Keep working on your drafts and send them by Friday, even if you’re not finished. Show me what you’ve got and I can give you some feedback on where to take it to the finished first draft.
We’re going to have a special guest in April, the poet Niki Herd. Stay tuned.
Write a title and your by-line.
Use space-and-a half spacing. It’s easier on the eyes and I can mark on it.
Use the indent to indicate paragraphs rather than double spacing.
I’ll demonstrate.
(This is the way we did it in the magazine business.)
Bring what you have. Bring your questions. Bring part of a rough draft. I expect some of you are still struggling. No one said art is easy. That’s why you have an editor. Let’s hold a short class for me to find out how you are doing, what problems you are encountering. Remember the way this works: write a rough draft as in maybe a not-so-good draft. But you get through the whole thing. And then you figure out with your editor (me) how to make it better. No one ever writes a perfect rough draft. We will need more conferences. The object of the class is that you learn the process of writing a narrative.
From the syllabus:
March 21: Rough draft due. Discussion.
March 28: Reading to be assigned
Week of April 4: No class One-on-one interviews.
April 11 Special guest, Niki Herd, published poet working on her doctorate at the UH creative writing program. She will talk about documentary poetics. We will look at some of her writing. Most of all we need to talk to her.
April 18 Draft due
April 25 One on one
May 2 Last class
Final exam week of May 13-16
Art of Narrative JOUR 505, Texas Southern University 