Week 1:  

1.  Online Lecture:  Please start with the lesson for this week.  Online Lecture Week 1.

2.  Assigned Reading:  Reading Assignment:

Assigned Reading

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question . . .
Oh, do not ask, ‘What is it?’
Let us go and make our visit. 

Finish the rest of the poem at:  The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock  by T. S. Eliot (1917)

This short piece by T.S. Eliot is a good introduction to talking about writing.  Let US go and make our visit.

The central image of this poem is the "patient etherized upon a table."  This is a classic simile, linking the pale, cold, clammy, maybe drugged patient to the quality of the London evening (you will all recognize, whether you live in London or not, that kind of late afternoon: gray-white, cool, still).  Whether you are writing poetry or prose, one of your key writing tools is always the vivid image that brings sensory imagination into play.  I invite you to read the rest of this familiar poem and to think about using sensory metaphors, similes, or symbols in your own description of yourself.  Playing with images is one of the joys of writing....

3.  Weekly Writing Exercise:   First, read the model I have provided for you in Exercises.  This will give you an idea of how to shape your piece.  Then, post an entry in the Discussion Group list - tell us what you would like us to know about yourself, what past writing experiences you have had, and what you might like to submit to the formal Workshop Section.  

4.  Class Discussion and Critique:

Some of you may feel a little concerned about how to post and respond in a writing workshop environment online.  While a few of you may have already participated in writing groups and classes, the idea of interacting with fellow writers in virtual space may seem daunting, regardless!  Whether we are in a real classroom or a virtual one, though, the practices of good reading, response, and critique are much the same.  The following guidelines should help you anticipate some of the process - and as soon as we get rolling, I am sure you will find this virtual writing space a lot of fun and a great way to learn from your colleagues!

Nuts and Bolts:

 When you set about writing your Weekly Writing Exercise, I recommend that you compose it in a word.doc so you have a record of it for your files.  

When you are writing the text, please do not use carriage returns in the document.  

When you have completed and edited your exercise to your satisfaction, copy and paste it to a post on the Discussion Board.  Please, also, keep a copy of each Weekly Writing Exercise in your own files, just in case we need to re-post!

For formal Workshop pieces [these are the "real" pieces that are either finished or excerpted from your own ongoing work, not our Weekly Exercises] the filename should begin with your last name and then an indication that it is a formal Workshop piece - "luesebrinkworkshop1".

Reading and Responding:  

In reading each others' Weekly Writing Exercises, we want to acknowledge, first, that these are exercises and not fully fleshed-out stories.  The "character" exercise, for example, will not have a real plot, or setting, or even look like a finished character sketch.  What we are trying to do is to focus on the kind of language that can be used to illuminate character.  Therefore, your job as reader and responder is to accurately reflect what you believe the writer is trying to say and what kinds of collateral assumptions you naturally made as a result of reading the piece. 

The writer also benefits from feedback about how successfully she or he carried out the exercise.  In the case of the "character" exercise, we aren't really concerned about what kind of story this character might inhabit but rather how much the character seems authentic and comes alive on the page.  I will give you some leads on kinds of questions you might ask yourself as a reader for each exercise.

A second important part of reading and responding is to recognize the value of feedback.  While most writers shudder at the thought of "criticism", the truth is that we can scarcely grow as writers without honest response from some set of readers - whether praise or no.  Really, in the outside world, the most devastating response is not negative criticism but indifference (after all, for someone to criticize your work, they had, presumably, to READ it).  

So, our goal is to respond honestly to the writing.  If something pleases us, we for sure want to mention it.  If something is disturbing or seems poorly conceived or we don't understand the sentences, we would mention those impressions, as well.  We are not trying to tell our colleagues how to write or what to write or what to mean - we need only speak to the issue of what we understood to be portrayed.  It goes without saying, I am sure, that we avoid demeaning anyone or any piece on the basis of prejudice or cultural standards.

Return to Week 1.

  About Your Class // Class Syllabus // Workshop Pieces // Weekly Writing Exercises // Lecture Notes // Reading List // Recommended Reading // Assignments // Grading Policies // Contact Your Instructor // Announcements // Discussion

Marjorie Coverley Luesebrink, your Instructor, is a Professor of English in the School of Humanities and Languages

Irvine Valley College, Irvine, California