Hi all,

A reminder that our last class will be held once again at Books & Co.

We will begin at 6:30 with readings by you. I had a sign-up sheet for readers last class but many of you missed class. So we signed you up! Just kidding! Send me an email if you would like to read from your work to the class. It is a great opportunity to practice this skill. I will have some snacks for us there but please feel free to bring food potluck style.

Then, at 8:00 Hiromi Goto will read.

I will be collecting portfolios and you will do course evaluations (don't let me forget!).

I mentioned this last class but I will repeat it: Because of deadlines for my submission of marks to the Registrar's office, I have to be firm about the April 2 deadline. I will have final marks by April 10.

Email if you have any questions.

Rob

"Hello!
I am writing on behalf of the intermediate staff and students of Highglen Montessori.  At Highglen, we have several student writers who are currently working independently on creative writing projects that they hope to publish through the school.

I was hoping that you could help us by putting the call out to students with strong writing skills to come to Highglen Montessori as volunteer editors.  The Highglen students would prepare a piece of writing that they are hoping to publish, and student volunteers would work with them on editing and polishing their work.  The volunteers would edit the Highglen students’ work for grammar, punctuation, idea development and voice.

We would like to arrange for these sessions as soon as possible.  UNBC students would be welcome to schedule their time at Highglen between the hours of 9am and 2pm, according to the volunteer’s availability.  Volunteer students who are interested in helping out should be able to offer ongoing support to the Highglen students. Our hope is that a working relationship between students and volunteers can be developed over the remainder of the year, and hopefully extending into the following year, as well.

At the end of their time with the Highglen students, each student volunteer would be provided with a letter of support from our school’s principal.  This is a great opportunity for students to connect with the community and begin to build their skills, experience and resume for their future careers!

Please have students email me for further information at:
jdaley@sd57.bc.ca

Thank you for your time!
Jennifer Daley"
        

Quite a few of you mentioned you wanted some more instruction on Science Fiction and Fantasy. It is looking like we won't have time in class, so I'd thought I'd post some basics here.

The overarching term is "Speculative Fiction" and there are many sub-genres. The major difference in terms of writerly approach to these genres is the importance of world building in your pre-writing stages. In all the sub-genres there will be distinguishing features that set the scifi/fantasy world apart from Earth 2012. It is important that the writer get that world rich and consistent as they work through the narrative. Here are some classic examples (always good to know the history of a form/genre) and some sub-categories.

Fantasy

John Ruskin's The King of the Golden River (1841), George MacDonald, The Princess and the Goblin and Phantastes (1858),

Rudyard Kipling and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Abraham Merritt, Peter Pan and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian and Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories.[8]

C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia

J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in the late 1960s,

Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea

 some types:

Medieval (”Sword and Sorcery”)

Paranormal/Supernatural Romance

Urban Fantasy

Science Fantasy

Historical

Science Fiction

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, first published in 1818.

Victor Hugo wrote in The Legend of the Centuries (1859)

Jules Verne and the science-oriented novels of social criticism of H. G. Wells. Verne's adventure stories, notably A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864),

George Orwell wrote perhaps the most highly regarded of literary dystopias, Nineteen Eighty-Four, in 1948. He envisions a technologically governed totalitarian regime that dominates society through total information control.

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed,

(1965) Frank Herbert's Dune: a dense, complex, and detailed work of fiction featuring political intrigue in a future galaxy, strange and mystical religious beliefs, and the eco-system of the desert planet Arrakis.

William Gibson's Neuromancer, published in 1984, announced the cyberpunk movement to the larger literary world and was a tremendous commercial success. Other key writers in the movement included Bruce Sterling, John Shirley, and later Neal Stephenson.

some types:

Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction

Hard science fiction (science heavy)

Soft science fiction

Space opera

Cyberpunk and Steampunk

Hi all, 

Just a reminder to bring a hard copy of the first 1 - 2 pages of any fiction piece you would like Virginia O'Dine to assess on the spot tonight. It is optional but a great opportunity to have a seasoned editor look at your work and make comments. She will assess them anonymously. 

Just a reminder that the class will be meeting at Books & Co. at 7:00 next class (Monday, March 12). After the event there will be time for workshopping so send work to your group as normal. I was seeing a lot of groups reading on the spot last class; please have the work read and write responses before class so that you can use your workshopping time efficiently.

Have a productive, creative week!

REALISM:   Broadly defined as "the faithful representation of reality" or

"verisimilitude," realism is a literary technique practiced by many schools of writing. Although strictly speaking, realism is a technique, it also denotes a particular kind of subject matter, especially the representation of middle-class life. A reaction against romanticism, an interest in scientific method, the systematizing of the study of documentary history, and the influence of rational philosophy all affected the rise of realism.

According to William Harmon and Hugh Holman, "Where romanticists transcend the immediate to find the ideal, and naturalists plumb the actual or superficial to find the scientific laws that control its actions, realists center their attention to a remarkable degree on the immediate, the here and now, the specific action, and the verifiable consequence" (A Handbook to Literature 428).

Characteristics

(from Richard Chase, The American Novel and Its Tradition)

Renders reality closely and in comprehensive detail. Selective presentation of reality with an emphasis on verisimilitude, even at the expense of a well-made plot.

Character is more important than action and plot; complex ethical choices are often the subject. Characters appear in their real complexity of temperament and motive; they are in explicable relation to nature, to each other, to their social class, to their own past.

Events will usually be plausible. Realistic novels avoid the sensational,

dramatic elements of naturalistic novels and romances.

Diction is natural vernacular, not heightened or poetic; tone may be comic, satiric, or matter-of-fact.

Objectivity in presentation becomes increasingly important: overt authorial comments or intrusions diminish 

from Fred Wah, Canada's poet laureate

What is so poignant about The Enpipe Line is not its length (over 70,000 km) or its capacity (barrels of words per day, the poem as tanker) but, quite simply, its presence. On-line for over a year, and now in a print edition, the project resonates as a manifestation of mindfulness, a manifesto on devotion to our world and inscribing that attention into the earth and water works of our imagination and our desire for a sustaining world. These poems, drawings, stories, statements – words and gestures, are more than anathemas to Enbridge’s Northern Gateway proposal; they are actual and necessary functions of being here, measures of our own animal presence, and witness to a threatening greed and ignorance. Kilometre after kilometre, The Enpipe Line occupies its space by writing in it.

ENGL 271 Workshopping Guidelines

We will be workshopping every week from now on. Normally we will have work to give our group the week before so they have time to spend with it. For next class, bring something short (1 – 2 pages) to workshop on the spot and 2 – 4 pages for the week following. If you can coordinate over email, your selection can be longer (à 4 pages).

Remember that the workshopping goal is to improve everyone’s writing; all that goes on should be to that end. It should not be a forum to show off so bring work that you want your group to make marks on and fix up; do not bring a poem that is a precious jewel you have perfected over years. Workshopping is not a forum to pat each other on the back and say “That’s great”—you can say that, but you also have to be a tough editor and help make it better. On the other hand, be aware that too much criticism might overwhelm an author so be aware of their process.

When your writing is being workshopped, remember that you are the artist and you have the final call on changes. However, it is an opportunity to have three other good readers help edit your work so take advantage of it to its fullest.

From now on attendance is crucial but, just in case, share emails or phone numbers so that if someone misses, they can stay in the workshopping loop.

Work hard at making a good chemistry—workshopping is the single best way to improve your writing so personally make sure your group is clicking.

Author responsibilities:

            --choose 2 – 4 pages of your work and print 4 copies to bring to your group

            --choose work that is not a rough first draft but something you want help with

            --at the workshop read the work aloud (or at least part of it)

            --as the group comments, make notes but do not make ‘rebuttals’

            --take the verbal and written comments with you and consider them at home,

            leaving or taking the advice

Reader responsibilities:

            --make notes / edits on the printed page

            --comment on parts / elements that are working and not working

            --be comprehensive; the more you write the better

            --at the workshop verbally mention the most important points

--work within the parameters of what the author is trying to do; simply saying ‘I do not like this kind of poem’ does nothing to help the author

--at all times be respectful of the author

A Few Screenplay Principles

--“reading script” vs “shooting script” (includes more camera direction)

 --write only simple visuals and dialogue. 

--some camera direction only when crucial: “P.O.V.”, “CLOSE”, and “FAVORING”

--one page of screenplay equates very roughly to one minute of film

    •      OS  -- Off Screen

    •      VO  --  Voice Over

    •      SUPER – Superimposed (usually titles or notes)

    •      EXT --  Exterior Shot

    •      INT –  Interior Shot

    •      FADE OUT –at the end of the film (or a long passage of time w/ FADE IN)

a few links:

local lit events and news: http://theculturemill.blogspot.com/

largest and oldest online lit mag: http://jacketmagazine.com/00/home.shtml

can po site: http://www.ditchpoetry.com/

press that focuses on northern bc lit: http://www.caitlin-press.com/

local speculative and YA fiction press: http://store.bundoranpress.com/

Narrative Poetry

ØTells a story

ØTime passes

ØOften relies less on rhythm, sound, and line breaks

ØRetains poetic ‘condensation’ of other forms

ØOften open-ended closure (more often than the short story)

Powerpoint #2: Imagism

ØImagists: A group of American and English poets whose poetic program was formulated about 1912 by Ezra Pound--in conjunction with fellow poets Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), Richard Aldington, and F.S. Flint--and was inspired by the critical views of T.E. Hulme, in revolt against the careless thinking and Romantic optimism he saw prevailing.

ØThe Imagists wrote succinct verse of dry clarity and hard outline in which an exact visual image made a total poetic statement. 

From Pound’s Imagist Manifesto

Ø1.      To use the language of common speech, but to employ the exact word, not the nearly-exact, nor the merely decorative word.

Ø2.      We believe that the individuality of a poet may often be better expressed in free verse than in conventional forms. In poetry, a new cadence means a new idea.

Ø3.      Absolute freedom in the choice of subject.

Ø4.      To present an image. We are not a school of painters, but we believe that poetry should render particulars exactly and not deal in vague generalities, however magnificent and sonorous. It is for this reason that we oppose the cosmic poet, who seems to us to shirk the real difficulties of his art.

Ø5.      To produce a poetry that is hard and clear, never blurred nor indefinite. 

 Ø6.      Concentration is of the very essence of poetry.

Ø7.   No ideas but in things. 

Digging    --Seamus Heaney

Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.

Under my window, a clean rasping sound
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground;
My father, digging. I look down

Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
Bends low, comes up twenty years away
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.

The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep
To scatter new potatoes that we picked
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.

By God, the old man could handle a spade.
Just like his old man.

My grandfather cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on Toner's bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it then fell to right away
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, going down and down
For the good turf. Digging.

The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap
Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
Through living roots awaken in my head.
But I've no spade to follow men like them.

Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I'll dig with it.

The Electric Daughter     -- Catherine Hunter

all winter in your daughter's bedroom 

the air thickens with ions 

she lies on the bed, 

brooding over long division, 

friendship and betrayal 

she strokes the cat 

fur crackles 

underneath her fingers

when you turn out the light 

she lifts her arms 

to reach your face, 

her nightgown shedding 

temporary stars 

each time she moves 

her kiss, 

the prick of a needle 

on your lip

you shake out the bedclothes 

and the green blanket ripples above her 

bright with phosphorescence in the dark room

you can't absorb what you see in that moment 

long legs, the sudden, unmistakable shape 

of a woman there on the sheet

all night you dream of angry honey bees 

swarming in a cloud outside your lighted window

meanwhile, the electric daughter 

sleepwalks 

through the house, gold sparks

falling from her hair 

like rain

everything she touches 

hurts her

from Lunar Wake, Turnstone Press (1994).

Powerpoint #1: Lyric Poetry

-the poet/persona ruminating about the world

-based on the “lyre” and the tradition of the bard; musical and laced with internal rhyme

-often centered on a semi-autobiographical “I”

-establishes strong & rich closure

-image-based, referential

-authoritative; the narrator revealing secrets of the world and humanity

-structured on image patterns and movement of thought

-usually 1/2 page to 1 1/2 page

-often emotionally driven

-often, especially as love poetry, addressed to a specific listener and implying a specific site of enunciation