English 2250 Syllabus  

Instructor: Lisa Bickmore
Office: AD 238A
Hours: T 8-9:30 a.m.; 12-1 p.m.; R 8-9:30 a.m.; 12-1 p.m.
Phone: 957-4686
E-mail: Lisa.Bickmore@slcc.edu

Introduction to the Course: English 2250, “Introduction to Imaginative Writing,” has usually been taught as a course that introduces you to the practices and genres of creative writing. Typically, that means you write some poetry, some fiction, and some of a third genre which used to be drama and now often is creative nonfiction. Genres have usually grounded a course like this, because imaginative writers have usually been practitioners of one (occasionally more) genre, the boundaries of which have been fairly stable.

In this class, we’re going to try to liberate the creative writing class from these strictures by encouraging all sorts of play: to explore what poet Joyelle McSweeney calls the “flexing and flexible fabric” that is language. To me, this means that you try to discover what language can do, without, at least at first, trying to meet the conventions of genre.

I hope this sounds as exciting to you as it does to me. During the first half of the semester, we’re going to try

• Soundplay and wordplay: We will find out the ways jokes, riddles, puns, rhymes, and rhythms are woven through everything we make out of language
• Imitation, Parody, and Ghosts: We’ll be trying to replicate or exaggerate interesting texts, to gain an expanded sense of what people can do with language, as well as to take the opportunity to enter a dialogue with other texts. We’ll also consider the way that our own new texts can be inhabited by the spirits of other texts—other stories, poems, essays, television shows, advertisements, movies.
• Representing & Appropriating: We’ll consider the ways that writers, in creating characters or telling stories, seek to represent the world as they see it. We’ll also talk about the ways that representation nearly always includes appropriation—seizing the opportunity to put one’s imprint and definition on the contested terrain of the world.
• Graphic Texts: We’ll consider how all writing is graphic (see the etymology of the word graphic), but also consider the different ways that writers seek to integrate the image and the word.
• Change & Metamorphosis: The very act of writing transforms—a blank page into a page inscribed with markings. The root of write in English (different than most other Indo-European languages, apparently) is ultimately an Indo-European root that means “to cut, write, or tear”—taking the parchment and making something new out of it. We’ll consider how change and metamorphosis drive nearly every piece of writing.
• Hybridity & Genre: We’ll consider hybrid genres, such as prose poems, flash fiction, lyric fiction, micro-fiction, graphic novels, and what they have to tell us about the stability and flux of genre—the more persistent, conventional aspects of written forms.
• Publication: We’ll consider a spectrum of types of publication, ranging from conventional literary magazines to online journals, zines and e-zines, alternative print publications like broadsides and postcards, and distros. At the conclusion of the class, we’ll produce a class publication of our own, to be hosted on the web.

After we’ve worked outside of genres in the above ways, we’ll consider three genres: poetry, fiction, and the “genre to be named later,” often known as “creative non-fiction,” but otherwise known as the essay, the lyric essay, and other species of non-fiction prose. While working in these genres, you’ll be preparing a selection of the work you’ve done during the semester for a portfolio of your work, using the comments and feedback you’ve received from your peers and from me.

Books: You are not required to buy any books for this course. Virtually all of the readings will be online, which you will access through links keyed to each learning module. For the first paper, I will ask you to read one of a short list of books and respond to it. For the second paper, I will ask you to do some research outside the links I’ve given you module to module.

How the course works: I’ve framed all this work in a series of learning modules. You can access these through the learning modules icon on the left hand side of the WebCT-Vista page. In each module, I include

• A list of the learning outcomes for the module;
• A presentation of ideas and materials relevant to the module;
• Links to readings;
• A discussion question (linked to the discussion forum; these discussions have time limits, so you’ll want to post your own comments and respond to your peers within that time frame);
• A writing assignment; and
• A prompt for posting your own writing assignments and those of your peers.

You should consider this weekly work—if you complete one learning module per week, you’ll be on track to finish the course on time.

In addition to doing the weekly work, you will write two papers for the class (see descriptions below).

Student roles and responsibilities in this course 

A student in English 2250 

• will participate in weekly discussions in a timely fashion
• will read all assigned materials in order to participate knowledgeably and fully
• will write regularly (three or four times a week) in a writer’s notebook
• will also write in response to weekly writing assignments and post these assignments in a timely fashion (within the specified time frame)
• will confer twice during the semester with the instructor (using e-mail, phone, or chat—or face to face, if you prefer)
• will contact the instructor if s/he has questions about the course or about assignments
• will read and respond to the work of peers with diligence, care, and thoughtfulness, and in a timely manner (within the specified time frame)
• will use the response of instructor and peers to revise her/his work meaningfully. 

Instructor roles and responsibilities in this course 

You can expect that your instructor 

• will post high quality course materials that will stimulate you as a writer and help you to learn more about imaginative writing
• will respond to your writing with useful and timely commentary
• will respond to your communications, such as e-mails or phone messages, in a timely manner
• will treat you and your writing thoughtfully and respectfully 

“Responding to your writing in a timely manner” normally means “within a week of your having posted it.” 

“Responding to your communications in a timely manner” normally means within a day. 

Treating your writing “thoughtfully and respectfully” does not mean that I will not offer criticisms of it.  It does mean, though, that I believe that every student’s writing deserves to be taken on its own terms.  If I suggest that something about your piece of writing doesn’t work well, you should understand that I mean that, from my perspective as an experienced reader and writer, I see it that way.  Your writing is always yours to do with as you will.  I hope that you will take my comments as coming from a great deal of experience, as well as from my sincere desire to see you reach your own goals as a writer.

Writer’s Notebook: I will ask you to keep a writer’s notebook or journal, and I will ask you to submit it electronically twice during the semester, so that I can give you some feedback on the kinds of writing you’re doing there (as well as to make sure that you’re doing it).

Consultations: I will also ask you to consult with me twice during the semester about your writing—once early in the semester and once toward the end, when you’re doing the work of putting your portfolio together. These consultations can take several forms. You can schedule a time to chat; you and I can have a conversation on the phone; we can have an e-mail consultation; and, of course, you’re always welcome to schedule a face-to-face meeting with me, if you prefer and if that’s convenient for you.

Grading Breakdown:

Regular and timely participation in the course activities
(discussions, posting and responding to writing, etc.) 250 pts.
Paper #1 100 pts.
Paper #2 100 pts.
Portfolio 350 pts.
Participation in the class publication 100 pts.
Consultations (two during the semester) 50 pts.
Journal checks (two during the semester) 50 pts.

Paper #1: Read one of the books listed below. Summarize the book’s major ideas. What is the most valuable advice you found in this book for you as a writer? 

Wild Mind, Natalie Goldberg
On Writing, Stephen King
Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life, Julia Cameron  

You can easily find these books in libraries and bookstores, as they are popular guides to the writing life.

Your paper should be about two to three pages, should cite from the text and should be documented using MLA format.  You should also draw from your own experience in discussing your reading of the book you selected. 

Paper #2:  Investigate one of the means of publication we discussed in the module on publication: a print literary journal, an online literary journal, a zine, book publishing, or a distro. In your research, you should find out 

•           something about the scope of the means of publication you’ve investigated.
•           Who does it reach and not reach?
•           Who does it include and exclude in the publication process?
•           What advantages does the form of publication you’ve investigated have, and what disadvantages, compared to what you know about other means of publication?

 You should carefully explain what you found in your research, which should be as thorough as you can make it.  You should cite liberally from the contents of the literary publication in order to give the reader a sense of the publication.  Your paper should be about three or four pages long.

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