First drafts of your memoir pieces for workshop are due in class. Please follow these instructions:
• Bring FIVE copies of your first draft memoir. This should be at least five pages long. You will be working in small groups for this first workshop, and also turning in a copy to me for critique.
• Be sure your manuscripts are clean of errors and double-spaced. Do not wait until the last minute to make your copies. Last-minute issues with printing or copying will not be accepted as an excuse for late manuscripts.
• Anyone who misses workshop will not have the opportunity to make it up, nor receive credit for the assignment.
• The following week (Feb. 22), you will be both workshopping and have critiques due to Julia and your peers. Workshop critique sheets and workshop process will be reviewed in class.
Read for class:
- Tell It Slant, Part 3, Honing Your Craft, Chapter 12: “The Particular Challenges of Creative Nonfiction.”
- “Sorry” by Lee Martin, Touchstone Anthology and be prepared to discuss the essay.
- “On the Necessity of Turning Oneself into a Character” by Phillip Lopate (handout)
• In-class: In addition to distributing your manuscripts, we will have an in-class critical writing assignment to assess your synthesis of all the materials we have read and discussed so far. The in-class writing assignment will be open-book and I will expect you to cite materials as needed for the assignment. The assignment will be graded for:
• understanding and articulation of the issues related to memoir and creative nonfiction
• critical synthesis of the essays we have read so far from both Tell It Slant, Touchstone and online readings
• proper grammar and writing structure
Please remember that you can also review class presentations here.