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Syllabus: Writing Flash Fiction (Arnzen, Sum 2014)
Syllabus: Writing Flash Fiction (Arnzen, Sum 2014)
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EL 231-01: Topics in Creative Writing
Summer 2014 -- Seton Hill University
Meets ONLINE
3 Credits | Meets Artistic Expression (LAC)
Req.
Class Web Page:
https://shu.instructure.com/
Catalog Description:
"Emphasis varies from term to term. Spring and Summer. Repeatable for credit. Satisfies the Artistic
Expression requirement of the Liberal Arts Curriculum. 3 credits." -- 2014 SHU Catalog
Course Overview:
This online summer course is scheduled to begin June 2nd and will run for eight weeks, ending on July
25th. We will not be meeting on campus in person, so you will be expected to follow the course calendar
closely, responding to assignments on your own to meet weekly deadlines that you will need to plan
ahead for. We also will be convening online regularly for discussions via forums, chats and other
multimedia exchanges -- so get in the habit of checking both the Canvas class website and your email
inbox daily, to ensure you do not miss an update or fall behind. In addition to having online access, you
also will need to use a device with a webcam and audio recording capabilities, as we will be using them
this semester for both recitation and critique, as well as to generate a multimedia presentation of one of
your stories to publish online for your final project.
To succeed in this course you need to devote time to a balance of daydreaming and working, with an aim
to communicate your imaginary ideas clearly and artfully to an audience. You will routinely be writing
and revising your fiction and essays, reading not only books and electronic files/websites, but also the
work of your peers, and contributing actively to our class conversation about stories and writing
techniques.
The topic of our course is "Genre in a Flash!" We will be studying and writing "flash fiction" -- shortshort stories, usually 1,000 words or less in length -- with a special (but not exclusive) emphasis on
popular fiction genres (i.e., horror, science-fiction, fantasy, romance, or mystery fiction). "Flash" is a
word that refers to how quickly a person could read one of these stories due to its brevity -- but it also
alludes to the power and potency of these brief stories (like a "flash" of lightning).
Our class will help you sharpen your prose and self-edit your work to construct tight, effective works of
fiction and we will explore a variety of experimental and literary techniques as well as traditional genre
approaches to storytelling in such a short format. There are many approaches to writing short-shorts:
from "twitfic" to "drabbles" to "prose poems" -- and as we practice them all, you will discover that writing
flash fiction, like writing poetry, is not nearly as easy as it looks. Flash offers creative liberties to play
with form that make it highly experimental -- while at the same time, readers and publishers harbor
special expectations for what a flash fiction story will accomplish that differ from the "usual" short story
forms. By taking this class, I hope your understanding of what a "story" is will expand and that you will
find flash fiction a great option for expressing your creativityand a potential market for publishing your
writing.
I'm very excited to read your imaginings and to work closely with you in the course. I have two guiding
principles I'd like you to keep in mind as we begin: communication and collaboration.
COMMUNICATION: You will need to check the class website and your SHU email account regularly to
ensure you do not miss any important updates and to meet deadlines. I recommend you do so DAILY,
even if you have a summer job or go on vacation. When you post homework or stories, feedback will be
given online so please read these comments, as this is the main way you will learn to improve. And
always email the professor (or call and leave a voice mail) if you have any questions or issues.
Technical problems will not be an acceptable excuse for late work, so be timely in doing your homework
and plan to learn how to navigate the Canvas system prior to deadlines. If you have technical difficulties
Course Objectives:
In addition to meeting English major/minor and LAC core requirements in Artistic Expression, this course
is designed so it can also meet the requirements of SHU's unique "Certificate in Genre Writing." If you
are interested in pursuing this Certificate, see the SHU Catalog for more details.
As a fiction writing course -- and a course meeting the Artistic Expression requirement in Seton Hill's
Liberal Art's Core -- our primary goals this term have to do with improving how we express ourselves
through the craft of writing and also expanding our understanding of literature. Through regular practice,
course exercises and collaborative learning activities, we will strive to:
create artistic projects that exhibit the "minimalist" elements and genre expectations
related to good flash fiction writing
interpret works of flash fiction through workshops (peer editing), analytical writing
(discussion of chosen texts) and oral performance (storytelling out loud)
develop creative skills through experiential learning in workshops, exercises and media
presentations
develop editing, interpreting, and writing skills by critiquing student stories and published
work in addition to practicing short-short fiction formats
develop an appreciation of genre fiction and flash fiction through observation of your
peers, dicussion of articles/theories related to the subject, and reading/critiquing established
writers
acquire knowledge about the literary marketplace for publishing genre flash fiction
Course Requirements:
Required Texts & Software
BOOKS:
Kechula, Michael. Writing Genre Flash Fiction the Minimalist Way. BooksForABuck.com, 2010. ISBN-10:
1602151377 | ISBN-13: 978-1602151376
Publisher's Website: http://booksforabuck.com/writers/writing-genre-flash.html
Masih, Tara L.. The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction. Rose Metal Press, 2009.
ISBN-10: 0978984862 | ISBN-13: 978-0978984861
Publisher's Website: http://www.rosemetalpress.com/Catalog/Field%20Guide_more.html
Please immediately purchase the textbooks above, since readings begin right away. E-books editions of
the texts are fine. Many required readings will also be posted on our course Canvas page at :
https://shu.instructure.com/
WEB RESOURCES AND APPS:
Graded Work:
By the end of the semester, you will peform or adapt something you wrote this semester into an
video/audio presentation (5 minutes or less). This electronic presentation must use sound and
image in some creative way (e.g., a short film adaption of your fiction; an audio play or story
recitation set to a digital slideshow; a webpage incorporating text, sound and art to tell a story in
a clever way; etc.). There is great flexibility with this project, but it must be outlined/scripted in
advance. "Movie Trailers" are not an option -- your work must actually dramatize or tell a
complete story. This presentation will appear in your final public showcase
Weekly Reading Worksheets: (26.6% of grade / 400 pts. total)
I will post these "worksheets" to Canvas on Sunday nights -- and they will be due either
Wednesdays or Saturdays by 7pm via Google Docs. (50 pts.each (x8)).
Weekly Discussion Board Posts & Online Activities: (13.3% of grade / 200 pts. total)
You will regularly be asked to discuss readings and topics related to writing on the course
discussion board. Brief replies to your peers will be expected. Sometimes you will also be asked
to perform writing exercises -- some of these will involve sharing your work online or doing an
assignment not otherwise already captured in your weekly reading worksheets. Quizzes or other
work not filed elsewhere will be incorporated into calculating this grade. (25 pts. each (x8))
Final Showcase Portfolio: (6.6% of grade / 100 pts. total)
At the end of the term, you will share the top three flash fictions -- alongside any exercises or
activities you have revised -- alongside your multimedia presentation -- in an "e-portfolio" on
Canvas. A writer's statement will be included in this.
Succeeding in this class requires meeting deadlines and planning ahead. Most of my expectations will
be posted in the "Prompt of the Week" updates every Sunday night at 7pm. Your work will be SELFPACED, but with ROUTINE WEEKLY DEADLINES in a structure that will soon become second nature to
you (see the course calendar at the end of the syllabus). The deadlines for different tasks fall at 7pm
on every day of the week, except Mondays and Fridays (which are "free" days for reading/writing
on your own). That does not mean that you need to wait until the deadline to turn work in -- pace
yourself in a way that you will anticipate deadlines and get work in early. Every week on Sunday I will
launch a new unit with a "Prompt of the Week" for your flash fiction stories, along with various board
assignments, online activities and readings (usually due Wednesdays and Saturdays) layed out for your
weekly study. I will also host a few live chats or audio/video lectures on Sunday nights, as well. Your
flash fiction stories will typically involve responding to a "prompt of the week" in a rough draft due on
Tuesday, followed by critiquing two peer stories by Thursday, and revising the story based on your peer's
feedback by Sunday night. The calendar on Canvas will help keep you oriented to deadlines and tasks,
but I have shared a chart of "Typical Weekly Tasks" so that you can understand the cycle and stay on
track, too.
All writing created on Google Drive for a grade must be "shared" with arnzen@setonhill.edu who should
be assigned "can edit" access. This will allow me to not only read your work and give it a grade, but also
write helpful comments in the margins of your texts.
Evaluation of Grades:
My grading criteria are designed to reward effort and respect for the writing process (both your peers and
your own) -- and I will be judging your engagement in a process of growth across the term, not your
"talent" for storytelling. You will succeed if you try to succeed at fiction writing, follow directions closely,
and meet all deadlines. In order to gauge this, I will assign points to written items and calculate your final
grade by converting your points (out of 1500 possible) into a percentage on the scale below. In any
calculations which result in .5 or higher, I round up. Points notwithstanding, any student who fails to turn
in a story, a batch of critiques, exercises, or workbook entries will automatically fail the course. See the
"Late/Missing Work" policy below.
100 point scale
A
93-100
A90-92
B+
B
B-
88-89
83-87
80-82
C+
C
C-
78-79
73-77
70-72
D+
D
68-69
63-67
DF
60-62
59 and below
Content Policy
We will be reading fiction from a variety of genres, by a variety of writers -- some of whom are writing
about the body, sexuality, religion or politics in ways that you may deem inappropriate or shocking. It is
inevitable that you may find some of this material unpalatable, if not offensive. Moreover, much of what
you stumble onto during internet research will contain unpredictable content (sometimes this is coded
"NSFW" -- "not safe for work"). I do not encourage you to write about such topics, but we have to admit
that writing is an artform, and both free expression and a liberal education do not abide censorship.
Thus, please realize up front that this class may contain some "Rated R" (adult) content and that by
staying enrolled in this course, you are agreeing to read and respond to this material with an open, yet
critical, mind, prepared to engage in mature and intellectual conversations about it, rather than
defensiveness or other emotional reactions. If you are ever offended by stories, I want you to privately
ask yourself "Why?" and to reflect on the answersince this may very well be the purpose the author
had in mind.
Having said all that, most of what I have chosen for us to read is safely in PG-13 territory, and all of it is
shared for the educational value it holds. But what about what you and your classmates write? I
encourage you to write fiction fearlessly, but also to listen closely to what your critique partners say in
their editorial advice. One thing I often tell writers is that you should only publish work under your own
name that you wouldn't be embarrassed to have your grandmother read -- maybe that will help guide
you, too.
There are also a few topics that I am calling "off-limits" simply because they raise issues too thorny for
the modern college classroom. Though you may allude to them artfully (through suggestion or
implication) if it serves the story, I ask you to avoid directly dramatizing the following topics or scenarios
(if you do so, you risk receiving a zero on the assignment):
Although it is not in the category of "offensive," unless otherwise directed, I also do not want you to
submit: any work written prior to taking this class; personal memoirs or self-therapy disguised as fiction;
veiled remixes or adaptations of already published work; plagiarism of any kind. I'm looking for fresh
material, inspired by what you most find interesting in the readings and our conversations -- you'll have
more passion about it and find a more welcoming audience for it -- and you'll learn something new about
the art of writing in the process, I assure you.
Please consult with me if you have any questions about how to creatively work within these limits. The
best advice I can give you is to think about the readings and try to write fiction in a way that will
show off something new that you've studied or learned in class at each deadline.
Attendance Policy
As stated earlier, communication is imperative. I will check email regularly every day, and I expect you to
check your email daily and to log on to canvas routinely as well. If for some reason you are unable to
access our class (say, you are hospitalized in a room without wifi) you need to contact me by telephone
or email immediately, so I can try to accommodate you.
WHEN DO I NEED TO BE ONLINE?
Our class will be group-oriented and involve activities and workshops that require active participation for
the entire 8 weeks of the semester. However, because this is an online course, there are no formal class
meetings which you need to attend, and you can use the Canvas calendar and weekly task schedule to
pace your homework submissions. Nevertheless, I would like you to try to reserve Sunday evenings
from 7-8:30pm as a "synchronous" time when we will all be available to work together. This is when I
will not only launch the weekly units and give you guidelines for what is due, but I also want to host a few
live chats, collaborative activities or lectures throughout the term. If you are unavailable to participate at
this assigned time, please let me know and we may be able to make special accommodations for you.
WHAT ABOUT STORY DEADLINES?
Archive Policy
We are going to be writing in a variety of ways this semester -- from posting documents on google docs
to exchanging work via email to sharing media online in the public. You should save all documents and
handouts for future reference. Google docs will be the primary repository for class writing, and you
should keep this archive online (and shared with Arnzen) beyond the class -- at least until you graduate.
I highly recommend that all students back up their work as well in a well-organized thumb drive for later
use as an electronic archive, as well.
In order to fulfill the requirements of the liberal arts curriculum, major assignments completed in this
course must be saved by the student, so that they can successfully argue in the capstone liberal arts
course, Senior Integrative Seminar, that they have met the University Learning Objectives. Creative
Writing majors are required to share work from this class in their "showcase portfolio," which is
presented during an "exit exam" their final term, before they graduate with an English degree.
At the conclusion of the course, please do NOT move or delete your materials from Google Docs, but
leave it there (and shared with the professor) in case of grade errors or English program assessment
purposes.
Disability Assistance
If you have a disability that may require consideration by the instructor, you should contact Terri BassiCook, the Director of Disability Services at 724-838-4295 or tbassicook@setonhill.edu and/or
disabilityservices@setonhill.edu as soon as possible to develop a plan of accommodation. You should
provide the instructor with a copy of your accommodation plan and schedule a meeting or phone call so
that you can be supported in an informed manner. It is not necessary to disclose to your instructor the
nature of your disability. If you need accommodations for successful participation in class activities prior
to your appointment at the Disability Services Office, you should offer information in writing to your
instructor which includes suggestions for assistance in participating in and completing class assignments.
date
M 6/2
T 6/3
W 6/4
Th 6/5
Sat 6/7
Sun 6/8
topic
Prompt of the Week 1:
Drabbles
Popular Genres
T 6/10
W 6/11
Th 6/12
Sat 6/14
Story Shape/Duration
Sun 6/15
T 6/17
W 6/18
Th 6/19
Sat 6/21
4
mid
term
Sun 6/22
T 6/24
W 6/25
Th 6/26
Sat 6/28
Sun 6/29
Point of View
T 7/1
W 7/2
Th 7/3
Sat 7/5
Prose-Poetry/Vignettes
Sun 7/6
T 7/8
W 7/9
Th 7/10
Sat 7/12
7
Sun 7/13
Collaboration
T 7/15
W 7/16
Th 7/17
Sat 7/19
8
Sun 7/20
T 7/22
W 7/23
Th 7/24
F 7/25
due/events
readings (selfpaced)
Revision of FF #2
tba, if needed
Revised Media Project Due
Discussion Board Post or Activity tba
Showcase E-Portfolio Due
Reading Worksheet 8
Posted websites
(Online Research)
(Multimedia Production &
Revision Time)