Unit 1: The Art of Writing (& writing about art)
Tuesday, January 21st
Introduction to each other and course
Read: Syllabus, “What is Creative Nonfiction?” & excerpt from Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, come with an example of creative nonfiction for discussion
Thursday, January 23rd
Continue introductions, class schedule
Reading discussion: defining creative nonfiction & the art of writing (& broccoli)
Read: “How to Write Vivid Descriptions,” “Write till You Drop” & “Total Eclipse” by Annie Dillard
Tuesday, January 28th
Reading discussion: descriptive writing & sensory details
Intro to Art Narrative assignment
Sensory detail exercise
Read:, “Why I Write” by TTW & Leap by Terry Tempest Williams & Still Life with Oysters and Lemon by Mark Doty excerpts
(interviews with the authors: "On Writing as an Act of Living: An Interview with Terry Tempest Williams" in Brevity & An Interview with Poet Mark Doty at Poets & Writers)
Thursday, January 30th
Reading discussion, form/style & ekphrastic essays
Share sensory detail exercise
Read: "Ekphrasis" by Marjorie Munsterberg & Ekphrastic poems at poets.org (bring with you next week)
Tuesday, February 4th
Art Museum Visit
e-mail art narrative proposal
Read: “Building Blocks of Creative Nonfiction: Characterization and Scene,” NowNovel dialogue examples, and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers excerpt
(From Your Fathers, Where are They? And the Prophets, Do they Live Forever? by Dave Eggers)
Thursday, February 6th
Share ekphrastic poems/activity
Reading discussion: more ekphrasis & dialogue
In-class work on dialogue
Sign up for conferences for next week!
Read: “Dead Christ” by Brian Bouldrey
Tuesday, February 11th
Individual conferences this week!
Reading discussion: ekphrasis, visuals, & video essays
Art narratives in process check-in, preparing for workshop
Rough draft for Thursday
Thursday, February 13th
Workshop art narrative essays/revisions
Read: “My Mother in Two Photographs…” by Aleida RodrÍguez & a brief look at “The Lyric Essay” by Deborah Tall
Unit 2: Identity (A picture is worth a thousand words)
Tuesday, February 18th
Art Narrative due!
Visual rhetoric & terms for analysis
Photo essays
Introduction to Snapshot essays, technology & examples
Visual narrative group assignments
Read:"Becoming You" by Joshua Rothman (library), “A Path Taken, with All the Certainty of Youth” & "9 Beginnings" by Margaret Atwood & more on “The Lyric Essay” from Tell it Slant
Thursday, February 20th
Reading discussion: identity
In-class group work on visual narratives
Read: excerpt from Picturing Texts, excerpts from Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, & “Things I Thought Made Sense Just Don’t Anymore” by Mira Jacobs
Tuesday, February 25th
Reading discussion: images & text
Group Visual Narrative presentations
Pre-writing/Planning/Storyboarding snapshot essays
Read: "On the Origin of the Video Essay" & Mangoes by John Bresland & “Estrellada” by Vanessa Angélica Villarreal
Thursday, February 27th
Reading discussion: video essays & identity
Work on snapshot essays
Sign up for conferences
Read: “Walking the Line,” “That Kind of Daughter” by Kristen Radtke, & “UN/TIED Shoes” by Evie Ruddy & Tracey Lebedovich
(& City Fish by JR Carpenter?)
Tuesday, March 4th
Individual conferences this week!
Reading discussion: interactivity & reader/author relationships
Hypertext, how to talk about e-lit, terms for analysis
Work on snapshot essays
Read: “Electronic Literature: What is it?” by N. Katherine Hayles & “Mr. Plimpton’s Revenge” by Dinty Moore
Thursday, March 6th
Reading discussion: nonlinear/linear narrative
Workshop snapshot essays/revision
Read: “How to write like a *((@*(#$&” and excerpt from Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Unit 3: Place (Where we have been & where we are going)
Tuesday, March 11th
Snapshot Essays due (& presentations)
Reading discussion: Merging identity & place & home & maps
Read: “How to write about Place in Creative Nonfiction” & “The Ashes of August” by Kim Barnes
Thursday, March 13th
(Presentations continued)
Reading discussion: researching/capturing place, “home”
Introduce Map Essay, technology & examples
Group analysis assignments
Read: “Writing the Travel Essay” & “History” by Dinty Moore
Spring break March 17th - 21st!
Tuesday, March 25th
Analyzing place & travel
Home free write
Pre-writing/planning/mapping Map Essay
Read: “Taroko Gorge” by Nick Montfort and excerpts from A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
(and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer?)
Thursday, March 27th
Reading discussion: code, generative text, & authorship
In-class work on Map essays
Read: “High Muck a Muck: Playing Chinese” by Nicola Harwood & co. and excerpt from Stealing Buddha’s Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen,
(and "The Book of Distance" trailer?)
Tuesday, April 1st
Individual conferences this week!
Reading discussion: multimedia elements & design & co-authorship
In-class work on Map essays
Read: excerpt from Circle K Cycles by Karen Tei Yamashita
Thursday, April 3rd
Workshop Map essays/revision
Read: “As we May Think” by Vannevar Bush
Unit 4: Connections (Listen to your (multimodal) broccoli)
Tuesday, April 8th
Maps Essay Due!
Reading discussion: links, connections, & hypertext
Introduction to hypertext essay & examples
Collage!
Read: “My Body, A Wunderkammer” by Shelley Jackson &"All Girls Must be Everything" by Tina Fey
(“The Fall” by Alan Bigelow,“The Bafflement Fires” by Jason Nelson, "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow," & "Infinite Worries Bash" for in class assignment Thursday)
Thursday, April 10th
Reading discussion: "My Body," media & authorship
Navigation options (a look at diverse styles)
Media options/brainstorming topics
Topic proposals due (via email)
Read:“The Gathering Cloud” by JR Carpenter (winner of the 2016 New Media Prize) & "Merged with the Screen for Days” by Judy Malloy
Tuesday, April 15th
Reading discussion: the elegance of e-lit
In-class work on projects
Twine/ThingLink tutorial
Read: “The End of Books” by Robert Coover
Thursday, April 17th
Reading discussion: the past & future of e-lit
Virtual Reality?
Reflective memos
Work on projects
Sign up for workshop & conferences
Extra credit: Poetry slam, Friday, April 18th & Poetry festival Saturday, April 19th
Tuesday, April 22nd
Individual conferences this week!
Work on projects/ posting drafts
Thursday, April 24th
Workshop hypertext essays/revision
Tuesday, April 29th
Presentations & discussion/workshop
Thursday, May 1st
Last day of class!
Presentations & discussion/workshop
Final project revisions & reflections due by Friday, May 2nd!