Unit 1: The Art of Writing (& writing about art)
Tuesday, August 27th
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, August 29th
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, September 3rd
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, September 5th
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, September 10th
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, September 12th
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, September 17th
Individual conferences this week!
Reading discussion: ekphrasis, visuals, & video essays
Art narratives in process check-in, preparing for workshop
Rough draft for Thursday
Thursday, September 19th
Workshop art narrative essays/revisions
Read: “My Mother in Two Photographs…” by Aleida RodrÍguez
Unit 2: Identity (A picture is worth a thousand words)
Tuesday, September 24th
Art Narrative due!
Visual rhetoric & terms for analysis
Photo essays
Introduction to Snapshot essays, technology & examples
Visual narrative group assignments
Read: “Caring for your Introvert” by Jonathan Rauch, “A Path Taken, with All the Certainty of Youth” by Margaret Atwood, & individual excerpts from The 27th Letter of the Alphabet by Kim Adrian
Thursday, September 26th
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, October 1st
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 & Baptism by Marilyn Freeman
Thursday, October 3rd
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, October 8th
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, October 10th
Reading discussion: nonlinear/linear narrative
Workshop snapshot essays/revision
Read: “How to write like a *((@*(#$&” and excerpt from Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Tuesday, October 15th
No class, follow Monday schedule!
Unit 3: Place (Where we have been & where we are going)
Thursday, October 17th
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
Tuesday, October 22nd
(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
Thursday, October 24th
Analyzing place & travel
Home freewrite
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?)
Tuesday, October 29th
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?)
Thursday, October 31st
Individual conferences this week!
Reading discussion: multimedia elements & design & co-authorship
In-class work on Map essays
Read: “As we May Think” by Vannevar Bush, excerpt from Computer Lib/Dream Machines by Ted Nelson & excerpt from Circle K Cycles by Karen Tei Yamashita
Tuesday, November 5th
Workshop Map essays/revision
Read: “My Body, A Wunderkammer” by Shelley Jackson & excerpt from Bossypants by Tina Fey
Unit 4: Connections (Listen to your (multimodal) broccoli)
Thursday, November 7th
Maps Essay Due!
Reading discussion: links, connections, & hypertext
My Body assignment
Introduction to hypertext essay & examples
Collage!
Read: “The Fall” by Alan Bigelow,“The Bafflement Fires” by Jason Nelson, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, Infinite Worries Bash, & “The Gathering Cloud” by JR Carpenter (winner of the 2016 New Media Prize) (for in class assignment Tuesday)
Tuesday, November 12th
Reading discussion, media & authorship
Navigation options (a look at diverse styles)
Media options/brainstorming
Topics, planning & storyboards
Topic proposals due (via email)
Read: "Merged with the Screen for Days” by Judy Malloy & Novelling by Will Luers, Hazel Smith, and Roger Dean (winner of the 2018 Coover award for electronic literature)
Thursday, November 14th
Reading discussion: the elegance of e-lit
In-class work on projects
Twine/ThingLink tutorial
Read: “The End of Books” by Robert Coover
Tuesday, November 19th
Reading discussion: the past & future of e-lit
Virtual Reality?
Reflective memos
Work on projects
Sign up for workshop & conferences
Thursday, November 21st
Individual conferences this week!
Work on projects/ posting drafts
Tuesday, November 26th
Workshop hypertext essays/revision
Happy Thanksgiving Break!
Tuesday, December 3rd
Presentations & discussion/workshop
Thursday, December 5th
Last day of class!
Presentations & discussion/workshop
Final project revisions & reflections due by Friday, December 6th!