Metrical Poetry - Rhyme, Meter, and Rhythm

Our focus in poetry so far has been centered on themes, images, and figurative language.  This week, we turn our attention to the "rhythm" of a poems - the rhyme, meter, and structure of formalist (closed-form) poetry.

<--Week 11 - Week 12 - Metrical Poems
Meter - Rhyme (coming soon!) - Sonnets

Hopkins Review Essays - Winter 2011

Though the literary essay may not feel as "creative" as a story or a poem, it does provide some very useful tools to help us progress as creative writers.  For this semester, we'll be writing five-page essays to be turned in with the final portfolio on the last day of class.  For your essay, please choose either a story or poem(s) from the Winter 2011 Hopkins Review.

Literary Essays
Poetry Essays and Grading - Literary Terms - IFP II Essays
Winter 2011 Hopkins Review (Available Online On-Campus)

Participation Grades - The 100-Point Scale

Participation is a critical component of any creative writing course.  We learn from each other by sharing our thoughts on the readings and workshop pieces.

Course Grading - Participation

Mining Poetry from Emotions, Memory, and Sensation

What is the source of poetry?  How do we develop the carefully measured lines of poetry from the nebulous memories and emotions of our lives?  In these exercises, we look at what makes a poem "good," and then practice using these concepts in developing our own poetry.

<--Week 7 - Week 8 - Week 9--> 

Using Figurative Speech - Mining Poetry

Figures of Speech in Poetry

Figures of Speech are used to relate one term or concept using ideas or emotions which wouldn't naturally be used for the original term.

<--Week 7 - Week 8 - Week 9--> 
Using Figurative Speech - Mining Poetry

Structure and Nuance in Fiction: Long Story Workshops

A "short" story is typically less than 7,500 words (around 25 or fewer double-spaced pages.)  With out long story workshops, we pass well beyond flash fiction and the short-short story into fully-developed short stories and the early chapters of novels.

<--Week 6 - Week 7 - Week 8--> 
Long Story Workshops

Revision and Unity: Crafting Your Long Story

The idea of "unity" is rather nebulous in fiction.  It can refer to unity of time and place (as in all the events occur in the same scene), or to unity of theme (the story has a tightly-focused symbolism), or to unity of character (the protagonist is developed and consistent).  By examining the focus of your story, you can develop and sharpen the implied meaning of the work as a whole.

<--Week 5 - Week 6 - Week 7--> 
Unity - Dialogue

Dialogue Grammar and Syntax in Fiction

Dialogue is one of the most important aspects of fiction.  It reveals the true voices of the individual characters while also foreshadowing to much of the action.  But to use it correctly, you'll need to be familiar with how dialogue works as part of the sentence and in constructing paragraphs.

<--Week 5 - Week 6 - Week 7--> 
Unity - Dialogue

The Character Who Steals Your Life - Voice Sketch for Week 5

Here's a quick description of how to approach this weeks assignment.  Your focus in this work of fiction is capturing specific details with with you're intimately familiar, but then changing the perspective of the main character to reveal these details in a different light.

<--Week 4 - Week 5 - Week 6--> 
Voice Sketch

Place and Setting: The Habitat for Our Fictional Characters

Setting plays a crucial element in establishing the tone and context of the story.  As you write, choose setting details which reflect the nature of your protagonist and the world he or she inhabits

<--Week 3 - Week 4 - Week 5-->
Blocking - Setting

Blocking Details: The Action of Scene

Blocking Details represent one of the most delicate aspects of writing in scene.  If we focus too much attention on facial expression and body language, then the story seems forced.  Yet if we don't include enough, then the characters seem like talking paste-board cut-outs.

<--Week 3 - Week 4 - Week 5-->
Blocking Details

Poetry Workshops: The Fifty-Point Scale

The poetry workshops will use a fifty-point scale similar to the Fiction Grading Scale.  However, the scale will be customized for poetry - come back soon to see how the specific needs of poetry are incorporated into the numbering system.

Course Grading - Grading Workshop Writing
50-Point Scale - Fiction - Poetry

Fiction Workshops: The Fifty-Point Scale

Here's the 50-pt scale I use for your fiction workshops.  Before worrying too much about the numbers, make sure to read How I Use the Scale.

Course Grading - Grading Workshop Writing
50-Point Scale - Fiction - Poetry

Workshop Grades: The Fifty-Point Scale

For this semester's workshop assignments, I grade in 5-pt intervals based on a fifty-point scale.  Before worrying too much about how the scale will affect your grade, I'd like you to consider how I use the scale to tell you about your writing.

Course Grading - Grading Workshop Writing
50-Point Scale - Fiction - Poetry

Creative Writing: Workshop Grades

I wanted to let you all know how I see workshop grades in terms of your overall grades for IFP.  Writing is a subjective field, and so it is difficult to assign objective grades.  This is why I use workshop grades as indicators of your writing progress rather than the balance of your total grade.  In all, your writing ability counts toward 30% of the final grade, with a possible 10% adjustment added to the final grade for progress.

Course Grading - Grading Workshop Writing
50-Point Scale - Fiction - Poetry

Dialogue Reveals Character Motivation and Social Manipulation

When we speak, our words carry not only meaning, but purpose.  In fiction, each word of dialogue should not only reveal the facts of the situation, but the motives of the speaker.

<--Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4-->
Scene - Human Nature - Dialogue's Purpose

Human Nature: Deception, Manipulation, and the Constellation of Cultural Icons

Why do we need conflict in fiction?  Why are we gluttons for sad/tragic/scary/romantic/mysterious stories?  Quite simply, it's because we're human.

<--Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4-->
Scene - Human Nature - Dialogue's Purpose

Balancing Dialogue and Action in Scenes

Dialogue is a critical component of stories.  Today we look at how to use dialogue without overusing it or - worse still - using incorrect attribution.

<--Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4-->
Scene - Human Nature - Dialogue's Purpose

Writing in Scene: Clawing Your Way Up the Mountain

Today's lesson is focused on using conflict within each individual scene to drive the plot forward.

<--Week 1 - Week 2 - Week 3-->

Narrative - Conflict - Scenes

Writing Conflict: Freytag's Pyramid and the Shape of Narrative

In discussing Freytag's Pyramid, so far we've only touched on the basic structure of the story.  In this lesson, we address how each individual components of the story contributes to the development and eventual resolution of the story's central conflict.

<--Week 1 - Week 2 - Week 3-->

Narrative - Conflict - Scenes