English 0246 Creative Writing

Dr. Filas

Final Portfolio, Due Wednesday, December 12, at start of class (no late work accepted)

20	W 11/28	Mesostic poetry	collect flash fiction assignment; discuss mesostic poetry; portfolio assignment.
21	M 12/3	fame/frame Read WS submissions and submission.	Course evals; conference sign up; discuss fame/frame assignment; discuss submission.
**	W 12/5	No class meeting—Conferences; final touches on portfolio and fame/frame.
**	M 12/10	No class meeting—Conferences; final touches on portfolio and fame/frame.
22	W 12/12	Last day of class.	readings; collect portfolios; share fame/frame.

Final Portfolio Assignment (25%)

• Table of Contents: must include everything in the portfolio and developmental work section.

• Introductory Statement: Your portfolio must be packaged with a self-reflective statement on your growth as a writer, an introduction that I will read before reading your work. This is similar to the type of statement you did at the start of class, and again at midterm, except that this time the stakes are much higher, and the expectation is that you will focus on your awareness of your strengths and growth. As a reminder, you might refer to the three core principles of this course’s design in your remarks: cultivating imagination; learning about aspects of craft; and practicing the methodology of workshop processes, and the revision process. Especially in regards to the last of these, I expect you to address how your revisions reflect your accomplishment in relation to your improved understanding of craft, and your confidence as a writer.

• 20-24 pages of your best work. Selection, revision and proofreading are the key factors here. Select works that demonstrate your finest capabilities as a writer. Have a strategy for your selection: did you select writings that demonstrate a range of forms (poetry, fiction, script/dialog), a range of topics, a sustained theme, a varied theme? There is no one right formula for this selection except where you feel you can perform at your very best capabilities. Revision is the process of going back and changing content, sometimes severely, re-writing and reworking to enhance themes, characterizations, plot tension, atmosphere, meter, rhyme, concrete language, etc. Proofreading is reviewing revised drafts for perfected punctuation, spelling, format, page-numbers and layout. Another important element of revision is to show your growth in confidence, trusting your reader to “get it,” allowing for some powerful ambiguity in places to draw in your reader.

• Typed Developmental Work: This is your developmental work as assigned and completed independently throughout the semester, such as the plot assignments, specific poetry assignments, in-class stimulus writings, list writing, narration exercises, love-hate exercise, and other queues provided during the term. You must also include in this section any assignments or workshops you completed, and workshop critiques, all with my comments, including work that is included (in revised form) in the final portfolio or performance sections. This section must be typed.

Regarding those texts which I have seen and graded or commented on: this section should include all my comments in one place. You may include a small selection of written student comments (that you received), choosing those three or four pages that you found most helpful and which point to ways you have developed as a writer this term.

The above items combined comprise a nearly comprehensive portfolio, except your journals which are graded separately and count for 10% of your final grade. The Fame-frame materials should be included in your portfolio, but are graded separately, and should be separate from the final portfolio materials.

Performance Assignment (10%)

Due December 12—Reading Performance / Slam: Each of you must give one 5 minute reading in class, standing, reading a poem or short fiction to us for applause and cheers of goodwill. These pages are not turned in separately from wherever they might appear in other contexts (final portfolio, fame frame), just read or performed. Practice reading with gusto and conviction.

Due December 12—Fame frame: each of you must provide two one-page texts. Each must be presented on the page as worthy of a frame. That means attention to whitespace and placement on the page, and with some margin to allow for the edge of the frame. You must also submit your very best work, it may be read by anyone going in and out of my office for at least a year, but maybe longer. Each page must have your name and a date. The story/poem should also have a title.

Show me how stunning you can be. These must be submitted in an 8.5x11 envelope with a sheet of cardboard included to prevent bending. I will store these and possibly rotate more than one of your pieces in and out of the frames.

Due December 7—Persona Submission: Please email as an attachment at least four poems, or two prose submissions (fiction, or your creative non-fiction, or script) to personasubmissions@westfield.ma.edu. The submitted materials can be from anywhere in your portfolio, including revised work or fame-frame materials. You may submit more than the requirement here. Please print off your email and include it with your portfolio.

Your email should say something like:

Dear Persona Editors,

Please consider the enclosed story, “I’m a Winner,” and the poems, “Love Me,” “Hate Me,” and “I’m a Little Prairie Flower” for publication in Persona.

[If you have previously published creative work, you might mention it here, as in “I have previously published stories in ReadMe, the literary journal of Acme High School in Acme, Massachusetts.”]

Thank you for considering my work.

Sincerely,

Your name (2013 [graduation year])

413-572-5683