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COVER LETTER/ENHANCED SYLLABUS
ENGLISH 206—CREATIVE WRITING

ENHANCEMENTS
1. Multiple Genre Focus: 206 Creative Writing has been a required course in the English major
for many years. However, because few other creative writing classes existed, faculty could teach
it in a variety of ways (all screenwriting or all poetry, for example). Under the new curriculum,
this becomes a foundation course in the new Creative Writing minor and, while maintaining a
degree of flexibility, must expose students to poetry and prose so that they will be prepared for
genre-specific workshops at the 300-level.
2. Writing Intensive: Students are expected to produce weekly short fiction and poetry exercises
(at least 2 pages a week or 25 pages of exercises). Typically, these exercises become the 10 page
story and 2 poems they workshop. The final portfolio contains a significant revision of this story
and these poems. In all, students produce as much as 100 pages of creative writing over the
course of the semester. In addition, students complete non-creative writing assignments, such as
craft analyses, critiques, journal entries, free-writing, and SOCS responses, which can total as
much as 40-50 pages.
3. Reading Intensive: Students read approximately 20 short stories and 40 poems by professional
writers to study craft. They also read the stories and poems of their peers in preparation for
workshop—approximately 22 short stories and 50 poems.
4. Expectations: More revision and polish will be expected of the final portfolio, and it will
therefore be worth more in an enhanced 206. For example, if in an un-enhanced 206, the final
portfolio was 15 pages of polished poetry and prose worth 40% of the final grade, it will now be
20-25 pages worth 50%.

DESCRIPTION: Creative Writing is designed to improve the students’ skills as readers and writers
of poetry and fiction. Students analyze the craft of poems and stories by established writers and
by fellow students. This “craft analysis” focuses on what makes a poem or story work (as
opposed to what they mean) and increases the students’ awareness of the possibilities in their own
writing. Creative Writing stresses that writing is a process; therefore revision is essential. Grades
are based on the students’ ability to successfully utilize craft consciousness, workshop feedback,
and their own critical faculties in the revision process.

LEARNING GOALS

Students in 206 Creative Writing will:
 become familiar with a variety of aesthetic traditions and concerns
 experience writing in poetry and prose
 analyze craft in poetry and prose
 read and listen analytically, with understanding and openness toward
another point of view
 become familiar with “the workshop method” by reading and responding critically to
works in progress
 convey their analysis in both spoken and written forms.
 revise their own work based on workshop critiques (from students and faculty member)
 prepare a portfolio of revised, polished work
 begin to form their own literary aesthetic as they study the aesthetics of contemporary
writers

STUDENT ASSESSMENT
ENG 206 Creative Writing Enhancement/2

Student creative work is evaluated according to the portfolio method of grading. Poems, stories,
scenes, and exercises are considered “works in progress,” and grades are assigned only after
students have taken the opportunity to revise significantly, bringing what they’ve learned over the
semester to bear upon their work in the final portfolios. Essentially the student’s ultimate goal
should be to learn to read poetry and prose effectively and to write challenging and carefully
considered work. The instructor’s goal is to encourage the student to explore the creative process
of seeing and re-seeing their creative work by cultivating the ability and the desire to research,
observe, imagine, take notes, reflect, write, rewrite, and revise, re-do, re-learn. To achieve these
goals, the instructor, in written and oral comments at each stage of the process, shares with the
student her or his thoughts, responses, and suggestions. 50% of the student’s final grade is based
on their portfolio, and the remaining 50% of their grade is determined by their performance on
such assignments as quizzes, analysis papers, short response papers, and written peer critiques,
which are graded through out the semester.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES/PEDAGOGY

In 206 Creative Writing, students are introduced to the workshop method, but the course is
primarily lecture/discussion. Students discuss published and unpublished work and complete
writing exercises which introduce particular, isolated aspects of craft, such as:
 poetic language (the role of the abstract and of the concrete; imagery and significant detail;
comparison; diction)
 units of poetry, such as line and stanza
 free vs. formal verse and the relationship between form and content
 narrative and lyric structures in poetry
 how to show instead of tell, how to tell as a way of showing
 plot, conflict, and structure in fiction
 methods of characterization
 scene and summary
 point of view: first, second, and third (omniscient, limited, and dramatic/objective)

Writing exercises enable students to learn these aspects of craft. For example, one fiction
assignment to teach how to show instead of tell would be to have students write a scene in which
a character has a conflict, but the conflict cannot be told to the reader, but must be illustrated by
what the character says, wears, and does in the scene. A poetry assignment to teach line and
stanza would be to have students write one poem and without changing a single word of the
poem, hand in four different versions by changing the line breaks and the stanza breaks.
ENG 206 Creative Writing Enhancement/3

CREATIVE WRITING (ENHANCED SYLLABUS)
Professor Cathy Day
Bliss 229
Office Hours: T & F 3:30-5 PM and by appointment
Phone: 771-2918
E-mail: dayc@tcnj.edu (Remember DAYC not DAY!)
________________________________________________________________________

 Syllabus is always subject to change
 We’re focusing on fiction and poetry. You don’t have to read the essays or plays in Burroway, but
you can.
 Don’t email me attachments! Cut and paste your work into the body of the email!
 No, you can’t attend the other section I teach.

JANUARY
T 21 Introduction to the course
F 24 GETTING STARTED
Have Read: Burroway, “Invitation to the Writer” (preface)
Due: No Terms, Just Responses (1 page, just this time)
Due: Assignment #1:
Read May Swenson, “The Surface” (Burroway 34) and Stuart Dybek,
“Pet Milk” (Norton 181). Take “The Surface” poem and rewrite it twice.
The first time, you still want it to be a poem, but play with the
enjambment (where the lines break) and the stanza breaks. The second
time, write it out as a paragraph. Then write a few sentences about what
you discover, what the effect of these changes are. Then, take a
paragraph (or less) from “Pet Milk” and write it as a poem. Do the same
with another paragraph. Write a few sentences about what you discover,
why you broke the lines (enjambed) the way you did, etc.
T 28 IMAGES
Have Read: Burroway: Chapter 1; Denis Johnson, “Car Crash While Hitch-
hiking,” Yusef Komunyakaa, “Facing It,” David Kirby, “How to Use This
Body.” Norton: Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried”
Due: Terms and Responses—Chapter 1
F 31 Due: Warm Ups
Suggestion: Take one of the poems or stories in this section and rewrite a
portion of it BADLY by taking out the images, or by making the images
unspecific, abstract. Or buy a greeting card, one for someone you know,
one that somehow seems “just right.” Now, study the abstractions, the
vagueness. Does this “greeting card poetry” trigger a specific memory
you share with the receiver of the card? Write about THAT. Make a card
about THAT.

To Be Read Aloud: Assignment #2 (A or B)
A: Write two different short poems following the directions on p. 12 of
Burroway.
B: Transform one of these paragraphs into a scene. Use concrete, specific
images. Remember the five senses.
 She went into the house and put the bags of groceries down on the table. He asked
ENG 206 Creative Writing Enhancement/4

how her day went, and she told him. Together, they unloaded the items and put
them away. Then they put on some music, poured themselves a drink, and made
dinner.
 I don’t like cats. I have my reasons. My girlfriend has a cat and I told her if she didn’t
get rid of it, I was leaving. She cried. I broke something. The cat was in its box,
looking at me while it did its business.
FEBRUARY
T 4 VOICE
Have Read: Burroway: Chapter 2; Ha Jin, “In the Kindergarten,” Donald
Barthelme, “The School,” Gary Soto, “Black Hair,” Ted Hughes, “Hawk
Roosting,” Hilda Raz, “Father,” Barbara Hamby, “The Language of Bees”
Due: Terms and Responses—Chapter 2

F 7 Due: Warm Ups
Suggestion: There are variety of problems with the following sentences. Poor
grammar and/or punctuation. Lack of clarity. Poor construction, balance,
rhythm. Lack of significant details (telling instead of showing). Clichés and
hackneyed language. Choose two sentences and rewrite them. Make them
sparkle.
 The squeak of employees’ rubber soled shoes down the sterile hallways, the nurses who
seemed too busy to care, the pervasive smell of medicine, the sick lying in their beds
imploring with desperate eyes for escape from their wretched confinement, the teary
eyed relatives and friends. All of these were things Lucy hated about hospitals.
 [Characters are leaning against a car] Dominic’s lips pressed firmly against mine and
coolness of the metal and the night evaporated as the warm sensation of curiosity
dissolved through my body. Dominic drew back. I kept my eyes closed savoring the
moment. This was something I had often imagined but never thought would happen.
When I opened my eyes, Dominic was smiling at me, his eyes piercing my soul.
 There was more talk of what the dead have done, and really pinched ears would reveal
the sounds of synapses hardening around the ideas Miss Katie was delivering.
 Her fingers were curled toward her palms giving the divine direction and a place to collect
for the divine cannot work individually for they are intertwined and unlike people are not
as tenuously linked.

To Be Read Aloud: Assignment #3
A: Write in the voice of something non-human. Start a story or write a
poem, but it must be in first person (I, we)
B: Imitate Hamby’s “The Language of Bees.” Write a poem or start a
story titled “The Language of _____________” This must also be
something non-human, but must be in third person (he, she, they)

T 11 CHARACTER
Have Read: Burroway: Chapter 3, Junot Diaz, “Ysrael,” Stephen Dunn, “My
Brother’s Work,” Elizabeth Jennings, “One Flesh,” B.H. Fairchild, “Old Men
Playing Basketball.” Norton: Raymond Carver, “Cathedral.”
Due: Terms and Responses—Chapter 3

F 14 Due: Warm Ups
Suggestion: Imitate the following poem and make it a poem or story. Change the
first line and make it your own. “Every time I smell ____ it is ____.”

The Story of Lava by David Allan Evans
ENG 206 Creative Writing Enhancement/5

Every time I smell Lava soap it is 1948.
My father is bending over a long sink in the
pressroom of The Sioux City Journal at 5 AM,
his grey long underwear peeled down over his
white belly, a thin bar of Lava tumbling over
and over slowly in his ink-stained hands.
The morning news has passed through his hands
out into the morning streets into the hands
of sleepy boys who fold it in a certain way and
fling it on porches and steps, but that is not
my story. Lava is my story and the morning
news that Lava can’t rub off. It is my father
bending over a sink, a thin bar of Lava tumbling
over and over and over slowly in his cloudy hands.

To Be Read Aloud: Assignment #4
I Spy. Go to a place where you can watch and listen to people without
making yourself too noticeable, on or off campus. Eavesdrop on a
conversation between two people and write down everything they say,
verbatim. If you have a recorder, then tape them. Then type up a
transcript of this conversation, but don’t include dialogue tags, setting, or
anything else. Just the dialogue. If your conversation has more than two
people, mark each line with A, B, and C so we know which is talking. If
you have time, you can bring in more than one transcript. At the end of
class, we’ll exchange transcripts so everyone gets one they didn’t spy on.
T 18 SETTING
Have Read: Burroway: Chapter 4, Charles Baxter, “Snow,” Rita Dove,
“Vacation,” Yusef Komunyakaa, “Nude Interrogation.” Norton: William Gass,
“In the Heart of the Heart of the Country,” and Jamaica Kincaid, “Girl.”
Due: Terms and Responses—Chapter 4

F 21 Due: Warm Ups
Suggestion: No place is “typical,” and if it is, your job as a writer is to make sure
there’s at least something that makes a place unique. Describe a setting you know
well—your room, where you work, the house you grew up in, your block/street.
Help me picture it. Show me why it’s different than any other place.

To Be Read Aloud: Assignment #5
A. Take the dialogue transcript from last week and turn it into a full-fledged
scene, adding character actions/movement, description, thought, and
exposition. You can only enter the thoughts of ONE character (limited
omniscience POV) or neither (objective or dramatic POV). You can
tinker with the dialogue if you wish, adding or subtracting as you need.
The scene must reveal the subtext of the conversation, what’s running
underneath the surface of the chit chat. If you aren’t sure what the
subtext is, make it up. No more than two pages.
B. Write a poem about a color. List images (5 senses) you associate with
that color, and then decide on narrative and associative possibilities.
Avoid the symbolic, clichéd associations of the color: “green with envy,”
“singing the blues,” “red as a beet.” Consider the personal associations.
For example, “old gold” (a ghastly greenish gold) was my school color
ENG 206 Creative Writing Enhancement/6

and reminds me of basketball games, the smell of wool lettermen’s
jackets, gyms reeking of hard sweat, cold winter nights, and my failures
as an athlete. The color must be in the title. We’ve read a lot of
“narrative poems” in here. Here’s a different kind.

White by Charles Wright

Carafe, compotier, seashell, vase:
Blank spaces, white objects;
Luminous knots along the black rope.
*
The clouds, great piles of oblivion, cruise
Over the world, the wind at their backs
Forever. They darken whomever they please.
*
The angel, his left hand on your left shoulder;
The bones, in draped white, at your door;
The bed sheets, the pillowcase, your eyes.
*
I write your name for the last time in this mist,
White breath on the windowpane,
And watch it vanish. No it stays there.
*
White, and the leaf clicks; dryrock;
White, and the wave spills.
Dogwood, the stripe, headlights, teeth.

T 25 STORY
Have Read: Burroway: Chapter 5, Ron Wallace, “Worry,” Robert Hass, “A
Story about the Body,” Richard Wilbur, “Digging for China,” Ellen Bryant
Voigt, “Short Story,” Li-Young Lee, “Hammock” Norton: Andre Dubus, “A
Father’s Story”
Due: Terms and Responses—Chapter 5

F 28 THE PROSE POEM, THE SHORT SHORT STORY, THE NON-LINEAR STORY
Virtual Class! No “real” class
Read (or re-read) the following stories: Burroway: Ron Wallace, “Worry,”
Laurie Berry, “Mockingbird.” Norton: Robert Coover, “The Babysitter,” Susan
Minot, “Lust,” Tom Hawkins, “Putting a Child to Bed,” William Gass, “In the
Heart of the Heart of the Country”
SOCS Assignment: Do A or B. Be sure to tell us if you’re doing A or B on your
posting.
A. By 5pm Friday the 28th, post a short short or prose poem to the SOCS
discussion board. Don’t tell us whether it’s a short short or a prose poem.
Everyone in the class will reply and say which they think it is and why.
B. Or, if you don’t want to do A, then by 5 PM on Friday, write a short
imitation of “The Babysitter,” “Lust,” or “In the Heart…” It can be a poem
or a story, but it must be collage-like, an assemblage of fragments, like the
poem by Wallace Stevens, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (see
the back)

MARCH
T 4 DEVELOPMENT AND REVISION
ENG 206 Creative Writing Enhancement/7

Have Read: Burroway: Chapter 6, Carver and Dubus essays (on reserve)
Due: Selected Warm Ups and Assignments to distribute, start Small Group
Workshop

F 7 Small Group Workshop of selected Warm Ups and Assignments
T 11 Spring Break
F 14 Spring Break

T 18 FICTION
Have Read: Burroway: Chapter 8, H. Sellers, “It’s Water, It’s Not Going to Kill
You”
Due: Terms and Responses—Chapter 8

F 21 Due: Short Story for Workshop; Mock Workshop

T 25 Workshop _______________ __________________ ___________________

F 28 Workshop _______________ __________________ ___________________
APRIL
T 1 Workshop ______________ ___________________ ____________________

F 4 Workshop ______________ ___________________ ____________________
Due: Craft Analysis—Fiction

T 8 POETRY
Have Read: Burroway: Chapter 9, and all the poems
Due: Terms and Responses—Chapter 9

F 11 To Be Read Aloud: Assignment #6
Write two poems. One must be written in form (a sonnet, a villanelle, a
ghazal, a sestina) or must employ a formal rhyme scheme or metrical
pattern without being too “sing-songy.” The other can be whatever you
want. You will read both to the class and talk about the difference
between the two, which you think you prefer, etc. What are the
advantages and disadvantages of writing either way?

T 15 Due: Poem for Workshop; Mock Workshop

F 18 Workshop: ___________ ______________ _____________ ______________

T 22 Workshop: ___________ ______________ _____________ ______________

F 25 Workshop: ___________ ______________ _____________ ______________
Due: Craft Analysis—Poetry

T 29 Conferences: Work on Portfolio
MAY
2 2 Conferences: Work on Portfolio

Our scheduled final exam time is: _______________________That’s when your final portfolio is due.
ENG 206 Creative Writing Enhancement/8

COURSE POLICY

REQUIRED TEXTS: Janet Burroway, Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft
Cassill & Oates, The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction, 2nd edition
various things on reserve at the library or handed out
A good dictionary

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is designed to improve your skills as a reader and writer of poetry
and fiction. We will discuss poems and stories by established writers and by your classmates. In these
discussions, we will explore the craft of writing in both genres in order to better understand what makes a
poem or story work (as opposed to what it means) and to increase your awareness of the possibilities for
your own writing. The course focuses on the process of writing; therefore revision is essential. Your final
grade will be based largely on your ability to successfully utilize both class criticism and your own critical
faculties in the revision process.

REQUIREMENTS: As mentioned above, this class is designed to help you become better readers and
writers of poetry and fiction, your own as well as others. To accomplish this, you will:

1. Read. If you want to write, you must read. That’s all there is to it. Even if you don’t want to become
writers, I hope that you find a writer or style of writing that will interest you for years to come. Each
class, you will be assigned chapters from the Burroway text and from the Norton. Keep up with the
reading and come to class prepared to discuss writing from a writer’s point of view. This is not about
“deep hidden meanings.”

2. Attend Class/Participate: If attendance is a problem for you, please drop this class. Your attendance is
expected. Everyday for the full time period. Do not schedule appointments during class time—I
don’t—unless it is completely unavoidable. Attendance, tardiness, and early leaves are all recorded and
will affect your participation grade in a serious manner. Also, attendance in a class like this means
more than just “showing up.” You must come to class having completed the assignment, read all the
material carefully, made notes and responses on the worksheets for discussion, and be prepared to
discuss things thoughtfully. Your participation grade will be based upon your daily attendance and the
quality and quantity of your daily participation.

3. Write: You will write—a lot. More pages than you probably write in literature courses—but remember,
this is not a literature class. We don’t write “papers.”

4. Revise/Assemble a portfolio: All assignments are assumed to be works in progress which you will
continually revise. At the end of the semester, you will submit a portfolio containing (at the very least)
one short story and 2-3 poems. Make sure you save the first drafts of your work. You will submit them
along with your final draft so I can see the progress you made. Your work will be evaluated according
to both the ability you possess and the effort you put into improving.

5. Critique: One important thing you will learn is how to "critique" the work of your peers. This doesn't
mean mean-spirited criticizing, nor does it mean happy, sappy pats on the back. We're here to help
each other be the best writers we can be. Be honest. Be fair. Be insightful. You will be assigned a small
group whose poems and stories you will spend the semester looking at very closely.

PREPARATION OF ASSIGNMENTS: What must be typed: all “Assignments,” all poems and stories
submitted to small group or large workshop. What can be handwritten: “Terms and Responses” and “Warm
Ups” although type written is preferable. Fiction is always double spaced, and poems are always single
spaced. Please follow the directions I give you about how many copies to make.

XEROXING: You must assume this expense. Sorry. And it is your responsibility to make sure that
anything you Xerox is handed in the proper order, no missing pages, and able to be read.
ENG 206 Creative Writing Enhancement/9

LATE WORK: Will not be accepted.

PLAGIARISM: Plagiarism means using the words of others as your own, no matter where the words come
from (from a book, from a friend, from a story your friend wrote in another CRW class). Don’t do it,
please. If I suspect that words are not your own, I will prosecute the case to its fullest extent.

FINAL GRADES:
Warm Ups 50 points 5%
Terms and Responses 50 points 5%
Craft Analysis—Fiction 100 points 10%
Craft Analysis—Poetry 100 points 10%
Written and Oral Critiques 200 points 20%
Final Portfolio 500 points 50%
__________________________
1,000 points 100%

WARM UPS: Once a week, you will turn in 2-3 pages of warm up exercises. There are many warm ups in
the Burroway book (called “Try This”) and I’ve given you suggestions as well. Do more than one exercise
if you need to. Keep going if you want to. Keep a copy for yourself and give me a copy (this is why
typewritten is preferable). At the end of the semester, I will pick 5 of your Warm Ups at random and grade
them on your level of engagement, each worth 10 points. So don’t slack, because you never know which
ones I’ll grade. I will read through all of the warm ups, but if you want feedback from me, you need to
make an appointment. NOTE: You can’t double dip and turn in a first draft of an assignment as your warm
ups. Also Note: if you miss class the day that Warm Ups are due, you must give them to be before class (in
person or via email). After class, I won’t accept them. Period.

TERMS AND RESPONSES: Instead of giving you quizzes to make sure you read the text, I’m giving you
a kind of take-home quiz that I’m calling “Terms and Responses.” These will be due in class before we
start talking about a new chapter. Two pages. Can be typed or handwritten. Note: if you miss class the day
that Terms and Responses are due, you must give them to be before class (in person or via email). After
class, I won’t accept them. Period. What do I mean by “Terms”? As you read the assigned chapters in the
Burroway textbook, keep paper handy. Each time you come across a term in bold type, look up the
definition in the glossary in the back, and write it out. Then give me an example of the term in a story or
poem we’ve read, or from a movie, etc. For example: Antagonist: In narrative, the character who provides
the major impediment or obstacle to the main character’s desire. In the Austin Powers’ films, Doctor Evil is
Austin’s antagonist. What do I mean by “Responses”? As you read the chapters, keep these questions in
mind and write out your answers to them. Why? Reflect. Explain. Do at least one response, more if you
don’t have much to say.

 I agreed with…
 I wasn’t sure if I agreed with…
 I didn’t quite understand…
 Something I learned that I never knew before…
 I really need to remember that…
 A good idea I got while reading was…
 This reminds me of…
 Etc….

CRAFT ANALYSES: In my upper-level workshops, students write a craft analysis every week. You are
writing two. I also call these “HTSW’s” or “How This Story Works.” You will bring all you’ve learned
about fiction and poetry to bear upon one story and one poem of your choosing from the texts for this class.
Pick ones you liked, that made you go, “Wow, how’d they do that?” Well, this is your chance to figure out
the author’s craft. I will give you examples when the time comes. Hint: These will teach you how to
become a better reader and writer.
ENG 206 Creative Writing Enhancement/10

WRITTEN AND ORAL CRITIQUES: This is similar to a participation grade, except that I will be
evaluating you by both your spoken and written contribution to the course. In other words, if you provide a
lot of written feedback to your classmates (on SOCS, in critiques, etc.) and you contribute much to our
discussions, you can expect to do very well on this 20% of your grade. If you are quiet but provide good
written feedback, or if you provide a lot of in-class feedback, but don’t turn in critiques, you can expect
about a C. If you don’t do either, then you will not do well. And of course, if you are absent, you obviously
cannot participate, so more than 2 absences will significant affect this portion of your grade
THE FINAL PORTFOLIO: I believe that sometimes you have to write 50 pages of garbage to get to a good
5 pages. The problem is that I’m sure most of you don’t write on a regular basis—you think it’s a waste of
time to simply play and warm up and fiddle with things you may abandon. Well, now’s your chance to
churn out a lot of writing, but that’s only part of it. The final portfolio is your opportunity to go back to
what you wrote and revise what interests you. The quality of work in this portfolio is a product of
everything we learn over the course of the semester. That’s why it’s worth 40% of your grade.
HOW CAN YOU GRADE CREATIVE WRITING? If you signed up for ballet class, you’d never expect that you’d
be given permission, (not to mention a grade) to simply “do your own thing.” The same goes for a class in
art, in acting, etc. Here’s a story: I took a ballet/jazz dance class in college, and believe me, I struggled. I’m
not a born dancer. But I worked hard and by the end of the semester, I discovered within myself a grace I
didn’t know I possessed. That, and all the studying I did for the tests, got me an A-. If I’d done well on the
tests, but not been able to perform the simple dance routine with some kind of skill, I wouldn’t have
expected an A in that class. The moral of this story: Don’t expect an A in this course just because you try
hard. If at any point you want to know about where you stand, what you need to do to get the grade you’d
like to earn, then come see me.

A FEW WORDS OF ADVICE

 Take workshop criticism with humility and gratitude. Do your explaining on the page. Avoid saying,
“What I was trying to do was...” because if you had done it, your readers would have understood.
 Proofread your work before you turn it in! Lack of attention to the surface of a story/poem usually
means that you haven’t paid attention to what’s under the surface either.
 There’s nothing wrong with “personal writing,” writing that only makes sense to you and no one else.
But that’s not what we’re here for. We’re here to learn how to take what’s inside us and translate it in
such a way that others understand just what we mean. We want to affect. We want to communicate.
 If you believe writing is about breaking the rules, show me that you know them before you break them.
Faulkner wrote long, convoluted sentences, but they were grammatically correct.
 Just because something “really” happened doesn’t mean it will work in your story or poem.
 You can’t possibly bring every comment to bear upon your work. You’re not supposed to. The advice
you get in workshop from me and your peers will sometimes be helpful, sometimes not. Only you
know the difference.
 Abandon the notion that “first thought is best thought.” Abandon the notion that if it doesn’t come out
perfect the first time, you totally suck.
 Give as much to the workshop as you want to get back from it.
 Please don’t say things like this in class: I loved this story and wouldn’t change a thing; I just know I
liked it, but I can’t tell you why; I hated this poem and I don’t want to read poems like this; As long as
I understand what my poem means, that’s all that matters. If you don't agree with what I just said, we
should talk.
 I don’t know for sure if “creativity” can be taught, but I believe it can be encouraged. I hope the class
lights a spark in you that perhaps you didn’t know you had. However, I don’t teach “creativity.” I teach
craft. If you think “creative writing” is some mysterious process that is way beyond your abilities, then
I’m here to show you that you can do it. If you think creative writing is easy, then I’m here to show
you that it’s not. Believe it or not, I haven’t contradicted myself.