Grading System

This table shows the various components of the course with the percentage that each component counts toward your total grade.  Detailed descriptions of each component follow this table. 

Writing Assignments: Weekly (or bi-weekly) writing assignments will usually be due toward the end of each week (see the Course Schedule for details and due dates). Generally, these will be writing exercises that prompt you to write imaginatively. They must be turned in on the assigned date to receive full credit. You may not wait until the end of the course to turn in weekly assignments; all students are expected to proceed through the course at the same week-to-week pace.  Assignments must be turned in on the date they are due. (15% of the total grade). All writing assignments must include an MLA heading and MLA page numbers. Use this LINK for guidance. Submit all writing assignments as .doc, .docx, or .pdf to Blackboard submission links. Failure to do so will delay feedback and will require a resubmission on the part of the student.

Final Portfolio (25% of your total grade)

The Final Portfolio should be approximately 18-20 pages long, and include your best writing as well as other assignment components such as a self-reflection, bio, story analysis, literary event report, and a public reading self-assessment, including your two revised and polished short stories/chapters. 

The Final Portfolio should consist of the following:

• Your two short stories or chapters, revised and polished.
• An annotated analysis of a short story from the course that resonated with you or helped you think about your own work. This should be two to three pages (double-spaced) focusing on one or more of the elements of craft, analyzing how that author has handled that element to create a successful piece. 
• A short report on at least one literary event you attended during the semester (such as a book reading or open mic gathering). Since we are still living through a pandemic, the event may be virtual, such as a live-streamed author reading, a workshop you attend via Zoom or Skype, an online interview with an author, a virtual panel discussion hosted by a literary organization or the ACC Creative Writing Department.
• An assessment rubric for a public reading you give of your own work (more information on this will be provided later in the semester). Through the semester, I will alert you to ACC-sponsored literary events or other acceptable off-campus events with open-mic opportunities. Your public reading may be a virtual reading, or reading in front of a small group of people within your home or neighborhood, or “pandemic bubble” (such as family members or roommates). We may also try a public reading within our class site, using video or audio components of Blackboard.
• A peer critique, analyzing an assigned student story, exhibiting your analytical, communication, and feedback skills (Use form 
• Optional: Any of your best writing assignment material or other short pieces written during the semester that are not the two main stories/chapters. 
• Proof of submission of one of your two completed stories to a literary journal (more information about this requirement will be forthcoming, later in the semester).

The Final Portfolio is due at the end of the last week of classes (see Course Schedule for due date).

This course will be an overview of short fiction, and students will learn to identify various literary elements in order to employ them. Students will read various short stories and texts on literary theory. Students will be expected to investigate different genres of literature in order to uncover the writers, styles, and themes they feel most akin with their own. After learning of these literary elements and writing strategies, students will begin trying out various craft moves in their own work in order to stretch themselves as writers. By the end of the course, students will have composed multiple short stories and self-analyses which they can publish in literary journals if that is their goal.

Course Outcomes

After taking this course, students should 

1. Recognize and distinguish between the craft elements of fiction writing, including character, setting, plot, point-of-view, scene, dialogue, figurative language and imagery, and other elements of literary fiction. 
2. Recognize key features of literary fiction that set it apart from genre fiction and nonfiction forms, including non-formulaic thematic intentions, story structures, and psychological character development.
3. Demonstrate the ability to incorporate literary elements and key features of literary fiction into one’s own prose.
4. Show an increase in skill, objectivity, and technical expertise in the revision process through submission of a polished portfolio.
5. Exhibit improved communication skills in both interpretation and expression of ideas in written communication.
6. Participate appropriately and confidently in a writing workshop through discussion and analysis of literature and classmates’ work.
7. Demonstrate social and civic responsibility and intercultural competence in regional, national, and global contexts, through analysis and discussion of a broad sampling of literary fiction works, and through communications with one’s peers and instructor.
8. Exhibit personal responsibility and ethical decision-making in one’s choices and actions, specifically within one’s written work, in group communications, and in peer-to-peer exchanges.

Course Objectives

1. To acquire an intellectual grasp of the basic elements of fiction, correctly identifying and utilizing those elements, gaining an accurate vocabulary of prose terms associated with the craft of writing including, but not limited to character, setting, plot, point of view, dialogue, figurative language, and other elements of literary prose, 
2. To produce edited, polished works of literary fiction, i.e., avoiding formulaic storytelling or predictable one-dimensional characterizations.
3. To analyze and practice the writing process involved in producing polished prose, including drafting, revising, editing, and polishing.
4. Become acclimated to the appropriate practice and process of a writing workshop and be able to offer thoughtful analyses on classmates’ work.