4 GEORGIE FEHRINGER – INTRO TO CNF – FALL 2021
Intro to Creative Nonfiction
Fall 2021
Instructor: Georgie Fehringer
Course Supervisor: Bonnie Sunstein
I am available to answer emails until 5 pm, M-F
Course Description: What You Have Signed Up For
What you have signed up for is a dialogic experience masquerading as a numerical equation.
What you have signed up for isn’t long-winded early morning lectures on tone or voice, whatever that means. (It isn’t academic essays either, though I hope this one is less of a surprise and more of a, duh, or oh, thank goodness. Please correct me if I’m wrong.)
What you have signed up for is not a telling of “Truth” but an interrogation of it. You are a detective, or better, more suited, less carceral, we are children watching Mentos in a Coca-Cola can explode, again? And how? And why? If not with awe then maybe some appreciation? If not with even that then we must all together, try harder.
What you have signed up for is honesty and sincerity. The best book i have ever encountered as a writer i cannot stand. i still talk about it, frequently and loudly. (And yes, i see it too. Not all inconsistencies are mistakes, not all mistakes must be corrected. Learn to ask for clarification on intention and learn to answer that question for yourself while you’re at it.)
What you’ve signed up for is genre-cide.
What you have signed up for is raising your voice, or your hand when you do not know the definition of dialogic or dialectic or carceral, heuristic, or critique, or adjective, or tense, or AAVE, or genre-cide because maybe, neither do the rest of us.
What you have signed up for is an expectation that our questions may not be so obviously rhetorical.
What you have signed up for will, unfortunately, at some point after this contain a percentage breakdown and rules and guidelines because most, if not all of us have not learned to learn on a higher level without the threat of a numerical breakdown. I eschew the breakdown but, consent to a need for one, as long as there is a need. Is there? Are there any questions?
What you had signed up for is probably a list of texts and, assignments, and, yes we will get there eventually, because we are within a system with rules beyond our (current) limits of creation.
What you have signed up for is engagement and creation.
What you have signed up for is failure. Should we all be so lucky to fail twice or thrice even, and always get up to fail again.
What you have signed up for includes an insomniac professor, my general apologies.
What you have signed up for is a commitment to know each and every name of the people in this room, and maybe some other stuff too.
What you have signed up for is frequent speaking, and trust me I will know.
What you have signed up for is, um, is uh, is…sorry lost my train of thought.
What we have signed up for is self-interrogation.
What we have signed up for is surprise.
Oh! What you’ve signed up for is stumbling our way through thoughts, if there is no tripping then we are only going pre-planned places and if we wanted to be bored we could just break out a textbook, trust me that I can make that happen for us all if need be. Yawn.
What we have signed up for is to learn to lie just as well as every other writer out there.
What you have signed up for is opinions and questions and me asking you to define the truth because maybe I have forgotten this morning and maybe we have never known.
Course Description
In this writing-focused class, you will engage with weekly writing prompts and try your hand at personal essays, literary criticism, braided essays, and lyrical writing. You will also work on skills such as description, imagery, tense, perspective, and story tension. You will explore what we mean when we say “rhythm”, “voice”, or “lyric”, and how we can use all of these skills in combination to make a better piece of writing. During the second half of the semester, you will focus on a self-chosen project and work to craft a piece of creative writing in the style of your choice. You will workshop this selected piece of writing at least one time over the course of the semester.
Course Objectives
● Students will learn to identify a range of approaches and interpretations of creative nonfiction/the essay.
● Students will be able to describe ideas and approaches writers use to generate creative nonfiction.
● Student will be able to apply writing skills and approaches to produce creative writing.
Workload expectations:
Class will be split into a two-day schedule
Tuesdays are dedicated to reading and discussion
Thursdays are dedicated to writing exercises/peer workshops.
Week 1-7
Tuesdays: On Tuesdays, you will come to class having read and annotated the assigned essays/stories. You will be expected to read through the lens of Texture/Structure/Content. Further details on these focus points will be discussed in class. You will come prepared to hold student-sustained discussions for the entirety of the class session. Engaging in conversation is required. Readings will be uploaded to Icon by the Thursday prior to class and will be kept, except in a few cases, to a maximum of 30 pages, this low reading load comes with the expectation that students will read work thoroughly and come to class ready to discuss.
Thursdays: You will spend Thursdays working on writing prompts, skills, and exercises. Readings will rarely be assigned for Thursdays. You should always bring a notebook and writing implement in addition to a laptop. You should expect to share written work.
Week 8-15
Tuesdays: Writing exercises, readings/discussion will be combined for the second half of the semester.
Thursdays: You will workshop peer work on Thursdays. You will workshop at least twice during the semester. Failing to workshop will result in failing the class. You will upload your writing to Icon by the Friday before their assigned workshop. You will not exceed the collectively agreed-upon page maximum. You are expected to thoroughly read and annotate peer work, show up to workshops, and actively engage in discussion of peer work. You are expected to submit a peer workshop letter prior to the start of Thursday’s class.
Workshop submissions format:
All workshop pieces should be 12 pt serif font and double spaced, with page numbers. Title, and name of the author should always be included at top of page. Please include at the end of your submission any questions you should have that you would like your fellow classmates to focus on while reading your piece.
This is a discussion-based class. You will be expected to talk multiple times in each class. You will also be expected to lead discussion once over the course of the semester. Facilitation is worth 10% of your grade.
Grading policies:
Participation: 20%
Workshop & submission: 30%
Portfolio: 15%
Workshop Letters: 20%
Discussion facilitation: 10%
End Reading: 5%
Major assignments: Two workshop submissions, a portfolio and a short reading, all of which will be explained in class. Assignments and readings will be listed under weekly Modules on Icon.
Minimum requirements for portfolio: A workshopped, polished and revised final piece of writing. A copy of all major written assignments and a final 1-2 page double-spaced self-eval.
Absences: You have two free absences. They cannot be used during workshop days.
Extensions: There are no extensions.
| A | 94-100% | A- | 90-93.9% | B+ | 87-89.9% |
| B | 84-86.9% | B- | 80-83.9% | C+ | 77-79.9% |
| C | 74-76.9% | C- | 70-73.9% | D+ | 67-69.9% |
| D | 64-66.9% | D- | 61-63.9% | F | 60% and below |
Note on pronouns & names:
Our fellow students’ pronouns and names will be taken seriously and treated with respect. We are all learning and we all make mistakes but any purposeful mispronouning is unacceptable. Students will be provided with materials to make name plates on the first day of class (containing name/pronoun) and are expected to bring these to each class for at least the first 4 weeks of the semester.
READINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. PLEASE CONSULT ICON MODULES AND NOT THE SYLLABUS WHEN LOOKING FOR THE WEEKS REQUIRED READINGS.
Tues. Thurs.
| WEEK 1
DEFINE |
8/23
Welcome Go over syllabus Define who we are & what we want! |
8/25 Writing exercises -Nonfiction Exquisite corpse
|
| WEEK 2
NOTICE |
…Like a Writer 8/30 -Student led discussion – learning to read like a writer – Several Short Sentences About Writing excerpt by Verlyn Klinkenborg – The House At Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne (excerpt) |
9/1
Writing exercises -simile exercise
|
|
WEEK 3 IMAGINE |
Hybrid: Poetry 9/6
-Student led discussion Discuss: A Beautiful Marsupial Afternoon by C.A. Conrad |
9/8 Writing exercises -Somatics
|
| WEEK 4
DESCRIBE |
Image 9/13
Student led discussion Discuss: The Moth & Total Eclipse by Annie Dillard
|
9/15
Writing exercises -still life |
|
WEEK 5 BRAID |
Personal 9/20 Student led discussion Discuss: Alas, Poor Fhoul by Gyasi Hall |
9/22 Writing exercises
|
|
WEEK 6 FIND |
Collaged & Found 9/27 Student led discussion Discuss: Life Story by David Shields What Else By Walter Abish |
9/29 Library hunt Meet at Art Library! Due: affinity survey |
|
WEEK 7 DEFEND
|
Hybrid: Fiction & Inner Monologue 10/4 Student led discussion Discuss: Signifier by Susan Steinberg |
10/6 Writing exercises Receive workshop group |
|
WEEK 8 IMAGE |
Visual Essay: Artist Visit 10/11
Discuss: Jessie Kraemer / Writing exercises Read for Thurs: Potential Heuristics by Miranda Mellis |
10/13
Practice Workshop |
| WEEK 9
NOW |
Brevity 10/18
Student led discussion Discuss: Foucault and Pencil by Lydia Davis Writing exercises |
10/20
Workshop 1 |
|
WEEK 10 HYBRID |
Theory, Gossip & Body 10/25 Discuss: Denny Smith by Robert Gluck (excerpt) Writing exercises |
10/27 Workshop 1 |
|
WEEK 11 MANIPULATE & PERCEIVE |
Ekphrasis 11/1 Student led discussion Discuss: If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso by Gertrude Stein Writing exercises |
11/3 Workshop 1
|
|
WEEK 12 GIVE & TAKE
|
Multiple Voices 11/8 Student led discussion Discuss: A ༜ I by Thalia Feilds Writing exercises
|
11/10
Workshop 2
|
| WEEK 13
OPINIONS? |
Criticism? 11/15 Student led discussion Discuss: Be Drunk by Charles Baudelaire Elliptical by Harryette Mullen Lecture on Nothing by John Cage Writing exercises |
11/17
Workshop 2 |
| BREAK |
BREAK
|
BREAK |
| WEEK 14
DECLARE |
Manifesto 11/29
Student led discussion Discuss: A Slap in the Face of Public Taste by Vladamir Mayakovski (Cubo-Futurist) Surrealism Manifesto by Andre Breton”
Writing Exercise: Personal Manifesto |
12/1
Workshop 2
|
| WEEK 15 | Potluck 12/6
Reading! |
Potluck 12/8
Reading! |
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES
Information for CLAS Undergraduates
Spring 2022
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