ENG 1141 COURSE UNITS

Unit 1: On Developing a Creative Habit

The Big Think. “Creativity: The Science Behind the Madness”
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Creative Breakthroughs
Didion, Joan. “Why I Write”
Jalal al-Din Rumi, “Don’t Go Back to Sleep”
Lenox, Annie. Creative Breakthroughs
Lukpat, Alyssa. “An 8-Year-Old Wrote a Book and Hid it on the Library Shelf. It’s a Hit.”
Orwell, George. Why I Write
Tan, Amy. Where Does Creativity Hide? (TedTalk)
Whyte, David. “Everything is Waiting for You”

On Keeping a Writer’s Notebook

What is a Writer’s Notebook? Three Sources
Baldwin, James. Paris Review Interview: No. 78
Butler, Octavia. “Furor Scribendi”
Didion, Joan. “On Keeping a Notebook”
Hemingway, Ernest. Paris Review Interview: No. 21
Woolf, Virginia. From A Writer’s Notebook: March 28, 1931
Woolf, Virginia. From A Writer’s Notebook: August 20, 1932

Writer’s Notebook Prompts

Writer’s Notebook Prompts 1-8, Journaling
Writer’s Notebook Prompts 9-12, Poetry
Writer’s Notebook Prompts, 13-19, Fiction
Writer’s Notebook Prompts, 20-23, Journaling

“Rules” for Creative Writing by Writers

Unit 2: Writing Poetry

Unit 3: Writing Fiction

Introduction to Writing Fiction

Aspen Ideas Festival. “What Makes a Story Great?”
Diaz, Junot. Literature is the Closest Thing We Have to Telepathy
Electric Literature: Six Video Games that Feel Like Reading a Novel
Ferrante, Elena. Art of Fiction Interview No. 228 from The Paris Review
PurdueOWL: Fiction Writing Basics
Riefler, Nelly. Endings that Hover
Saunders, George. What Writers Really Do When They Write

On the Craft of Fiction

On Plot: 1) Story Exercises for Plot (with Margaret Atwood); 2) On Freytag’s Pyramid; 3) On the Shape of Stories (with Kurt Vonnegut)
On Developing Character: 1) PurdueOWL: Developing Characters; 2) Creating a Character Profile 3) The Color Fetish (Toni Morrison) 4) More Character Development Tips; 5) Humans of New York;
On Writing Dialogue: 1)Developing Story through Dialogue: “How to Write Great Dialogue”; 2) How to Format Dialogue in Fiction: Two Sources; 3) Developing Character Through Dialogue: “Three Anti-Social Skills to Improve Your Writing”(with Nadia Kalman); 4) Developing Character Through Dialogue: “Great Films for Learning to Write Dialogue”(New York Film Academy)
On Writing Flash Fiction: 1) Definitions of the Form: “What is Flash Fiction” from Fiction Southeast and “What is Flash Fiction”-Reedsy; 2) “How to Write Flash Fiction” -The Guardian; 3) Flash Fiction: Examples on this Site
On Style and Honing Description:1) Nalo Hopkinson-How to Write Descriptively; 2) 265+ Verbs to Turn Yourself into a Literary Tyrannosaurus
On Revising Fiction: 1) The Revision Process for Fiction 2) Twelve Contemporary Writers on How They Revise 3) A Month of Revision (from Necessary Fiction) 4) Revision Ideas and Techniques from Pleiades Magazine; 5) Revision “Style Guide” from Matthew Salesses

Fiction: Readings

Al Aswany, Alaa. Izzat Amin Iskandar
Chang, Vanessa. “The Ugliest Babies in the World”
Cheever, John. Reunion
Chekhov, Anton. Misery
Cisneros, Sandra. Eleven.
Corin, Lucy. Miracles
Gaffney, David. Stories in Your Pocket
Gerson, Hannah. Temporary Job
Hemingway, Ernest. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Hemingway, Ernest. Hills Like White Elephants
Hemingway, Ernest. Ch. V, In Our Time
Holliday, Billie. Strange Fruit
Kafka, Franz. Give It Up!
Krasznahorkai, László. I Don’t Need Anything from Here
Kincaid, Jamaica. Girl
LeGuin, Ursula K. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
Machado, Carmen Maria. The Lost Performance of the High Priestess of the Temple of Horror
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. Tuesday Siesta
Morrison, Toni. Recitatif
Saunders, George. Sticks
Schwartz, Selby Wynn.A Life in Chameleons
Sparks, Amber. Everything is Terrible, But You Should Read this Story
Williams, William Carlos. The Use of Force

Unit 4: Writing Memoir

Introduction to Writing Memoir

Franzen, Jonathan. On Memory and Memoir
Hofler, Sakinah. How Creative Writing Can Help You Through Life’s Hardest Moments
Jarrett, Christian. Writing Memoir to Boost Your Self Esteem
NPR: Tips for Writing Memoir
Zinsser, William. How to Write a Memoir (The American Scholar)

Components of the Memoir Form

Purdue OWL: Resources on Creative Non-Fiction and Memoir on Purdue OWL
The Difference Between Personal Essay and Memoir
How to Write a Memoir: 7 Ways to Tell a Powerful Story
Fennelly, Beth. On Writing Micro-Memoir
Micro-Memoir: Examples
The Braided Essay
Graphic Narratives: Archive: Graphic Narratives on Electric Literature

Memoir Topics (with Prompts)

(Note: the prompts offered below are for journaling practice and class exercises. For instructions on the Memoir Assignment, read the class handout.)

Writing Your Educational Autobiography
Prompts: Writing the Educational Autobiography.
Examples: 1) Yolanda Sealey Ruiz: Getting from Here to There: One Woman’s Journey From the South Bronx to the Academy 2) José Olivarez: Maybe I Could Save Myself by Writing

Writing Your Life in Chapters
Prompt: Writing about Your Life in Chapters
Related articles: 1) Christian Jarret, To Boost Your Self Esteem, Write about Chapters of Your Life 2) Diana Raab, Why is Memoir Writing Transformative?

Writing about Your Relationship with Money/Work
Prompts: Writing about Your Relationship with Money; more prompts on writing about money: Questions/Prompts for Writing Your “Money” Memoir
Examples: 1) Junot Diaz, “The Money” 2) Roxane Gay Financial Independence: The Most Important Thing a Woman Can Do for Herself 3) Refinery 29 Money Diaries; 4) David Sedaris, “Holidays on Ice”

Writing Memoir to Un-silence the Silences in Our Lives
Prompt: Writing Memoir to Un-Silence our Silences
Example: Sakinah Hofler: How to Use Creative Writing to Bear Witness

Writing about Your Relationship with Your Name
Prompts: Writing the Story of Your Name
Examples: 1) Việt Thanh Nguyen, “America Say My Name”; 2) Beth Nguyen, “America Ruined My Name for Me” ; 3) “What’s In A Name?: A Lot As It Turns Out” (article); 4) Mohamed Hassan-(un)LEARNING MY NAME (video); 5) Marion Roach Smith, “What’s in a Name?”

Writing about Your Relationship with Another Person (and Micro-Memoir)
Prompt: Writing about Relationships
Examples of relationship writing that use the micro-essay form: Brenda Miller’s “Swerve”; Michael Komatsu’s “When We Played”; Examples of Micro-Memoirs

Memoir: Readings

Aymar, E.A. How to Talk to Your Children About War
Baldwin ,James. The Devil Finds Work (excerpt)
Diaz, Junot. The Money
Eckholm, Erik. “What’s In A Name?: A Lot As It Turns Out” (article)
Gay, Roxane. Financial Independence: The Most Important Thing a Woman Can Do For Herself
New York Times’ “Modern Love” Examples
Hofler, Sakinah. How to Use Creative Writing to Bear Witness
Komatsu, Michael. When We Played.
Loeb, Devon. My Experiences as a Black Man are Integral to My Work as a Teacher
Miller, Brenda. Swerve
Nguyễn, Beth. “America Ruined My Name for Me”
Nguyen, Việt Than. “America Say My Name”
Olivarez, José. Maybe I Could Save My Life by Writing
Sedaris, David. “Holidays on Ice”
Sealey-Ruiz, Yolanda. Archeology of the Self
Sealey-Ruiz, Yolanda. Getting from Here to There: One Woman’s Journey From the South Bronx to the Academy
Smith, Marion Roach. Tips for Writing Memoir
Yamauchi, G.H. Either/Or (Graphic Narrative)
Money Diaries on Refinery 29
What We Can Learn from 1918 Influenza Diaries-Smithsonian Magazine

Unit 5: Continuing Your Writing Practice

Keep Writing!

Keep Writing: Resources for Continuing Journaling and Writing
Keep Writing: Read! And then….re-read!
Keep Writing: Places to Submit Your Work
Keep Writing: Take More Creative Writing Classes
Keep Writing: Start a Writing Group
Keep Writing: Don’t Write Alone (from Catapult)

Read, read, read. And then, keep reading!

Keep Reading: Read about Writing
Keep Reading: Read about Writers (and then read their work)
Keep Reading: Read about Writers and What They are Reading (and then read what the writer you like are reading)
Become a “Literary Citizen”

ENG 1141 Intro. to Creative Writing: Resources and Readings