The Writing of Non-fiction Prose, Fall Semester 2002
COURSE OUTLINE
Journalism 311/411/611, English 313
The Writing of Non-fiction Prose
Fall Semester 2002
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Chukchi College
P. O. Box 297
Kotzebue, Alaska 99752
(907) 442-3400 ext. 117
Chukchi Campus is a branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks that serves students with both traditional, face-to-face classroom instruction and cross-regional, audio conference courses that are delivered throughout most of rural Alaska by satellite from Kotzebue, an Inupiaq Eskimo settlement located 30 miles above the Arctic Circle in Northwest Alaska.
Instructor: John Creed, Professor of Journalism
Computer ID:
Class Meetings: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 6:50 - 8:05
Bridge Number: From Fairbanks: 474-8050
From other locations: 1-877-751-8040. PASSCODE located at front of this course outline.
Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday, 1:00 — 3:00 (Students can contact the instructor at other times as well.)
Phone Numbers: 1-800-478-3402 (For student use) ext. 109 (JCreed)
(907) 442-3400 (Chukchi) ext. 117 (JCreed)
442-3717 (home)
Chukchi FAX: (907) 442-2322
The Website Address for Authentic Alaska: Voices of Its Native Writers: voicesofalaska.com
Table of Contents
Required Texts/Materials…………………………………………………..4
Writer's Market Information………………………………………………5
Enrollment Requirements………………………………………………….6
What's This Class About?…………………………………………………..8
Associated Press Style……………………………………………………..11
Grades………………………………………………………………………13
Grading Chart……………………………………………………………….14
Teaching Methods…………………………………………………………..15
Library/Internet Research…………………………………………………..17
How to Submit Assignments………………………………………………19
Sample Cover Page………………………………………………………….21
Sample Story Format……………………………………………………….22
Course Requirements……………………………………………………….26
Autobiography………………………………………………………………26
Ideas List…………………………………………………………………….30
Publication Analysis…………………………………………………………31
Query Letter…………………………………………………………………..35
Writing Option #1…………………………………………………………….36
Writing Option #2……………………………………………………………..36
Interviews…………………………………………………………………….38
Manuscript Preparation/Art………………………………………………….39
Fall Semester 2001 Calendar…………………………………………………41
Written Assignment Deadlines……………………………………………….42
Class Schedule………………………………………………………………..43
A Guide to Proofreaders' Marks………………………………………………55
If you wait for the perfect time to write, you'll never write. There is no time that isn't flawed somehow.
—Margaret Atwood
We are all pushed and pulled by the human tendency to put things off; that is, to procrastinate, to delay, particularly when we confront difficulty. Excellent writing demands so much hard work and commitment that our minds can play tricks on us, giving us seemingly plausible reasons to avoid the arduous task of writing. I certainly can relate to the above Margaret Atwood quotation. How about you? I also must fight the tendency to declare the opportunity to write "flawed somehow." Then the opportunity passes, and the writing doesn't get done. At the same time, we all carry significant responsibilities in other areas of our lives.
Let's look at your life. Are you raising children, working a job, playing sports, and trying to nurture a relationship with that special, or not-so-special-and-that's-the-problem, person? Are you a traditional college-age student with a zillion things competing for your time? No matter what your individual situation, are you just plain busy, busy, busy, no matter what your situation, with all the demands life puts on you?
Indeed, we all must wrestle with the overwhelming feeling that somehow things are just not quite right to sit down and write. But the circumstances are never just right. So, even if we only have 45 minutes to bang away at a piece we are working on, we must seize that opportunity and move things along, even if it means making a stab or two at something in fits and starts.
In truth, of course, the issue of what we are doing at the moment versus what we wish we were doing at the moment also applies to life in general. I am reminded of a line in one of the late John Lennon's last recorded songs: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans," wrote Lennon. As a student who has traveled this far in higher education, you no doubt have mastered an adequate level of self-discipline. Congratulations! Superb writing, however, can thwart even the most committed, disciplined student. I'm not taking about "banging out a paper" here. Rather, in this class we shoot for that deeper commitment to excellence that is inside every student in this class. That's what we must demand of ourselves. That takes a commitment to sit write even when we don’t "feel inspired," because that's how we achieve excellence while having fun being creative.
Welcome!
You never know what you will learn until you start writing. Then you discover truths you didn't know existed.
—Anita Brookner
Do you enjoy putting your thoughts into words through writing? Then we have a fun semester ahead. Most students in this class should be familiar enough with writing, and particularly with the mechanics of writing, that we are not building "from the ground up," or in other words, we DO NOT cover basic writing skills in this class. You should not be in this class unless you are a competent writer already. At the same time, expect to learn much more about writing and writing mechanics this semester while developing a “voice of your own” in writing.
Required Texts/Course Materials
The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.
--James Bryce
Kessler, Lauren and Duncan McDonald. When Words Collide: A Media Writer's Guide to Grammar and Style, Fifth Ed., Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 2000.
Graham, Betsy P. Magazine Article Writing, Second Ed., Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1997.
Andrews, Susan B. and John Creed. Authentic Alaska: Voices of its Native Writers. London: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.
The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc.
Zinsser, William. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Non-Fiction
He who joyfully marches in the rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.
--Albert Einstein
Writer's References:
http://hge.members.atlantic.net/NWM_Info/NWM_AZ_Recomendations_Poetry_Table.htm
2002 Writer’s Market, Published by Writer's Digest
Any number of writer's directories of magazines exist that carry information that help to familiarize free-lancers with the various markets. Writer's Market publishes a new edition every year and has more than 4,000 listings. Most writers agree this one's the best for free-lancers, but it by no means exhausts the market. Nevertheless, it's a good starting point if you wish to purchase a copy. In addition, do consider the Internet when searching for markets for your writing. The Internet also can provide an incredible array of information resources when researching just about any topic.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Kirsten Holm's door-stoppingly thick Writer's Market provides about the best bang for your buck if you're looking to place your writing. The 2002 edition boasts listings for 1,100 book publishers, 1,900 magazines, 700 contests and awards, and 75 agents interested in the work of new writers. You'll also find insider reports on writing for pet magazines, women's magazines, and sports magazines; articles on public relations writing, script treatment, e-queries, pay rates, and online markets (including a primer on "the only HTML you actually need to know"). And finally, Greg Daugherty spills the beans on the best ways to get great ideas for articles. First among them: "Take a lot of showers." --Jane Steinberg
Book Description
Writer's Market is THE indispensable writer's reference. It informs your customers who the editors are, what they want, how much they buy and how much they pay. Every writer needs it; that's why it's the best-selling writing title each and every year.
And this year, Writer's Market has more entries and benefits than ever before. Readers will find more phone numbers, contact names and e-mail addresses--everything they need to get in touch with the people who can make their dreams come true! They'll also find:
* The Query Letter Clinic--eight real-life letters show the dos and don'ts of crafting effective query letters
* Walking the Beat--six freelancers reveal how specializing in one area can bring in more work
* Workshop articles that help writers craft winning book proposals, novel outlines or script synopses
"Ever bigger and better, Writer's Market, as always, is every bit as essential to a writer's tool kit as a good dictionary and a good word processor."
--James Rettig, "Rettig on Reference" at gale.com
Amazon.com website for Writer's Market books:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1582970440/qid=1021102865/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-2807765-2497566#product-details
PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO PUBLISH YOUR WORK IN THIS CLASS.
Enrollment Requirements
To enroll in this class, a student should be at least of junior standing, or have permission of the instructor. Non-journalism or non-English majors should have at least six credits of college-level English composition and be highly motivated toward writing quality nonfiction. Internet access and dedicated fax machine required.
I never let schooling interfere with my education.
--Mark Twain
Students with a bachelor’s degree or graduate degree in any discipline and a desire to learn about the nonfiction field are encouraged to enroll in this class. Many students already holding bachelor’s, master’s and even doctoral degrees have completed this class with great success. Any student may enroll with permission of the instructor.
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Course Description
This course fosters skills for the successful writing and marketing of nonfiction writing, particularly essays and "literary" nonfiction, for newspapers, magazines and books, including writing and editing, research, documentation, interviewing, and target marketing. This course mainly helps students develop a good, solid personal style for nonfiction writing.
Writing for Real World
In this course, students can learn more about what about freelance writing for many non-fiction genres. The instructor's job is to help you write pieces that could appear as newspaper features, magazine articles, or some other forum such as a self-published short regional or personal history. Such a course always has been an effective way for aspiring nonfiction writers and cultural documentarians to learn the craft, the art, and even the “business” of nonfiction writing for newspapers, magazines and books as well as cultural journalism.
Ideally, this course will see you completing a short autobiography and two essays or a full-blown newspaper feature, magazine article or chapter in a book. The most important aspect of this class is to produce high-quality writing in the writer’s own personal style. Don’t worry as much about marketing your writing as much as developing your nonfiction writing skills and finding your own writing “voice.”
Writing Designed for Publication in This Class
This is a class in writing for publication. Writing prepared in this class is intended for publication, including but not limited to consumption by the general public. That does not mean that your first drafts will be sent immediately to a newspaper or magazine; in fact, students typically work long and hard with the instructor in improving their work up to publication quality. Not all students write to publication quality in this class, although typically most do.
This class’s publication emphasis exists so that students will not be misled that they are writing in this class “for personal growth” but don’t intend to share it with anyone. Nonfiction writing for this class is a public activity, and writing for publication is what this class is about.
If you can’t write about something that you are willing to share with a larger audience, then you should not be enrolled in this class. Everything you write about in this class must be for publication and consumption by a wide general audience. Of course, we may run into sensitive issues that must be thoroughly explored along the way to publication, which also is what this class is all about, but this is a class where you must expect your writing to be published.
Excellent Writing Matters Above All Else
Students often are concerned about grades. If you complete the assignments and are able to publish a major article, feature, or book chapter, you (almost automatically) earn an A for the course. You also may earn an A in this course without having your major piece accepted for publication, but that certainly may be more difficult but definitely not at all impossible.
The harder you work, the luckier you get.
--McAlexander
This is a practical course, so it's impractical to prepare a nonfiction writing endeavor that isn't also targeted for publication somewhere, even if “only” in your local rural newspaper. Exemplary nonfiction writing for publication blends business sense and enthusiasm with the art and skill of interviewing, reporting, researching and, of course, great writing. You can do it!
If being an ego maniac means I believe in what I do and in my art and music, then in that respect you can call me that . . . I believe in what I do, and I'll say it.
--John Lennon
What's This Class About?
Nonfiction writing, especially a magazine article or a newspaper feature story, puts together a combination of factual news, opinion essay and fictional short story in a piece targeted for a particular audience. Above all, a magazine piece is a story, but a factual story, and a useful one for the targeted audience. It exudes a deeper quality than found in most newspaper features. It carries readers into a situation, giving them a profound understanding of a topic through clever use of literary devices.
A well-written essay can combine personal experience with reading, interviewing, observation, anecdotes, and other sources of information. For example, an autobiographical essay may involve the "mining" of past personal diaries and journals, family and genealogical history, interviews with family members and friends, library research, oral history and other forms of information gathering on the road to a solid, credible, well-written piece of work. The potential interpretations of what you can produce in this course are up to your imagination, limited only by the fact that you are writing NONFICTION that is backed up by solid information-gathering and thoughtful reflection.
As a successful nonfiction writer, you will probably find it necessary, at least at the beginning of such an endeavor, to write in many styles. In recent decades, newspapers have been changing in response to television journalism's growing sophistication and immediacy. For some years now, medium-sized and even smaller newspapers across the country have been resembling daily magazines; that is, a significant percentage of newspapers’ stories are in-depth, magazine-type efforts.
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched--they must be felt with the heart.