February 23
- In Class:
- Discuss Myles
- Discuss workshop protocol and workshop sign-up
- Homework:
- To do: “Remembered Stars,” by Mark Doty
Friday, February 25
- In Class:
- Discuss Doty, In-class writing exercise
- Homework:
- To read: “The Crime of the Mathematics Teacher,” by Clarice Lispector
- First workshop submission due on ICON
Unit 3: Fiction
Week 7
- Homework:
- To read: “The Husband Stitch,” by Carmen Maria Machado;
- *Exercise 2 due by midnight*
Wednesday, March 2
- In Class:
- Discuss Machado and Doty
- Homework:
- To read: Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
Friday, March 4
- In Class:
- Workshop 1:
- Homework:
- To read: “Cat Person,” Kristen Roupenian
Week 8
- Homework:
- To read: Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
Wednesday, March 9
- In Class:
- Discuss assignment 3
- Workshop 2:
- Homework:
- To read: Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
Friday, March 11
- In Class:
- Workshop 3:
SPRING BREAK: NO CLASS
Week 9
- Homework:
- To read: Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
Wednesday, March 23
- In Class:
- Workshop 4:
- Homework:
- To read: Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
Friday, March 25
- In Class:
- Workshop 5:
- Homework:
- To read: “Playing Kerri Strug,” Kiley Reid
Week 10
- Homework:
- To read: Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
- *Exercise 3 due by midnight*
Wednesday, March 30
- In Class:
- Workshop 6:
- Homework:
- To read: “You Wouldn’t Have Known About Me,” by Calvin Gimpelevich
Friday, April 1
- In Class:
- Discuss Gimpelevich
- Workshop 7:
- Homework:
- To read: Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
Unit 4: Hybrid Forms
Week 11
- Homework:
- To read: “Calamities,” Renee Gladman
Wednesday, April 6
- In Class:
- Discuss Gladman
- Workshop 9:
- Homework:
- To read: “Autopsy Report,” by Lia Purpura; piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
Friday, April 8
- In Class:
- Discuss Purpura & in-class exercise
- Homework:
- To read: Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
Week 12
- Homework
- To read: Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
Wednesday, April 13
- In Class:
- Workshop 11:
- Homework:
- To read: “The Swan as a Metaphor for Love,” Amelia Gray; Piece for workshop
Friday, April 15
- In Class:
- Discuss Gray & in-class exercise
- Homework:
- To read: Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
Week 13
- Homework:
- To read: Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
- *Exercise 4 due by midnight*
Wednesday, April 20
- In Class:
- Workshop 13:
- Homework:
- To read: Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
Friday, April 22
- In Class:
- Workshop 14:
- Homework:
- To read: Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
Week 14
- Homework:
- To read: Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
Wednesday, April 27
- In Class:
- Workshop 16:
- Discuss final portfolio
- Homework:
- To read: “Our Bodies and Our Blood,” Gabe Montesanti; Piece for workshop
- To do: Workshop letter
Friday, April 29
- In Class:
- Discuss Montesanti
- Workshop 17:
Week 15
- Homework:
- To do: final portfolio
Wednesday, May 4
- In Class:
- Final reflections and party
- Homework:
- To do: final portfolio
Friday, May 6
- In Class:
- NO CLASS
- Homework:
- To do: final portfolio
Friday, May 6: Final portfolios due!
