Schedule

1. 1
Class # Topic: Secondary Reading Due:
Date Story: Writing Assignment:
1. Course Introduction Watch Course Introduction Video:
Link:
8/21/17 Go Watch the Eclipse
PLOT: GOAL/QUEST
2. What makes a story? M & M 278-279
8/23/17 “July Fourth” Anthony Doerr
PLOT: GOAL/QUEST
3. Narrative & Non-Narrative Elements
HAGPM
8/25/17 “The Piazza” Herman Melville Sentence Workshop #1—SVO, Fragments
& Run-ons
PLOT: GOAL/QUEST
4. Suspense Narrative as VR 140-146
8/28/17 “What You Pawn I will Redeem”
Sherman Alexie
PLOT: DILEMMA
5. Conflict & Possible Worlds Theory M & M 282-284
8/30/17 “Defender of the Faith” Philip Roth Exercise 1: Bring on the Bear
PLOT: DILEMMA
6. Plot Elements: Kernels, Satellites, etc. M & M 284-287
9/01/17 “Delicate Edible Birds” Lauren Groff

2. 2
Class # Topic: Secondary Reading Due:
Date Story: Writing Assignment:
PLOT: MYSTERY
7. Time: Order & Frequency
(Flashback/Flashforward)
9/06/17 “The Drowning” Edward Delaney Sentence Workshop #2
PLOT: CONFLICT
8. Time: Duration (Scene vs. Summary) M & M 147-157
9/08/17 “The Cowboy Tango” Maggie
Shipstead
Exercise 2: Possible Worlds and
Characterization.
PLOT: CONFLICT
9. Macrostructure: Aristotle, Freitag &
the lot. Story Shapes.
M & M 98-102
9/11/17 “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”
Flannery O’Conner
Sentence Workshop #3
PLOT: WEALTH
10. Toward a Unified Theory of Plot M & M 278-279
9/13/17 The Goonies
NARRATION:
11. Who Speaks? Character vs. Non-
Character Narrators. Where are they
speaking from?
M & M 190-192
9/15/17 “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised By
Wolves” Karen Russell
Exercise 3: Constraints of Plots &
Resolutions

3. 3
Class # Topic: Secondary Reading Due:
Date Story: Writing Assignment:
NARRATION:
12. Qualities of Different Narrators: M & M 196-200
9/18/17 “The Ledge” Lawrence Sargent Hall Sentence Workshop #4
NARRATION:
13. Characteristics of Reliability:
Reporting, Reading, Regarding.
M & M 234-241
9/20/17 “Escape From Spiderhead” George
Saunders
NARRATION:
14. Telescope vs. Starship Perspective
(Distance): Implications Thereof
M & M 200-203
9/22/17 “The Dinosaurs” Italo Calvino Exercise 4: Confrontation Dialogue as told
by a character narrator.
NARRATION:
15. Immersiveness: Detail/Presence vs.
Absence/Duration
9/25/17 “Roger Malvin’s Burial” Nathaniel
Hawthorne
Sentence Workshop #5
NARRATION: Katie Bond
16. Time of Narration & Implications
9/27/17 “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar
Allan Poe
NARRATION: Nick Eldredge
17. Who Sees? POV & Focalization:
Internal/External/Multiple/Non-
focalized. The Camera Metaphor
M & M 203-206
9/29/17 “Where Are You Going, Where Have
You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates M &
M 40-53
Exercise 5: Confrontation Dialogue
Revisited. Non-Character narrators.

4. 4
NARRATION:
18. How Does the Narrator Speak for
the Character? DD, ID, FID
10/02/17 “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”
Katherine Anne Porter
Sentence Workshop #6
NARRATION: Kate Metzger
19. Dialogue—Challenges & Benefits M & M 257-260, 264-265
10/04/17 “White Angel” Michael
Cunningham—M & M 313-325
NARRATION: Alexa Lamers
20. Unconventional Narrators—You and
We
M & M 192-194
10/06/17 “The Sex Lives of African Girls”
Taiye Selasi
Exercise 6: Craft Analysis #1
CHARACTER: Katie Piper
21. Exam 1
10/09/17 “The Handsomest Drowned Man in
the World” Gabriel Garcia Marquez
CHARACTER:
22. Description of Character—Explicit
vs. Implicit qualities.
M & M 330-333
10/11/17 “Fires” Rick Bass
CHARACTER:
23. Narrative Roles. Agent/Patient.
Genre considerations.
M & M 333-334
10/13/17 “The Siege at Whale Cay” Megan
Mayhew Bergman

5. 5
CHARACTER:
24. What the Character thinks & feels.
Another look at focalization—
psychic distance.
M & M 334-338
10/16/17 “Man and Wife” Katie Chase Sentence Workshop #7
CHARACTER: Miranda Barron
25. What the Characters really say.
Another look at dialogue.
M & M 264
10/18/17 “Findings & Impressions” Stellar
Kim
CHARACTER: Breanna Thompson
26. Conversational Cues: Crafting
Realistic dialogue.
10/20/17 “Some Say the World” Susan Perabo Exercise 7: Scene & Summary, Duration in
Practice.
CHARACTER: Kaiti Young
27. Cues to the reader: How readers
view characters.
10/23/17 “How We Avenged the Blums”
Nathan Englander
Sentence Workshop #8
CHARACTER: Patrick Kelly
28. Flat or Round? Believable or
Unbelievable?
M & M 326-329
10/25/17 “Bible” Tobias Wolff
STORYWORLD: Kaitlin Brocke
29. Schema & Scripts. Minimal
Departure.
10/27/17 “Straightaway” Mark Wisniewski Exercise 8: Narrate the Unbelievable.

6. 6
STORYWORLD:
30. Mood and Atmosphere: Abstract vs.
Concrete description
M & M 66-69, 73
10/30/17 “Riding the Doghouse” Randy
DeVita
Sentence Workshop #9
STORYWORLD: Mia Giglio
31. Space: Regions, Borders, Landmarks,
Pathways, figures & grounds.
David Herman: “Spatialization”
11/01/17 “Why Don’t You Dance?” Raymond
Carver
STORYWORLD: Jessica Smith
32. Objects & Reality: Description and
Detail.
M & M 61-63
11/03/17 “People Like That Are the Only
People Here” Lorrie Moore
Exercise 9: Crafting a Storyworld—A
movement through space.
STORYWORLD: Paityn Frederick
33. Crafting Lasting Images M & M 63-66
11/06/17 “The Angel Esmerelda” Don DeLillo Sentence Workshop #10
STORYWORLD: Abby Johnston
34. Metaphor & Meaning M & M 69-72
11/08/17 “The Country Husband” John
Cheever
STORYWORLD: Kaitlyn Warner
35. Symbolism, Theme, Epiphany M & M 72-73, 102
11/10/17 “Marry the One Who Gets There
First” Heidi Julavits
Exercise 10: An Image, Real and
Imagined.
STORYWORLD:
36. Drafting and Revision M & M 427-429, 432-436
11/13/17 “Nachman from Los Angeles”
Leonard Michaels
Sentence Workshop #11

7. 7
37. Exam 2 & Final Thoughts on Craft
11/15/17
38. Workshop Preview M & M 429-432
11/17/17 Exercise 11: Craft Analysis #2