Adaptation Groups

Group Members         What You are Adapting         

1. Sam Hunter              “Hills like White Elephants”

2. Luke Butler

3. Sarah Keck

4. Felicia Keen

1. Chris Block                                   “Cathedral”

2. AJ Carter

3. Josh Coleman

4. Matt B

5. Brian Cook

6. Sam Morrison

1.Yue Zhang                                 “ A man gets tired.”

2. Chuxi Liang

3. Azia

4. Zhiran wang

1. Kelsey Blake                                “The Lottery”

2. DJ Pulce

3. Jeff Williams

4. Shane’ Penney

5.

Crash-Course on Punctuation

Here’s a crash-course on how to punctuate and format dialog.  I generally don't go over this too much in class because it's something readers pick up intuitively by reading.  Still, it's worth covering because mistakes in punctuation and formatting can absolutely kill a story.  For instance, I've heard of many stories and screenplays being rejected after the screeners noticed just one or two formatting errors. Rather than go over the rules, which are long and boring and complicated, let’s streamline this by just looking at some examples. 

First, let’s look at how we use the old-fashioned tags, he said and she said.  In this case, errors almost always involve botched capitalization and/or misplaced commas.

What to do:

1) “Where are the poison darts?” he asked.

2) He asked, “Where are the poison darts?”

3) “In your briefcase,” she answered.

4) She answered, “In your briefcase.”

What NOT to do, on pain of a slow literary death:

1) “Where are the poison darts?” He asked.

2) He asked. “Where are the poison darts?”

3) “In your briefcase.” She said.

4) She said. “In your briefcase.”

Second, another strategy (and one I strongly suggest) is to avoid the he said/she said tags altogether and substitute an action instead.

What to do:

1) “I can’t find my wallet.” He looked around.  “Also, where are my pants?”

2) John crushed his cigarette. “There’s no way I’m trading a mongoose for one lousy taco!”

3) Or a combo: “I can’t find my wallet,” he said, looking around. “Also, where are my pants?”

What to avoid, unless you want to be karmically crushed by a falling piano:

“I can’t find my wallet,” he looked around, “also, where are my pants?”

John crushed his cigarette, “There’s no way I’m trading a mongoose for one lousy taco!”

What to do if your character trails off:

Ellipses (...) and double-dashes (--) are often overused and misused in prose (and poetry, for that matter) but here's how they generally work.  Ellipses refer to somebody trailing off in their speech.  Double-dashes are for interruptions.

Examples:

1) John cleared his throat. "I thought about what you said and, well..."
    Lisa waited for him to continue. Finally, after five minutes, she shook her head and walked away.

2) Sam scratched his head. "Did you find--"
    "Your shotgun?" Dean handed it over. "Yeah, you dropped it in the woods."

3) "Do you"--a bullet whizzed by his ear--"think this is a good idea?"

Also, when you’re writing a story or essay that’s going to be printed off, you should always indent the first line of your dialog (even though websites don’t do this).

Another rule: start a new, indented paragraph whenever you change SPEAKERS or CHARACTERS.

Example:

They reached the foot of the mountain. Alex hooked up the gear and started climbing.  After a few seconds, he looked over his shoulder.  “Be careful, Sarah!”

Sarah nodded.  She put on her own climbing belt and tucked the poisoned machete into her belt.  “Of course,” she answered, smiling. 

Alex frowned.  “Hey, are you planning on killing me when we reach the top?”

Sarah did not answer.

“I certainly hope not. You have no idea where I stashed the insurance policy!”

Group Quiz… OF DOOM!!!

OK, see if you can spot all the punctuation and formatting errors in the following, bad paragraph.

               They kicked in the door and rushed into the abandoned factory. Seconds later, Sam was lying on the ground, blood streaming from the back of his head. A vampire hovered over him, brandishing a lead pipe. Dean shook his head. “Sammie, why do you always get your ass kicked?” He pulled out his gun. The vampire looked up, “Don’t bother, I’m immune to bullets.” “Well, joke’s on you.” Dean said. “This one fires egg yokes!” He pulled the trigger six times. The vampire frowned at the bright yellow yokes splattered all over his chest, “seriously?”

Midterm… OF DOOM!!!!!!

I'll allow you to use your textbooks, the blog lectures, AND work on this in small groups, but I need answers and group members' names either written out or emailed to me by the end of class. Short answers are fine. Also, I'll allow each group to skip FIVE answers (just write "skip" instead). Since I forgot to enter a separate category for this on Gradebook, I'll make this worth 60 points of your portfolio.

1)      How did Billy Collins compare a good poem to the eye chart, and how is this applicable to other forms of storytelling?

2)      As discussed in class, what is at least one risk and one benefit of using second person in a story (example: “How to Become a Writer” by Lorrie Moore, “The Gun” by Stephen Dobyns, “WQED, Channel 13: Programming Guide” by Ann Claycomb)?

3)      How does Annie Dillard demonstrate an awareness of and offer a response to potential critics of her philosophy in “Living Like Weasels”?

4)      What is at least one potential risk and one potential benefit of using profanity in literature (example: “You Can’t Kill the Rooster” by David Sedaris)?

5)      How does Sherman Alexie avoid sounding too heroic in “Somebody Else’s Genocide” and why is that important?

6)      Describe the storytelling aesthetic of Kurt Vonnegut (examples: “Blood of Dresden” and “Harrison Bergeron”).

7)      Describe the storytelling aesthetic of Tom Wolfe (excerpt from “The Right Stuff”).

8)      Describe the storytelling aesthetic of Annie Dillard (“Living Like Weasels”).

9)      Which two short stories that we have read so far involve fatal head wounds?

10)  In “French Lessons” by David Sedaris (which we listened to in class), what is the problem that the students in the French class are having? 

11)  Similar to “You Can’t Kill the Rooster,” what is one risk that Sedaris takes in “French Lessons”?

12)  In “Excerpt from A Walk in the Woods,” what strategy does Bill Bryson employ in order to simultaneously build tension and humor?

13)  Describe the internal versus the external conflict of “Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff.

14)  What pieces that we’ve read so far contain these lines? (If you want to skip any of these, each counts as a separate question.)

a.      Under every bush is a muskrat hole or a beer can…. Our look was as if two lovers, or deadly enemies, met unexpectedly…, I missed my chance. I should have gone for the throat.

b.      "Interesting," smiles your date, and then he looks down at his arm hairs and starts to smooth them, all, always, in the same direction.

c.       “Bitch, you need to have them ugly-ass bunions shaved down is what you need to do. But you can't do shit about it tonight, so lighten up, motherfucker."

d.      Your son wants to know if that man is a real painter.  You tell him yes, but not a good one.  He looks back at the t. v., asks why not.  The spaghetti water boils over, hissing, on the stove.

e.       Once a skunk had come plodding through our camp and it had sounded like a stegosaurus. There was another heavy rustle and then the sound of lapping at the spring. It was having a drink, whatever it was.

15)  What is flash fiction?

16)  According to Stephen King, what are the two basic types of storytellers and what are their similarities and differences?

17)  What is a Point of View Violation and why is it dangerous in writing?

18)  There are three different types of Point of View (or five, depending on how you break them up).  Describe at least two of them.

19)  What is a Zen Koan and how is that related to “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” “Cathedral,” or the Billy Collins metaphor of the eye chart?

20)  What Point of View (1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd) is employed in Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral”?

21)  What is the significance of the title, “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes,” and how is this related to Arthur’s and Joanie’s relationship?

22)  In “Cathedral,” describe the change in the husband’s character by the end of the story.

23)  Describe at least one significant change from the text, as seen in the short film adaptation of “Harrison Bergeron.”

24)  Describe at least one significant change from the text, as seen in the short film adaptation of “Bullet in the Brain.”

25)  Why does David Sedaris’s brother call himself “The Rooster”?

26)  What is one significant similarity between Arthur in “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes” and the narrator of “A Man Gets Tired”?

27)  What are two benefits of using dialog gestures in storytelling?

28)  What is one risk associated with the use of dialog gestures in storytelling?

29)  Especially when it comes to fiction, where can we look for inspiration?

30)  Aside from building tension, why is foreshadowing absolutely essential in storytelling?

31)   Describe an instance of foreshadowing from at least one piece that we have read so far.

Daily Course Schedule

Week 1:

Monday, Jan. 6: Introductions, syllabus, etc. Read “How to Become a Writer" by Lorrie Moore. Perform “Bedroom” writing exercise in class. Time permitting, watch the "School of Life" short film.

Wednesday, Jan. 8: Discuss “Blood of Dresden” by Kurt Vonnegut, and Tom Wolfe excerpt. Two page Journal #1 due on any/all of the assigned readings so far. Don’t just talk about the readings in general; give me specific lines/phrases/word choices that you liked/disliked. Note: I will accept journals either printed or via email as a doc or docx.

Friday, Jan. 10: Perform Single Event writing exercise in class. Share exercises, time permitting. Late Registration and Change-of-Course end.  (NOTE: BECAUSE OF THE SNOW CANCELLATIONS, I'LL ACCEPT JOURNAL #1 EITHER FRIDAY OR MONDAY).

Week 2:

Monday, Jan. 13: Discuss Thoreau excerpt and “Living like Weasels”. Perform Nature Exercise in class. Time permitting, share writing exercises aloud.

Wednesday, Jan. 15: Discuss “You Can’t Kill the Rooster” by David Sedaris. Journal #2 (over Sedaris) due in class. In-class listening activities. Discuss Creative Nonfiction assignment.

Friday, Jan. 17: Discuss "WQED, Channel 13: Programming Guide" by Ann Claycomb, "Vitamin M" by Jehanne Dubrow, "Somebody Else's Genocide" by Sherman Alexie, and the excerpts from Bill Bryson. Journal #3 due (over any or all of Claycomb, Dubrow, Alexie, and Bryson).  in class.

Week 3:

Monday, Jan. 20: Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  No class.

Wednesday, Jan 22: Perform Childhood Exercise in class. Share some writing exercises in class. Sign up for conferences.

Friday, Jan. 24: Conferences instead of class. Bring me a draft of your Creative Nonfiction piece.

Week 4:

Monday, Jan. 27: Conferences instead of class. Bring me a draft of your Creative Nonfiction piece.

Wednesday, Jan 29: Conferences instead of class. Bring me a draft of your Creative Nonfiction piece.

Friday, January 31: Journal #4 due (over "Bullet in the Brain" and "A Perfect Day for Bananafish"). Discuss “Bullet in the Brain” and “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”. Watch “Bullet in the Brain” short film in class. 

Saturday, Feb. 1: We won't meet in the classroom.  Instead, on your own, watch this reading of a couple excerpts from "Another Country" by James Baldwin.  (If you want to follow along, here's the text for the first excerpt and here's the text for the whole novel.) second excerpt.  Also, watch this reading of prose and poetry by Bonnie Jo Campbell. The whole thing is interesting but at least pick up where she talks about how to use the same subject/inspiration for different genres, at 10:00 minutes in.  NOTE: I WON'T REQUIRE A JOURNAL FOR THIS, BUT I'LL ALLOW YOU TO DO A JOURNAL OVER THIS FOR EXTRA CREDIT!

(If you like the Baldwin excerpt, by the way, you might also enjoy this short collection of interview excerpts, but that's optional.)

Week 5:

Monday, Feb. 3: Finish discussion on “Perfect Day for Bananafish" and the reading excerpts. Extra credit journals due. Perform Metaphorical Form Exercise in class.

Wednesday, Feb. 5: Discuss “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, as well as Vonnegut's 8 Rules for Writing. Watch the short film in class. Discuss Fiction assignment.

Friday, Feb. 7: Discuss "A Man Gets Tired" by Jared Sexton.  In-class listening exercise.  Journal #5 due in class (over Sexton).

Week 6:

Monday, Feb. 10: Discuss “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" by J.D. Salinger. Journal #6 due (over Vonnegut and/or Salinger). Watch the “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes” adaptation. Perform Vicarious Protagonist Exercise in class.

Wednesday, Feb. 12: Perform the Dialog Gesture Exercise during class time.

Friday, Feb. 14: Discuss the flash fiction pieces. Discuss “Cathedral.” Share one of your recent exercises with the class, time permitting. Journal #7 due, covering "Cathedral" and/or the flash pieces.

Week 7:

Monday, Feb. 17: Discuss Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” and “The Killers.” Food for thought: what about Hemingway's use of racist language in "The Killers?" Do you notice any patterns or possible reason for it? Is it justified? Listen to some audio files of Hemingway’s stuff in class. No required journal but I'll take a journal over Hemingway for extra credit or to replace a previous, missing journal.

Wednesday, Feb. 19: Watch an adaptation (made from over 29,000 painted frames) of Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea."  Possibly listen to “The Man in the Well” by Ira Sher in class. 

Questions for The Old Man and the Sea: 1) why does this story end where it does? 2) why does the old man keep fighting? 3) in your opinion, what's the point of the arm-wrestling flashback? 4) race is often a factor in Hemingway's stories; what role does it play here? 5) how does the old man feel about the fish?

Friday, Feb. 21: Discuss "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor.  In-class listening activities.

Week 8:

Monday, Feb. 24: Discuss "Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned" by Wells Tower. Listen to the audio file. Journal #8 (over "The Lottery," "A Good Man is Hard to Find," and/or "Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned") due.

Wednesday, Feb. 26: Class visit/reading from my colleagues/friends, Angela Jackson-Brown (novelist) and poets Peter Davis and Liz Whiteacre, all of whom just published new books.

Friday, Feb. 28: No class!  I’ll be out of town for a reading/presentation at the AWP Conference. I strongly encourage you to start working on your Short Story.

Week 9:

Monday, March 3: Discuss "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. In-class listening activities. Do the Point of View Exercise in class, time permitting.

Wednesday, March 5: Guest-lecture.

Friday, March 7: . Guest-lecture.

Spring Break: No class Monday, March 10, through Friday, March 14

Week 10:

Monday, March 17: Small group midterms in class. 

Wednesday, March 19: In-class work on adaptations. In preparation for your final project, especially for those of you wanting to film a scene from a story, take a look at “While the Auto Waits” by O. Henry and “The Death of the Hired Man” by Robert Frost (both adapted by Walter Wykes). Specifically, pay attention to how the stage adaptations draw from the original text. There's also a free program you might want to use at http://celtx.com. Sign up for adaptations.

Friday, March 21: Discuss Poetic Terminology and Schools of Poetry readings off the blog, time permitting, as well as the assignment for Poem #1 (you may choose from the different prompts at the beginning of the packet). Note: you can substitute a flash piece for this, if you like, but still follow one of the prompts. Sign up for conferences.

Week 11:

Monday, March 24: Conferences in my office. Bring me a draft of your Short Story (absolutely no POV violations, verb tense problems, or misused dialog tags)! Conferences in my office. Bring me a draft of your Short Story (absolutely no POV violations, verb tense problems, or misused dialog tags)!

Wednesday, March 26: Conferences in my office. Bring me a draft of your Short Story (absolutely no POV violations, verb tense problems, or misused dialog tags)!

Friday, March 28: Conferences in my office. Bring me a draft of your Short Story (absolutely no POV violations, verb tense problems, or misused dialog tags)!

Week 12:

Monday, March 31: Start watching "Howl." Also, please work on revising your Nonfiction and Short Story and/or your adaptations AND read and/or listen to "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg.

Wednesday, April 2: Continue watching “Howl.”

Friday, April 4: Finish watching “Howl.”  Distribute copies of Poem #1 to the class. You should bring twenty-one copies.  On your own, read all student poems and make some constructive comments on each one.

Week 13:

Monday, April 7: Watch some poetry videos. Begin poetry discussion. Discuss “Oranges,” "Waiting," "The White Museum," “Windchime,” “Woodwork Redemption,” and “The Lanyard.” Journal #9 due on any or all of the assigned poems that we discussed.

Wednesday, April 9: Begin workshopping Poem #1.

Friday, April 11: Continue workshopping Poem #1.

Week 14:

Monday, April 14: Finish workshopping Poem #1, if necessary. Discuss "Traveling Through the Dark," "Speaking American," “Blues for Cleveland”, “Sex and Death”, “Soldiering”, “The Conversation”, "Fixation," “Suicide Song,” and “The Call.” Journal #10 (your final journal) due in class.

Wednesday, April 16: Discuss the rest of the poems from our textbook. Bring 6-7 copies of Poem or Flash #2.  This time, we’ll workshop these in small groups.

Friday, April 18: In-class exercise (an imitation of Albert Goldbarth's "Library") that can take the place of Poem/flash #3 (otherwise, you can submit something else). 

Week 15:

Monday, April 21: Bring 6-7 copies of Poem or Flash #3, small group workshops.  On your own, work on Poem or Flash #4. 

Wednesday, April 23: Bring 6-7 copies of Poem or Flash #4, small group workshops.

Friday, April 25: OPTIONAL revision workshop. Otherwise, I’ll give you in-class time to work on your revisions and/or adaptations.

Week 16:

Monday, April 28: Last day of regular class.

Final: YOUR PORTFOLIO IS DUE ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, AT 9:45 AM IN MY OFFICE, RB 246!

WHAT SHOULD BE IN YOUR PORTFOLIO:
-Bedroom Exercise
-Single Event Exercise
-Nature Exercise
-Childhood Exercise
-Metaphorical Form Exercise
-Vicarious Protagonist Exercise
-Dialog Gesture Exercise
-Point of View Exercise
-Your Creative Nonfiction Piece (finished draft)
-Your Short Story (finished draft)
-Your 4 Poem/Flash Pieces (either marked up copies or clean print-offs are fine)
-At least 3 MAJOR REVISIONS of previous pieces (NOT exercises)

Everything should be clearly labeled. Also, remember that your "major revisions" should reflect some serious thought and effort, not just changing a few words (though you can label those "Minor Revisions" for a little extra credit).