Ah, good! You are actually reading this link. You know what really bugs me? When
students don't read all the links... This website is essentially your textbook.
As you read it, print out pages, or at least take notes. I really believe I have
told folks enough that they can do a good job. Yet students miss so many little
details. PLEASE! Beyond the major requirements--actual writing in three
genres and the calendar deadlines--try to follow the directions. Thanks!
Pitfalls and Pointers
Here's a page you definitely should not skip. Over the semesters I have taught the course I have seen a pattern of problems that have meant lower grades &/or withdrawals for my students.
1. Do the workshops. Why some students think workshop comments aren't required I don't know. I have taken or taught creative writing classes for forty years. They are always taught as workshops where students make comments on each other's work. I could have set this course up with laborious, pesky "threaded" chat room exchanges. Instead I am simply asking you to pick two fellow students' work for each of the three genres. Send thoughtful and detailed comments. It is not an excuse to say "I don't feel qualified. I have nothing to say." The idea is to learn by making yourself think about what makes writing better. Do the workshops, on time! Don't leave them to the end of the term. Give your fellow students help revising.
2. Don't skip the "formal" poetry. Haiku is meant to teach description. Sonnet should teach you not just rime but meter. Personally, I am very puzzled at how students don't understand that haiku, more than just 17 syllables divided 5, 7, 5, is picture, picture, picture. That is what I expect--three lines of details that are visual, that I can close my eyes and picture.
I do understand that people have trouble with the meter in a sonnet. But that is part of the challenge. I want you to sweat with the form. I want you to experience what was required in poetry for hundreds of years. Don't skip the sonnet. It is required, which means you will need to understand and at least come close to proper iambic pentameter.
3That bald boss on the "deadlines" page may not look like me but he expresses my resolve that I will not accept folks sending a batch of work all at once at the end of the term. Every semester brings two or three students who have sent nothing to speak of--as often simply going out of touch after the first few weeks. I have to tell them it is too little, too late.
Worse, students who "show up" with a batch of work late in the term have been known to "borrow" their work from a boyfriend or girlfriend or some other source. Horrors! Keep the deadlines and if you can't, just email me and I will offer you a "W" anytime during the course. That is the proper, the dignified way to handle things.
4. A prose fiction piece is not an essay. In the link that encourages folks to use personal experience to find a story, I explain that point. Yet students send me essays reporting a series of events in their life. Learn the lesson. Fiction is life made better! Refine and focus the details into a dramatic structure with a problem that is solved; with a beginning, middle, end.
5. Be your own boss! An on-line class is self-directing. I am available via email to answer your questions. If you read the links, they are your lectures. It's not my job to hold your hand. You have to figure out what to do. That is "learning!"
If you see an error, or have a question about the conduct of the course, of course I want to hear from you. About 75% of my students do finish the on-line class successfully--at least the same or an even higher percentage than my regular classroom results. Be your own boss and don't quit. Spend the time needed not just to do the assignments but do your best!
