ENG 1141 COURSE UNITS

Unit 1: On Developing a Creative Habit

Didion, Joan. “Why I Write”
Jalal al-Din Rumi, “Don’t Go Back to Sleep”
Tan, Amy. Where Does Creativity Hide? (TedTalk)

On Keeping a Writer’s Notebook

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, 9-12 (Poetry)

Also find them at: Writer’s Relief

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
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) 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 Honing Description: Nalo Hopkinson-How to Write Descriptively
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)

Fiction: Readings

Al Aswany, Alaa. Izzat Amin Iskandar
Chang, Vanessa. “The Ugliest Babies in the World”
Cheever, John. Reunion
Chekhov, Anton. Misery
Corin, Lucy. Miracles
Diaz, Junot. How to Date a Brown Girl
Gaffney, David. Stories in Your Pocket
Gerson, Hannah. Your Only Job is to Ignore that Phone
Hemingway, Ernest. Hills Like White Elephants
Hemingway, Ernest. Ch. V, In Our Time
Holliday, Billie. Strange Fruit
Kafka, Franz. Give It Up!
Kincaid, Jamaica. Girl
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. Tuesday Siesta
Saunders, George. Sticks
Sparks, Amber. Everything is Terrible, But You Should Read this Story

Unit 4: Writing Memoir

Introduction to Writing Memoir

Components of the Memoir Form: 1) Resources on Creative Non-Fiction and Memoir on Purdue OWL 2) The Difference Between Personal Essay and Memoir; 3) How to Write a Memoir: 7 Ways to Tell a Powerful Story
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)

Memoir Topics (with Prompts)

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
Prompts: Writing about Your Relationship with Money
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

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?”

Memoir: Readings

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
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
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. What’s in a Name?
Money Diaries on Refinery29
What We Can Learn from 1918 Influenza Diaries-Smithsonian Magazine

Unit 5: Continuing Your Writing Practice

Tips for Reading Out Loud

“Tips on Reciting” from Poetry Out Loud

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: Don’t Write Alone (from Catapult)
Keep Writing: Start a Writing Group

Become a “Literary Citizen”

City Tech Literary Arts Festival

Spring 2021: Staceyann Chin Poems, Spoken Word, Articles, and Event Details

Spring 2019: Jose Olivarez

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ENG 1141: Introduction to Creative Writing