CAS

EN 202 SA2
Introduction to Creative Writing

Basic Info:

Summer 2016—Tues/Thurs, 6:00-9:30pm, 750 Commonwealth Ave. (Engineering
Product Innovation Center), Room 201
Instructor: Lisa Rosinsky (lisa.rosinsky@gmail.com)
Office Hours: Tuesday 4:30-5:30 or by appointment, 236 Bay State Road, Room 225

Course Description:

Intro to Creative Writing will focus on: 1) strengthening your skills as a close reader
(both of assigned texts and your classmates’ work), and 2) strengthening your own
creative writing skills by exploring a variety of craft elements in poetry and fiction.
Since we only have six weeks together, we’ll be packing a lot in and moving
quickly. I expect you to come to class having read the materials and prepared to
engage in class discussion. Each week, class will consist of 1) in-class writing
exercises, 2) discussions of the readings, and 3) workshopping your own work.
Your grade will be based on your class participation, writing assignments
turned in (on time!) for workshops, written feedback on each other’s assignments,
your writer’s notebook, and a final portfolio.
Your grade has nothing to do with “talent”! Writing is 1% inspiration and
99% perspiration—in other words, revision and revision and revision. And reading!

Objectives:

1. Generate rough drafts of poetry and fiction, then use what you learn in class
to substantially revise them.
2. Learn to close-read and analyze craft elements in published and peer writing.
3. Contribute thoughtful, respectful, and useful feedback in workshops.

Books
Required
• A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver (any edition is fine)
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (any edition is fine)
• poetry anthology (I will provide)

Recommended
• The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction (Revised and Updated
2nd Edition). Edited by Lex Williford and Michael Martone (Touchstone,
2007).
• Norton Anthology of Poetry (Shorter 5th Edition). Edited by Margaret
Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, and Jon Stallworthy (Norton, 2005).
 • In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction. Edited by Lee Gutkind (Norton, 2004).

Other Course Materials:
• A blank journal for your Writer’s Notebook
• Access to a printer (let me know right away if this will be an issue for you)

Please bring all assigned readings to class (printed or electronically). I strongly
prefer no computers in class, but if you want to use a laptop for the writing exercise
portion of class and/or taking notes during the reading discussions, that’s fine, as
long as it does not become a distraction to you or anyone else. Computers will not
be permitted during workshops—you are responsible for printing your classmates’
work and bringing a hard copy with written (or typed) feedback to class to return to
the writer.
No cell phone usage at all. I probably don’t need to say this, but it’s rude and
annoying to your teachers and your classmates.

Assignments:

Rough Drafts:
I will give you a prompt or assignment each week for your creative work, related to
what we’re reading and discussing in class. Please send your work in on time so that
everyone has enough time to read and comment on each piece. Late assignments will
lower your grade.
Send your piece for each week to the group as an attachment (make it a PDF
if your piece involves special formatting) by Sunday evening at 5pm.

Workshops:
Workshops will run about 20 minutes per student. You are expected to come
prepared with printouts of each piece, along with handwritten or typed notes. Notes
should consist of 1) line notes/marginalia (questions, comments, critiques, or
suggestions on specific words/phrases/etc) and a paragraph-long overall response
note to the writer.
We’ll go over this more in class, but here are some workshop ground rules:
1. Be thoughtful. Read the piece at least twice before you write any
notes. Give the work the time you’d like others to give yours. Be as
thorough as you can.
2. Be respectful. Don’t make assumptions about someone’s intentions,
and try to ask questions rather than give directions. (Ex: “Do you
intend this line to have several possible meanings?” not “Cut this line,
it’s unclear.”) And remember, you’re not rewriting a piece the way you
would write it—you’re trying to help the writer accomplish what they
are trying to do. It doesn’t matter if you agree with their intention or
not.
3. Be useful. Constructive commentary is specific. (Ex. “I noticed that
this poem has a lot of adjectives. I think it might be stronger if the
 writer took out the adjectives in lines three and four.”) A general
statement about what you like or dislike—ex. “I love this image” or “I
don’t like the voice in this story”—is not helpful to the writer, because
everyone’s taste is different. However, saying “I love this image,
because I can perfectly picture this setting,” or “I don’t think the
snarky voice is working in this story, because it makes me distrust the
narrator,” is helpful.

Writer’s Notebook:
This should be a separate notebook from the notebook you bring to class, and it
should be a size that fits in your pocket or purse so that you can carry it around with
you all the time. I want you to add to this notebook throughout the semester. Try to
jot something down every day, whether it’s a quote from something you’re reading,
a line of dialogue you overhear on the T, an image from a dream, a new word you
learn, an idea for a poem title, a name for a character...
The point of carrying it everywhere with you is that you never know when
inspiration will strike! And the point of writing something in it every day, even if it’s
just a word or a phrase, is that inspiration is only a very small part of the writing
process—the rest is pure perspiration. When you’re staring at a blank page, it can be
very helpful to have a notebook full of ideas to flip through. If you get in the habit of
squirreling away these nuggets, I promise you’ll find a use for them at some point in
your writing.
On June 30, our final class, you will bring your notebook to class and I will
check that you have completed this assignment by briefly glancing through it. I will
not read individual entries, so know that your notes will remain private. I’ll merely be
checking to see that you’ve taken the assignment seriously and kept the notebook
consistently. Please don’t leave this till the last minute and then write all your
entries in one day. You’ll be missing the whole point of the assignment, which is to
form the habit of keeping a writer’s notebook.

Final Portfolio:
Your final portfolio is due electronically and in hard copy to me on June 30, our final
day of class. The portfolio should consist of 1 revised piece from the work you’ve
handed in (poetry or fiction) in 3 versions (1st draft, 2nd draft, final) along with
an Artist’s Statement about the revision process. Also, you will write a 2-page
double-spaced letter to one of the writers we read in class.
The revisions should be substantial and show that you considered feedback
received during workshop. Tell me in your Artist’s Statement about the revision
process. What did you change? Why? What readings/class discussions influenced
your changes?
The letter should be a thoughtful, detailed exploration of a poem or story we
read—you can ask the writer questions, argue with their artistic choices, make
suggestions for revisions, connect their work to your own, or explain how they
inspired you (or drove you up the wall!). I’m trying to give you some creative
freedom here to engage with the work on a personal level, and I hope you’ll have fun
with this assignment. You do not need to send this letter (and you may choose to
write to a deceased writer), but I will say this: writing is lonely, and writers love
mail. If you do choose to send your letter, you may very well receive a response, and
that could lead to a wonderful correspondence. Part of the writer’s life is about
seeking out community!

Attendance:
Attendance and punctuality are mandatory. We only have 12 classes, so please be on
time. An unexcused absence will lower your grade, and three instances of tardiness
will count as one absence. If you have an emergency or illness, please contact me
before class to let me know. In this event, you are responsible for finding out what
you missed and making up the work.

Academic Honesty:
As writers, our work is all we have. Do your own work. Plagiarizing will be dealt
with very strictly according to the CAS Academic Honor Code:
http://www.bu.edu/academics/policies/academic-conduct-code/. If you’re not sure
how to properly credit a source, cite an quotation, etc., ask me before you turn it in.

Grading:
Attendance/Punctuality: 15%
Rough drafts (turned in on time!): 20%
Class participation (in-class exercises, discussions, workshop participation, written
feedback on classmates’ assignments): 20%
Writer’s notebook: 15%
Final portfolio (revisions + Artist’s Statement + letter): 30%

Syllabus:
Note: reading list and assignments are subject to change. I will announce any changes
via email and in class.

WEEK 1: Poetry: INTRODUCTIONS; WRITER’S NOTEBOOK; WORKSHOP
PROTOCOL; PRACTICE WORKSHOP; POETRY & SOUND; POEM 1 WORKSHOP
Tues, May 24
• Joan Didion, “On Keeping a Notebook”
(https://www.penusa.org/sites/default/files/didion.pdf)
• Excerpts from writers’ journals (from Imaginative Writing) (class handout)
• Mary Oliver, “Workshops and Solitude” from A Poetry Handbook
• Poem Assignment #2 due Sun, May 29: Ekphrastic poem

Thurs, May 26
• A Poetry Handbook, p. 19-34
• Poetry anthology, p. 2-8

WEEK 2: Poetry: THE LINE; FORMS; POEM 2 WORKSHOP
Tues, May 31
 • Louise Gluck, “Against Sincerity”
• A Poetry Handbook, p. 35-66
• Poetry anthology, p. 9-17
• Poem Assignment #3 due Sun, June 5: Anti-cliche poem
Thurs, June 2
• Federico Garcia Lorca, “Duende” essay
• A Poetry Handbook, p. 67-91
• Poetry anthology, p. 18-24

WEEK 3: Poetry: IMAGERY; DICTION, TONE, & VOICE; POEM 3 WORKSHOP
Tues, June 7
• Diane Ackerman, “Language at Play” (from In Fact)
• A Poetry Handbook, p. 92-108
• Poetry anthology, p. 25-32
• Story Assignment #1 due Sun, June 12
Thurs, June 9
• Donald Hall, “Goatfoot, Milktongue, Twinbird”
• A Poetry Handbook, p. 109-111
• Poetry anthology, p. 33-43

WEEK 4: Fiction: CHARACTER & SETTING; STORY 1 WORKSHOP
Tues, June 14
• Annie Dillard, “Notes for Young Writers” (Introduction to In Fact; also online
at: http://oblations.blogspot.com/2007/05/annie-dillard-notes-for-young-
writers.html)
• Melanie Rae Thong, “Xmas in Jamaica Plain”
• Bird by Bird, p. 3-15
• Story Assignment #2 due Sun, June 19

Thurs, June 16
• Kelly Link, “The Faery Handbag” (http://smallbeerpress.com/free-stuff-to-
read/2005/07/01/the-faery-handbag-by-kelly-link/)
• Bird by Bird, p. 44-53

WEEK 5: Fiction: PLOT & DIALOGUE; STORY 2 WORKSHOP
Tues, June 21
• Jennifer Egan, “Safari”
• Bird by Bird, p. 54-73
• No Assignment: Final portfolio due Thurs, June 30
Thurs, June 23
• Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried”
• Bird by Bird, p. 74-92


WEEK 6: TBD (Fiction or Nonfiction?)
Tues, June 28
Thurs, June 30

Fri, July 1 (?) (date TBD)
Optional reading and picnic with other section of EN 202!