WRITE300-23A (HAM)

Creative Writing: Creative Non-fiction

15 Points

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Division of Arts Law Psychology & Social Sciences
School of Arts
English

Staff

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Convenor(s)

Catherine Chidgey

Catherine Chidgey
9169
I.3.20A
See Moodle
catherine.chidgey@waikato.ac.nz

Lecturer(s)

Administrator(s)

: ashleigh.wallace@waikato.ac.nz

Placement/WIL Coordinator(s)

Tutor(s)

Student Representative(s)

Lab Technician(s)

Librarian(s)

You can contact staff by:

  • Calling +64 7 838 4466 select option 1, then enter the extension.
  • Extensions starting with 4, 5, 9 or 3 can also be direct dialled:
    • For extensions starting with 4: dial +64 7 838 extension.
    • For extensions starting with 5: dial +64 7 858 extension.
    • For extensions starting with 9: dial +64 7 837 extension.
    • For extensions starting with 3: dial +64 7 2620 + the last 3 digits of the extension e.g. 3123 = +64 7 262 0123.
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What this paper is about

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This course explores the key elements of creative non-fiction writing, engaging with a variety of non-fiction texts including memoir, biography, the personal/lyric essay, and auto/biographical meta-fiction.

It is a FLEXI paper, which means that it will be offered on campus, but can revert to online if need be. All lectures will be in person as well as online; note that the preferred method of delivery is in person.

You need to be able to attend your chosen workshop at the scheduled time. Note that all workshops listed below will only be offered if enrolment numbers require them. Workshop times will be confirmed in the first lecture - it's important you attend that lecture to sign up for your preferred time. Workshops begin in the second week.

If you are a FLEXI student, you should join the Monday 3-5pm workshop, which follows the lecture. Currently this is the only one offered via Zoom. Priority for this workshop is reserved for FLEXI students. Other students may attend if there is space.

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How this paper will be taught

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Each lecture will explore concepts, techniques, and structures central to dynamic creative non-fiction, examining these elements in action through close analysis of selected texts. Intensive workshop exercises then stimulate the student to apply these discoveries to their own writing, challenging them to experiment with aspects of creative non-fiction through direct engagement with the page. Work in progress generated by these exercises will be regularly presented for constructive critique within class, producing a portfolio for final assessment.
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Required Readings

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Prose Texts:

Hilary Mantel Giving Up the Ghost

Julia Blackburn The Book of Colour

(Available from Campus Books)

Selected hand-outs detailing workshop exercises will be made available on Moodle each week. The online reading list contains extracts from the following:

Virginia Woolf Moments of Being

Jean-Dominique Bauby The Diving-Bell & the Butterfly

John D’Agata & Jim Fingal The Lifespan of a Fact

Rick Moody The Black Veil: A Memoir

Paul Lisicky 'A Weedy Garden'

Peter Trachtenberg Seven Tattoos: A Memoir in the Flesh

Leslie Jamison The Empathy Exams

Nam Le The Boat

Chris Tse How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes

Robert McLiam Wilson ‘1989’

Sebastian Junger A Death in Belmont

Jonathan Franzen ‘My Father’s Brain’

Gerald N. Callahan ‘Chimera’

Brian Doyle 'Being Brians'

Marianne Apostolides Voluptuous Pleasure: The Truth about the Writing Life

Glenn Colquhoun How We Fell (a love story)

Carol Ann Duffy Rapture

Philip Lopate Portrait of my Body

Alice Sebold Lucky

Tim O’Brien The Things They Carried

Tim Winton 'In the Shadow of the Hospital'

Helen Macdonald, H is for Hawk

Philip Roth Patrimony

Catherine Chidgey In a Fishbone Church

Dave Eggers A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Jenny Lawson Let's Pretend This Never Happened

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Learning Outcomes

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Students who successfully complete the course should be able to:

  • Demonstrate familiarity with some of the major genres of creative non-fiction writing, including poetry, memoir, the creative non-fiction essay, the personal essay, biography and the nonfiction novel
    Linked to the following assessments:
  • Gain awareness of key structures of creative non-fiction writing – such as imagery, voice, setting, point of view, pacing, form and style – and an ability to target and strengthen these facets in their own creative writing
    Linked to the following assessments:
  • Gain the ability to ‘read like a writer,’ working closely with selected texts to identify and analyse creative techniques central to producing powerful creative non-fiction
    Linked to the following assessments:
  • Gain the ability to exercise their own creative energy through interaction with writing prompts, tasks and models based on connected texts
    Linked to the following assessments:
  • Gain the ability to revise and proofread their creative work, responding to constructive critique from workshop feedback, and developing an awareness of substantive and structural editing
    Linked to the following assessments:
  • Increase their creative workshop skills for peer review, and for critiquing their own and others’ work in progress
    Linked to the following assessments:
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Assessments

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How you will be assessed

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Students are expected to complete all assessment modules for the completion of this paper.

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The internal assessment/exam ratio (as stated in the University Calendar) is 100:0. There is no final exam. The final exam makes up 0% of the overall mark.

The internal assessment/exam ratio (as stated in the University Calendar) is 100:0 or 0:0, whichever is more favourable for the student. The final exam makes up either 0% or 0% of the overall mark.

Component DescriptionDue Date TimePercentage of overall markSubmission MethodCompulsory
1. Assessment One: 2 pieces of Work, Prose or Poetry
3 Apr 2023
5:00 PM
20
  • Online: Submit through Moodle
2. Assessment Two: 2000 word prose
8 May 2023
5:00 PM
20
  • Online: Submit through Moodle
3. Regular weekly submission of work-in-progress for class critique
30
4. Final Portfolio
6 Jun 2023
5:00 PM
30
  • Online: Submit through Moodle
Assessment Total:     100    
Failing to complete a compulsory assessment component of a paper will result in an IC grade
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