ENG-231 Fiction Writing

Fiction Writing continues to develop students' skill in the elements of fiction, including structure, character, and plot development. Students will critique and revise their writing in workshop seminars. Students develop critical expertise and technical language to better discuss works-in-progress. Previous experience in fiction is not required, but the student is expected to be proficient in the mechanics of writing. This course carries SUNY General Education The Arts credit.

Credits

3

Prerequisite

ENG-101

Lecture Contact Hours

3

Lab Contact Hours

0

Other Contact Hours

0

Department

• Humanities

Grading Scheme

• Letter

SUNY Gen Ed Credit

• Yes

Semesters Course Will Be Offered

• Spring

Course Learning Outcomes

1. Apply craft elements of fiction to original writing such as plot, characterization, symbolism. setting, theme, dialogue, and narrative point of view.
2. Use generative strategies to craft original fiction to be critiqued by peers and professors.
3. Revise drafts by integrating feedback from classmates and professors received through workshops, conferences, and written comments.
4. Read, explicate, and respond in writing to at least one piece of published fiction in order to analyze craft.

View Course Outline

ENG 231: Fiction Writing

Department

Humanities

Course Description

Fiction Writing continues to develop students' skill in the elements of fiction, including structure, character, and plot development. Students will critique and revise their writing in workshop seminars. Students develop critical expertise and technical language to better discuss works-in-progress. Previous experience in fiction is not required, but the student is expected to be proficient in the mechanics of writing. This course carries SUNY General Education The Arts credit.

Credit Hours

3

Contact Hours

Lecture	3
Lab	0
Other	0

Grading Scheme

Letter

Semester(s) Course Will Be Offered

Spring

Prerequisites

ENG-101

SUNY General Education Course

• The Arts

Course Learning Outcomes

1. Apply craft elements of fiction to original writing such as plot, characterization, symbolism. setting, theme, dialogue, and narrative point of view.
2. Use generative strategies to craft original fiction to be critiqued by peers and professors.
3. Revise drafts by integrating feedback from classmates and professors received through workshops, conferences, and written comments.
4. Read, explicate, and respond in writing to at least one piece of published fiction in order to analyze craft.

Topic Outline

1. Fiction Craft Elements
   1. Point of View: the effect and purpose of narrative perspective
   2. Plot: conflict, climax, resolution, and denouement
   3. Characterization: motivation, dialogue, physical description, and psychology
   4. Dialogue: natural speech, elision, tone
   5. Setting: detail and relationship to theme, characterization, and plot
   6. Theme: the guiding meaning(s) of the story
   7. Symbolism: how specific images and objects reveal the theme, motif, and characterization
   8. Genre: primary focus on contemporary realistic fiction
   9. Explication: to examine specific genres in order to analyze their common strategies and conventions
2. Reading in the Genre:
   1. Origins and evolution of form and style through history
   2. Examination of contemporary trends within fiction
   3. Analysis of aesthetic choices and craft in established literature
   4. The ways the historical moment informs thematic intent
3. Workshop Skills:
   1. Identification and discussion of the various aesthetic elements practiced within the genre
   2. Oral presentation of key observations of craft
   3. Discussion of strategies for invention and revision beyond the drafting stage
   4. Ethics: the privacy of people and events to which indirect reference may be made within the fiction; responsibility to the factual truth vs. creative license when complex issues can be compromised by invention, whether or not one's personal opinion or insight leads to defamation or perceived cruelty