Chapter One...

Hello, and welcome to Creative Writing! I'm Mrs. Case, and as an avid reader and writer, I am excited and honored to be teaching this class this year. This is going to be a busy year, full of writing, but also reading. We will cover just about everything, from fiction and poetry to creative nonfiction and drama. During each unit, we will be creating our own work, but also taking a tip or two from the pros -- in other words, in addition to reading and discussing our own writing, we will read work from well-known and talented authors, poets, and dramatists. I am confident that whether you are new to creative writing or an aspiring Nobel laureate, you will gain valuable techniques, skills, and feedback this year.

Over the course of the year, I hope that this blog serves as a useful resource by allowing you to:

- keep updated on daily assignments and important upcoming class deadlines
- link to extra, interesting articles, stories, and images related to the units we study
- post comments, ask questions, or share your thoughts
- get in touch with me (in addition to email, phone, or drop-in communication)
- easily link to the school Home Access Center (i.e. student grades and more)

As you may have noticed, comments to this page will be moderated (by me) to keep things (reasonably) friendly and civilized, but unless you say something that is highly insensitive or inexcusably offensive, you can feel pretty confident that your comments will be posted. I will not edit comments that have been approved; whatever is posted can and very well may be read by everyone with access to this blog (which, really, is literally everyone with internet access).

That said, please take a moment to comment on this post by briefly summarizing what you hope to get out of this class this year (personally, academically, technically, creatively, intellectually, etc.). Thanks, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Weekly Agenda: Sept. 8-16

Thursday, September 8
Assigned seating
Welcome and introductions
Course Overview
Review syllabus and class expectations
Class “tour”
Student survey

Monday, September 12
Pick up "textbook"
Set up Writer’s Journal
Discovering what you need to write
Identifying sources for ideas / journaling
"I Am..." creative activity
HW: Read Passion For Narrative, pp. 23-35; Journal: List sources for ideas and
write half a page on what you feel you need in order to write

Wednesday, September 14
Introduction to Story #1 Assignment: Fictional Narrative; discuss
Talk about sources for ideas
Idea generation and development
- freewriting → practice
- clustering → practice
HW: Read PFN, pp. 99-107; Journal: Use characterization methods b, c, & d to elaborate upon the following direct characterization: “Joe came across as a jerk to strangers, but was fiercely loyal to his friends.”

Friday, September 16
Discuss homework reading (characterization methods and their benefits and drawbacks)
Generate characterization methods within categories c and d
Read pp. 108-113
Group Activity: Read and analyze 7 characterization examples, pp. 113-117
Character brainstorm
Generate a character of your own
Use all 4 methods to characterize him/her
HW: Complete PFN Exercises #1 & 2A., p. 117 (be prepared to use it next class)