6:30 to 7 Tuesdays in classroom (appointment recommended)

6:30 to 7 Thursdays in classroom (appointment recommended)

Check out my website at:

www.floydsalas.com

for quotes, information on my books, etc.

CRWR 40
Tuesdays 7 to 9:20 p.m.
Thursdays 7 to 9:20 p.m.

CREATIVE WRITING 40
NOVEL WRITING

This is a novel writing workshop, meaning that every manuscript will be copied and passed out to every other member of the workshop so that every person has a copy. Then the manuscript will be read by the writers and discussed in class. Every word will be seen not just heard. The writers will develop critical expertise as well as creative technique.
Those who have not taken a fiction course from me before will be given certain exercises of description, narration, dialogue and scene development, leading to a first (or more) sequenced chapters of a novel or novella. Everyone will learn how to write an outline and how to write fiction.
1st Class Session: Introduction to the art and craft of fiction writing, the joys and sorrows of the creative life, and how to develop a sensitive and creative attitude toward the life around you and to see the stories within it. Also, overview of the syllabus, required books and assignments, and class introduction. Assignment 1 discussed?� ?�andscape Description: a word-picture setting. The object of the assignment is to sketch in words a description of a landscape that is so objectively clear and accurate the reader will feel like he or she is actually there, can actually see the scene.
2nd Class Session: Editing of Assignment 1 in full-class workshop. Editing methods and morals discussed. Assignment 2 discussed: Narration, a body moving in a setting. You will watch someone at work and capture the act. The emphasis is on action, a person performing a sequence of meaningful events.
3rd Class Session: Editing of Assignment 2 in full-class workshop. Assignment 3 discussed: Dialogue, in which you will produce a conflict between a male and a female which rises in tension and comes to some sort of conclusion, whether the conflict is resolved or not. There is to be no narration or description added; dialogue only.
4th Class Session: Editing of Assignment 3 in full-class workshop. Assignment 4 discussed: Third Person Objective. Using the dialogue assignment as the basic structure, create a scene using just enough narration and description to carry the scene and bring it to a climax. The object is to use and blend the techniques of the first three assignments in a fictional manner. Try to tell one character's story while remaining objective.
5th Class Session: Editing of Assignment 4 in full-class workshop. Assignment 5 discussed: Third Person Subjective. Using the third person objective scene, add thoughts and feelings to the scene from the viewpoint of one of the characters so we get the inner as well as the outer experience of one person.
6th Class Session: Editing of Assignment 5 in class. Then Assignment 6 discussed: Summary Outline for a novel.
7th and 8th Class Sessions: Discussion of plot form: a problem-conflict which leads through a series of crises to a climax and then a resolution. Editing of Assignment 6 in terms of plot form. Assignment: Put summary outlines into plot form and develop.
9th Class Session: Plot outlines edited. Students are then to work on production of an original novel chapter utilizing the techniques learned.

Within the workshop format, especially when the material under discussion provides a good example of a tenet of form or craft, I will give lectures on such topics as:

Chronology of a Work of Art (process of writing/reading/self-analysis/editing/rewriting)
Point of View
Character Development
Objectivity and Subjectivity in Character Depiction
Voice in Fiction
Symbol and Metaphor
Theme
Use and Misuse of Flashbacks
Examples from a range of Literary Works and Styles demonstrating: Ironic Voice;
Realism; Non-Realistic and Experimental Techniques
How to Be Active in the Literary Community: readings; submissions to literary magazines;
writer interviews (in-person or written) on such subjects as: craft, inspiration, creative sources.


Office Hours: 1 hour prior to each class session, by appointment
Contact: floydsalas@comcast.net
(510) 527-2594

Good luck and thanks for being here.


NOVEL WRITING CLASS REQUIREMENTS

1. Students will complete the first six exercises assigned, bringing to class photocopies of their work, including copies for themselves and the instructor.

2. Students will write an outline of their novel (which can be informal or in paragraph form ?� �?��re details in class). Again, make photocopies for each class person and the instructor.

3. Students will write and rewrite an original novel chapter (not one you have written prior to this class), and two substantive rewrites. Make photocopies for each class person and the instructor.

4. Students will take notes in class. Photocopies of these notes must be included in the final portfolio.

5. Students will write a 1+ page essay test, per the instructions in the syllabus. Essay test due date:

6. Students will read all books assigned.

7. Any exercises, novel chapters or other assignments not edited in class must be critiqued and edited by each student prior to the next class period. Students must be prepared to make verbal critiques in class.

8. At the end of the class, students will assemble photocopies of all of the exercises, outlines, chapters and rewrites they have written for this class, as well as photocopies of their notes and the rewrites of their exercises, per class editing, into a portfolio -- an envelope or binder to be turned in on the last class day (no later.) Please enclose SASE (with sufficient postage) if you wish your materials returned.

9. Students, with instructor's approval and given sufficient class time, may turn in additional writing (novel chapters, poems, short stories) beside the assignments above, and this writing will be edited by the instructor and class members. (Copies must be given to everyone in the class, as usual.)

ADVANCED STUDENTS
(Those who have taken a Floyd Salas course before and
completed the exercises)

1. Students must turn in two original short stories or novel chapters and two rewrites for each short story or chapter.

2. Students must read all in-class and assigned writings and be prepared to make verbal critiques in class.

3. Students will select and research a literary magazine and submit a report on: type of literature the magazine publishes, submission policies and deadlines, and contact information. (Copies of report to be given to everyone in the class.)


4. At the end of the class, students will assemble all of the stories and rewrites they have written for this class, as well as photocopies of their notes into a portfolio, an envelope or binder to be turned in on the last class day (no later.) Please enclose SASE if you wish your materials returned.


ASSIGNMENT 1

Landscape Description:
Creation of a Word-Picture from
Observation of an Actual Scene


The object of this assignment is to sketch in words a description of a landscape that is so objectively clear and accurate the reader will feel like he or she is actually there, can actually see the scene. To do this, go there. Look at an actual scene and describe it. (Don't do it from memory or imagination.) Begin with the sense of sight and tell us everything you can see in the scene. Begin big, with a view of large things in sight, then what you hear, what you smell, what you can taste or touch. If you cannot touch something -- like a cloud or a hill covered with trees -- give us an idea of what the texture of the object is so that the sense of touch is evident to the reader. But DO NOT INCLUDE YOURSELF. WE DO NOT WANT YOUR THOUGHTS. We want the scene.

Think of yourself as a camera that also picks up sound. These are the two main senses, vision and hearing, and these are what we mainly perceive the world with. So the information you pick up with these two senses will be the subject of most of your landscape description. Don't filter the sense impressions through your own pre-conceived opinions of what they are.

Write spontaneously at first. Do not worry about form or grammar or spelling. Take a series of notes about everything you perceive, then later, afterwards, put it all in an order that recreates the scene for the reader, with correct spelling, etc. So BEGIN WITH IMPRESSIONISTIC NOTES, then put them together in a comprehensible order.

Do not romanticize. Do not poeticize. Do not write prettily. Do not write formally. Write clearly. Be as objective as you possibly can. No philosophy. No clich?�?. No metaphors or similes. Use your own language to describe as accurately as you possibly can what you actually see yourself. Try to make your language so clear the reader feels as if there is no writer explaining anything, only the experience itself coming across.

Order of composition:

1.- Rough, spontaneous draft
2.- Proper arrangement and form
3.- Polished, edited final version



ASSIGNMENT 1
Landscape Description
Example by a Student

EARLY MORNING

The morning sun rises from behind the dark cloud bank that covers the mountains. Above the cloud line, the sky is a luminous blue. Across the valley floor, dawn-gray except for the tops of the tallest trees and buildings which are etched with sunlight, the western hills are bright green.
On the hill above the industrial park, birds are singing and making short hops through the sun-dappled branches of eucalyptus trees. There is a strong smell of wet grass, wild licorice and damp earth. Down below, white steam from factory cooling plants spirals up and evaporates. A dog barks, a motorcycle buzzes, a truck grinds gears coming away from a stop, and a siren surges and fades. Early traffic creates an insistent low hum.
As the sun rises higher, the yellow of wild mustard on the hill becomes even brighter, the shadowy masses of the valley are broken into shapes -- houses, factories, trees. Gray and black give way to blue, green, white, orange. A window glints, there is the flash of an aluminum gutter. A small breeze ripples the puddles of rainwater that lie on the flat factory roofs. A car door slams in a factory parking lot at the base of the hill, then another.
A jogger and his dog run up the path into the sunlight with panting breath.


ASSIGNMENT 2

Narration:
A Body Moving In A Setting


Pick out someone on a job, preferably a job you are not familiar with, in a setting you are not familiar with. Watch the person doing the job carefully. Don??�� miss a detail of the action. Take notes on how the person is doing the job, STEP BY STEP. What this means in practice is that you will probably summarize at first, then fill in the details as you watch the action occurring again and again. For this reason, it??�? best to pick a job that??�? done over and over again, using the same repetitive movements, so you can actually SEE what??�? occurring at each step of the job, instead of getting so hung up in taking notes on one step that the next step has occurred without your knowledge. SEE the job in parts and describe each action to us in detail, so we SEE the action of a hand, say, on a machine part, or on a loaf of bread.

Put your notes in the proper order and write the assignment. Teach us in words what the job is and does, so that we will know all about it from your description of it, your narration.

The emphasis in this assignment is on action, on a person performing a sequence of meaningful events: the process of bread being prepared for baking, or a street being paved, or a person playing pool, or someone changing the oil in his or her car.

Again, DO NOT INCLUDE YOURSELF OR YOUR THOUGHTS. Keep yourself out of it. The object is a clear, objective presentation of what actually occurs in front of you as the job is performed so the reader sees it as if he/she were there.



ASSIGNMENT 2
Narration
Example by a Student

MAKING DRAGONS?? ?USTACHES

A group of people gathered on the Chinatown sidewalk to watch a young man and a small boy, both Asians, set up an old luggage rack on which the man placed a tin box about 2 feet by 1 1/2 feet by 1 foot. He took off the lid and leaned it in the doorway behind him. The inside of the box was divided into one large bin and two smaller ones.
After pushing up his sleeves, the man took a white, fist-sized ball of dough from the big bin which was half-full of finely ground sesame seed flour. He took a pencil-thin wood dowel from a ledge inside the top of the bin and pierced a hole through the center of the dough, working the dowel around in a circular fashion. When the hole was about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, he put the dowel away. He then gripped the newly formed dough loop with both hands, hooking the middle fingers of each hand through the hole, his thumbs circling around to meet finger tips so the loop hung from his fingers. He pulled his hands away from each other, pulling the dough to create a long thin loop. With a twist of each wrist, he made the loop into a figure eight shape, quickly bringing the two loops together to form one loop of two strands, like a double strand of beads. Immediately, he pulled these apart in the same fashion as before. He repeated this operation perhaps twenty times more, never watching his hands, his eyes on the crowd. In about a minute, he had a thick bundle of fine white strands, like fringe, about 18 inches long and 2 inches wide, which he held draped over the palm of his left hand.
Using his right index and middle fingers as scissors, the man snipped off short lengths of the dough strands, each about 4 inches, draping them over the rim of the tin box. When he had six short lengths, he put the rest of the strands back in the bin of ground sesame seeds.
Picking up one of the cut pieces, he laid it flat on the palm of his left hand, and with the right hand he pulled a small handful of chopped peanuts and shredded coconut from one of the smaller bins. He sprinkled this concoction over the dough strands, and again using his index finger, rolled up the fringe into a cylinder, leaving the ends of the strands free which gave the appearance of a Chinese dragon??�? mustache. The little boy pulled a small flat cardboard box from the third bin and put the flaps together. He took the mustache from the man, and laid it in the box. When the box had six mustaches in it, the boy held them out to the crowd for inspection. ?��Ѣ��u want to buy??� ��e asked.


ASSIGNMENT 3

Dialogue

Produce a conflict between a man and a woman which rises in tension and comes to some sort of end. There must be rising action and emotional tension, which means that the dialogue must become more violent. The end can be either a perpetuation of the conflict, which means, like life, it goes on, or some sort of resolution. The resolution could be either of the conflict itself or an emotional resolution, which means that, though the argument may be won or not won by logic or by loudness of voice, an emotional equilibrium is restored, and then life goes on.

You can take off from a real conversation you have heard or create a completely imaginary one.

Make sure you pick a conflict with enough at stake for the two people involved in it to really fight. It can be a dialogue between partners in a love affair, spouses, a mother or father and his or her adult child, between a boss and an employee, etc.

Do not add any narration or description. Use dialogue only, as in a play, but without stage directions. DO NOT present your dialogue like this:

MARY: Close the door!

JOHN: Close the door yourself, you lazy hag!

Instead, present it as follows:

?�?�ose the door, John!?�??�
?����d, you??�?�� a lazy hag, Mary. Why don??�� you get some exercise for a change and actually get up and close it yourself??�??�
This dialogue will serve as the basis for the next two assignments after this one, so make sure the argument you select has enough drama and interest for you to work on it for three weeks in a row.

WARNING: Do NOT make this an argument over the phone or an argument conducted by leaving messages on answering machines. It must be a face-to-face conflict.


ASSIGNMENT 3
Dialogue
Example by a Student



?�?�? God, Mary, don??�� start on that again!?�??� ?��Ѣ��u told me you were falling asleep, you told me to talk.?�??� ?����t not that crap, not that same old crap.?�??� ?��Ѣ��u can??�� tell me what to say, and not what to say. It??�? bad enough you??�?�� always telling me what to do.?�??� ?���at the hell is that supposed to mean??�??� ?��Ѣ��u know.?�??� ?��ܬ�re we go, twenty questions. No, Mary, I don??�� know what you mean, but I??���� bet you??�?�� going to tell me.?�??� ?���ll, back there when we stopped for coffee, you told me I was talking too loud.?�??� ?�?���sus, Mary, you were talking too loud! I don??�� want every hayseed in this state to know our business.?�??� ?��Ѣ��u didn??�� care about any hayseeds, you just didn??�� want that blond, floozy waitress to hear me.?�??� ?����at blond floozy waitress, as you call her, was just a cute kid and I . . .?�??� ?����e, I knew it, I knew you would defend her.?�??� ?��Ѣ��u??�?�� crazy, you know, you really are crazy. Next you??���� accuse me of having an affair with her.?�??� ?���?�� wouldn??�� surprise me.?�??� ?���ll, you??�?�� right, you see I did. It as while you were in the ladies room. I pulled her under the table and wham, bam, thank you ma??���?.?�??� ?��Ѣ��u make me sick.?�??� ?���? know, you??�?�� told me often enough. Too bad you don??�� get sick enough to die.?�??� ?��Ѣ��s, and I know why, so you could go to her. You would be there before I was cold.?�??� ?��Ѣ��u, my dear, are already cold and if I wanted to be with Jan, who I assume we??�?�� really talking about, and not some dumb little waitress, I would be with Jan, but I??�? not. I??�? on some dumb-ass highway, in the middle of the night, trying to get to some frigging lake. . .?�??� ?���? knew it, I knew you didn??�� want to come. Second honeymoon, new beginning, how could I have listened to you??�??� ?����t Mare, I did want to come, because you see when we get to this lake, I??�? going to kill you, and chop you up into little pieces, and feed you to the fish. Of course, the fish will probably die, poor things, but that??�? their problem.?�??� ?��Ѣ��u??�?�� a big man, Bill, big talker. I??�? going to sleep. If you want company, turn on the radio. That is, if you can turn anything on.?�??� ?��Ѣ��u do that, dear, you go to sleep. You need the practice.?� ?


ASSIGNMENT 4

Scene Told From Objective Viewpoint

Using the dialogue assignment (# 3) as the basic structure, add narration and description. This is the story of a conflict, so there must be rising action and emotional tension, which means that the physical acts of the characters must become more and more violent or threatening as the dialogue becomes more heated.

Description sets the mood, gives the emotional tone. How you describe a character??�? appearance, tone of voice, the house they live in, etc. gives clues to their psychology. Narration, which is action, a depiction of a body moving through space, can also give clues to what??�? going on in the story. What clues do these two ways of depicting a similar action give to the reader?

She slammed the coffee cup down on the table so hard that the brown
liquid sloshed onto the unvarnished wood.

She set her coffee cup down in its saucer then, eyes down, ran her finger around the delicate, fluted edge of the china.

Keep in mind that narration, that is, the depiction of bodies moving in space, creates the illusion of the passage of time.

This is an OBJECTIVE scene, so remember what we??�?�� learned in the first two assignments about SHOWING objectively by means of an accumulation of accurate, carefully selected details rather than TELLING with an intrusive author??�? voice.

You will be adding ?�?��ry said,?� ��John said,?� ��tc. Don??�� worry about using ?��?��id?� ��oo much, especially in this assignment. Use of words we don??�� often use in speech, like ?��?��plied,?� ��opined,?� ?�����untered,?� ��tc. merely calls attention to the author. Keep in mind, too, that a narrative passage directly in front of or behind a portion of dialogue serves to identify the speaker and you don??�� need, ?�?��ry said.?� Example:

?���? thought you said you wanted to spend the evening with me.?� She set her coffee cup down in its saucer then, eyes down, lips trembling, ran her finger around the delicate, fluted edge of the china.

Be sure and START WITH ACTION, which means narration (a body moving in space), which includes descriptive images which will set the scene in a dramatic way. Dialogue is also action, so a good way to begin is with the first line of your dialogue. Remember, the reader is learning the whole situation throughout the scene. They don??�� have to know everything in the first paragraph. Use just enough descriptive images to make the scene come to life. Reading, ideally, should be a voyage of discovery to the reader, just as writing is a voyage of discovery for the writer.

You may change your original dialogue, if you like, especially in response to class critiquing. Narration and description will broaden and deepen your story and will now help carry the story you are telling, so edit and change your dialogue as necessary with an artist??�? eye.


ASSIGNMENT 4
Scene Told From Objective Viewpoint
Example by a Student


?�?�? God, Mary, don??�� start on that again!?� Bill said as he drove the dented Volkswagon down the nearly deserted highway past rice fields and dark farm houses. Although it was nearly one in the morning, it was still hot out and warm air blew into the car from the open window on his side. Mosquitoes splattered on the windshield.
?��Ѣ��u told me you were falling asleep, you told me to talk,?� Mary said. She brushed back her ginger-colored hair from her doughy, freckled face.
?����t not that crap, not that same old crap.?� Bill ground out his cigarette in the ashtray.
?��Ѣ��u can??�� tell me what to say, and not what to say.?� She clutched her purse to her stomach. ?���?��??�? bad enough you??�?�� always telling me what to do.?�??� ?���at the hell is that supposed to mean??� He turned his heavy-jawed face to her, his thick shoulders hunched over the wheel.
?��Ѣ��u know.?�??� He looked at her and shook his head. ?��ܬ�re we go, twenty questions. No, Mary, I don??�� know what you mean, but I??���� bet you??�?�� going to tell me.?�??� ?���ll, back there when we stopped for coffee, you told me I was talking too loud.?�??� ?�?���sus, Mary, you were talking too loud!?� His knuckles were white from his grip on the steering wheel. ?���? don??�� want every hayseed in this state to know our business.?�??� ?��Ѣ��u didn??�� care about any hayseeds, you just didn??�� want that blond, floozy waitress to hear me.?�??� ?����at blond floozy waitress, as you call her, was just a cute kid and I . . .?�??� ?����e, I knew it, I knew you would defend her.?�??� He sighed and pulled a cigarette out of a package in his shirt pocket. ?��Ѣ��u??�?�� crazy, you know, you really are crazy. Next you??���� accuse me of having an affair with her.?�??� ?���?�� wouldn??�� surprise me.?�??� ?���ll, you??�?�� right, you see I did,?� ��e smiled. ?���?�� was while you were in the ladies room. I pulled her under the table and wham, bam, thank you ma??���?.?�??� ?��Ѣ��u make me sick.?� She spit the words at him.
?���? know, you??�?�� told me often enough. Too bad you don??�� get sick enough to die.?� He took a long drag on his cigarette.
?��Ѣ��s, and I know why.?� Her voice was a whine. ?����� you could go to her. You would be there before I was cold.?�??� ?��Ѣ��u, my dear, are already cold and if I wanted to be with Jan, who I assume we??�?�� really talking about, and not some dumb little waitress, I would be with Jan, but I??�? not. I??�? on some dumb-ass highway, in the middle of the night, trying to get to some frigging lake. . .?�??� ?���? knew it, I knew you didn??�� want to come. Second honeymoon, new beginning, how could I have listened to you??� She let go of her purse and put her hands over her eyes.
?����t Mare, I did want to come, because you see when we get to this lake, I??�? going to kill you, and chop you up into little pieces, and feed you to the fish. Of course, the fish will probably die, poor things, but that??�? their problem.?� ��e turned towards her and blew smoke in her direction.
She put her purse down on the floor and pulled her feet up under her. ?��Ѣ��u??�?�� a big man, Bill, big talker. I??�? going to sleep. If you want company, turn on the radio. That is, if you can turn anything on.?�??� ?��Ѣ��u do that, dear, you go to sleep. You need the practice.?�??�


ASSIGNMENT 5

Scene Told From Subjective Viewpoint

Using the original dialogue and the narration and description from the objective scene, add the thoughts and feelings, especially feelings, of ONE (only one) of your characters.

You will now be telling the story from the viewpoint of one of the characters, giving us glimpses of their world as seen by them. Your story is now going to get deeper and more spiritual. You??�?�� still in third person, not first person, so you can refer to your protagonist as ?�����?� ��r ?��?��e?� ��nd even describe them, as long as you remain true to what he or she would experience. For instance, if your main character slaps the person he or she is fighting with, you can describe your protagonist's facial expression and arm movement as she reaches out to slap at the same time as you describe her feelings and thoughts, too. You are trying to create the illusion of total reality. DO NOT SWITCH VIEWPOINTS AT ALL! Stick to the experience of one person only and convince us of the reality of their being.

Put all thoughts into sensory pictures, images. The thoughts must be as real and concrete as the description of the setting in order to make it real to the reader. Though you may at times say, ?��?��e thought,?� ��r ?����� thought,?� ��nd then state what that thought is, it must contain a sensory image, a detail or details which create a picture in the reader??�? mind, just as you did in your description assignment. SHOW DON??��� TELL! and your pictures will create emotion in the reader just as dialogue and description and physical action create it.

There must be conflict from the start and rising action and emotional tension. There must be an end of some sort in which the rising action and the emotional tension reach a peak at approximately the same time and then end abruptly or resolve in some way, relax into a state of emotional equilibrium, so we feel that the story is over more than we know it logically, though we can know it, too, and should know it. But concentrate on feeling. Make us feel! That is a spiritual experience.






ASSIGNMENT 5
Scene Told From Subjective Viewpoint
Example by a Student


?�?�? God, Mary, don??�� start on that again!?� Bill said as he drove the dented Volkswagon down the nearly deserted highway past field after field of sodden rice. Occasionally, he caught a glimpse of a dark farm house, and every once in a while, through a window, the blue glowing rectangle of a TV set on. It was depressing and, although it was nearly one in the morning, still hot out. Sticky, suffocating air blew into the car from his open window. Mosquitoes splattered on the windshield. They reminded him of the pattern of moles on his wife's flabby, white butt.
?��Ѣ��u told me you were falling asleep, you told me to talk,?� Mary said. She brushed back her ginger-colored hair from her doughy, freckled face.
?����t not that crap, not that same old crap.?� Bill ground out his cigarette in the ashtray.
?��Ѣ��u can??�� tell me what to say, and not what to say.?� She clutched her purse to her stomach. ?���?��??�? bad enough you??�?�� always telling me what to do.?�??� ?���at the hell is that supposed to mean??� He turned his heavy-jawed face to her, his thick shoulders hunched over the wheel.
?��Ѣ��u know.?�??� He looked at her and shook his head. ?��ܬ�re we go, twenty questions. No, Mary, I don??�� know what you mean, but I??���� bet you??�?�� going to tell me.?�??� ?���ll, back there when we stopped for coffee, you told me I was talking too loud.?�??� ?�?���sus, Mary, you were talking too loud!?� His knuckles were white from his grip on the steering wheel. ?���? don??�� want every hayseed in this state to know our business.?�??� ?��Ѣ��u didn??�� care about any hayseeds, you just didn??�� want that blond, floozy waitress to hear me.?�??� ?����at blond floozy waitress, as you call her, was just a cute kid and I . . .?�??� ?����e, I knew it, I knew you would defend her.?�??� He sighed and pulled a cigarette out of a package in his shirt pocket. ?��Ѣ��u??�?�� crazy, you know, you really are crazy.?� He lit the cigarette with the car lighter. ?�??��xt you??���� accuse me of having an affair with her.?�??� ?���?�� wouldn??�� surprise me.?�??� ?���ll, you??�?�� right, you see I did,?� ��e smiled, starting to enjoy the familiar game. ?���?�� was while you were in the ladies room. I pulled her under the table and wham, bam, thank you ma??���?.?� He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes to see her reaction.
?��Ѣ��u make me sick.?� She spit the words at him.
?���? know, you??�?�� told me often enough. Too bad you don??�� get sick enough to die.?� He took a long drag on his cigarette. What a pathetic bitch Mary had become.
?��Ѣ��s, and I know why.?� Her voice was a whine. ?����� you could go to her. You would be there before I was cold.?�??� ?��Ѣ��u, my dear, are already cold.?� He flicked some ashes out of the open window. ?�?��d if I wanted to be with Jan, who I assume we??�?�� really talking about, and not some dumb little waitress, I would be with Jan, but I??�? not. I??�? on some dumb-ass highway, in the middle of the night, trying to get to some frigging lake. . .?�??� ?���? knew it, I knew you didn??�� want to come. Second honeymoon, new beginning, how could I have listened to you??� She let go of her purse and put her hands over her eyes.
?����t Mare, I did want to come, because you see when we get to this lake, I??�? going to kill you, and chop you up into little pieces, and feed you to the fish. Of course, the fish will probably die, poor things, but that??�? their problem.?� ��e turned towards her and blew smoke in her direction.
She put her purse down on the floor and pulled her feet up under her. ?��Ѣ��u??�?�� a big man, Bill, big talker. I??�? going to sleep. If you want company, turn on the radio. That is, if you can turn anything on.?�??� He watched her attempts to get comfortable. ?��Ѣ��u do that, dear, you go to sleep. You need the practice.?�??�
CLASS REQUIREMENTS
CRWR 40
Instructor: Floyd Salas

You will be graded on how well your writing improves and reveals that you??�?�� learned from the class instruction, including the following:

-timely completion of ALL creative writing assignments ?� ??�
Fictional Technique assignments: # 1-5 (#1-Description,#2-Narration,#3-Dialogue, #4-Objective Scene, #5- Subjective Scene)

Summary Outline of a novel: Assignment #6
= 25%
----------`----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Original Novel Chapter(s) (written using techniques learned in the assignments)
2 substantive rewrites of chapter(s) based on class criticism and what fictional
techniques you??�?�� learned in the assignments

Novel outline based on discussed plot form techniques
= 50%
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-completion of all assigned reading = 10%

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-one-page take-home test on assigned reading topic (Buffalo Nickel) per the instructions in the syllabus

= 5%

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-other in-class or take-home tests as assigned

-attendance

-editing of other students?? �?ork (verbal for each class session; written, as assigned)

-in-class participation
= 5%

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-class notes (Students will take notes in class. Photocopies of these notes must be included in the final portfolio.)

= 5%
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-final portfolio (which includes all photocopies of all assignments, chapters and rewrites turned into class plus photocopies of class notes) ?� ����e on final day of class (necessary for computation of final grade)

NOTE: Students, with instructor's approval and given sufficient class time, may turn in additional writing beside the assignments above, and this writing will be edited by the instructor and class members. (Copies must be given to everyone in the class, as usual.)


ADVANCED STUDENTS
(Those who have taken a Floyd Salas course before and
completed the exercises)

-two original novel chapters and one rewrite for each chapter = 70%

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-scene-by-scene outline, which will also be rewritten based on the in-class critique. = 15%

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- one-page take-home test on assigned novel (Tattoo the Wicked Cross) per the instructions in the syllabus = 5%
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- literary magazine report
= 5%
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-reading of all in-class and assigned writings and verbal critiques in class
= 5%

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-final portfolio (which includes all assignments and chapters turned into class plus photocopies of class notes) ?� ����e on final day of class (necessary for computation of final grade)


NOTE: Students, with instructor's approval and given sufficient class time, may turn in additional writing beside the assignments above, and this writing will be edited by the instructor and class members. (Copies must be given to everyone in the class, as usual.)


CLASS PROCEDURES

Students will make copies of each assignment, chapter and take-home test for everyone in the class plus the instructor plus a copy for him or herself plus a copy for the final portfolio.
We will do as many of the assignments in full-class workshop as possible. Student assignments not edited in class will be assigned to other students for editing. Students whose papers were not edited in class the previous class period(s) will receive priority for full class editing on the next assignment.



ASSIGNED BOOKS and TEST QUESTIONS

You must read all the texts. I will either assign you one of the test questions below or you may choose one. Due on due date announced in class. Write a one-page essay. You may write more, if you wish.

Buffalo Nickel, by Floyd Salas, Arte Publico Press, 1992.

There is a metaphor in the book, indicated by the title. Tell me what the metaphor is and how it's revealed through the story.

Writing a Novel, by Dorothy Bryant

How would you apply the recommendations in this book to your own novel? (Invent a novel or use a novel you're currently working on.)

The Art of Dramatic Writing, by Lajos Egri

How would the teachings of Egri help you write fiction?

The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

How do the stories of Hemingway help you write? (The lessons of Egri are revealed in Hemingway.)

Recommended stories:

"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber"
"Up in Michigan"
"The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife"
"Indian Camp"
"The End of Something"
"The Battler"
"Soldier's Home"
"The Cat in the Rain"
"The Undefeated"
"Hills Like White Elephants"
"The Killers"
"Fathers and Sons"

CHARACTER

1. In creating characters, remember that YOU ARE WHAT YOU DO, AND YOU LOOK LIKE WHAT YOU ARE.

2. It is through narrative and dialogue that a character is made convincing, not through the author's spoken interpretation.

3. Dialogue, that is speaking, is a form of doing. The character reveals who he is or she is inside by speech.

4. Different people can commit the same action but can mean different things. Two men can kill and one can be executed for it and the other can be rewarded, one feel guilty and the other justified, the difference between a killing in a robbery, and the killing of the robber by the cop. The same act, murder.

3. Dialogue and some thoughts can give character. So can viewpoint.

6. VIEWPOINT, meaning how the story is seen, rendered can give character (PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN). The whole action can come through the experience of one character and that character's interpretation can produce authentic characterization, either in first person or third person. Just the actions and details that are seen will give you the character of the person seeing it. We all see differently and the very same action seen by different people gives different interpretations and different views of life. A person with a lot of heart sees deeper than a person with a callous view. The heartful person sympathizes and tends to see more than their own particular view of it. The selfish personality sees only what already fits into their view of life.



THE WRITER

BEFORE UNDERSTANDING COMETH LOVE, Jesus said. That's where it's at for the writer. If a writer loves his character and loves the people around him or her, that writer will learn more about life and have more to say than a writer who wants to see what fits in with his or her viewpoint of life. So love without prejudice and you will develop deep insight into people and can render characters in fiction more convincingly.

Learn to love those around you, of all types, learn to cut through your own defenses, that is, fences and see into the heart, the soul of the person you are talking to, dealing with. You do not have to let yourself get killed, but do let yourself be vulnerable or you won't let anything in --- no insights can get through a de-fense. Fence. You must be open in order to see into others. The key to perception of character is within you, an open heart sees all. A tight-fisted heart withers on the vine, bloodless. Learn to be a saint if you want to produce living characters, become a Dostoyevsky and you'll see sympathetically into the hearts of others.

YOUR CHARACTER IS THE KEY TO PRODUCING AUTHENTIC CHARACTERS.

Henry James: "The novelist must be a moralist, a profound moralist who draws his morality from a true knowledge of the human mind . . . if his own mind is without quality, so will be his fiction."

I've just published my 7th book, a volume of poetry entitled LOVE BITES: Poetry in Celebration of Dogs and Cats.

Stay tuned for information about readings and signings.

Available on amazon.com

FLOYD SALAS

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION


Floyd Salas is the critically-acclaimed author of four novels, a memoir and two volumes of poetry. His publications include Tattoo the Wicked Cross (1967), winner of the Joseph Henry Jackson Award and a Eugene F. Saxton Fellowship; What Now My Love (1970); Lay My Body on the Line (1978), written and published on National Endowment for the Arts Literary Fellowships; the memoir Buffalo Nickel (1992), which earned him a California Arts Council Literary Fellowship; State of Emergency (1996), awarded the 1997 PEN Oakland Literary Censorship Award, and his poetry books, Color of My Living Heart (1996) and Love Bites: Poetry in Celebration of Dogs and Cats (2006).

He was a staff writer for the NBC drama, Kingpin, released in February, 2003 and a 2002-2003 Regent?��Ǩ�Ѣs Lecturer at University of California, Berkeley. He has recently completed a novel about 1940s Oakland entitled Dirty Boogie. He is also working on Maverick: Prayers of Heresy, a volume of new and selected poems from the last fifty years.

He is editor of Stories and Poems from Close to Home (1986) and other anthologies of San Francisco Bay Area writing, and the author of numerous essays and reviews about writing and the creative life. Tattoo the Wicked Cross and Buffalo Nickel are featured in Masterpieces of Hispanic Literature (HarperCollins 1994). His other awards and honors include a Rockefeller Foundation Fiction Scholarship, an NEA creative writing fellowship, and two outstanding teaching awards from the University of California, Berkeley. His fiction, non-fiction and poetry manuscripts as well as letters and biographical information are archived in the Floyd Salas collection in the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. His novel, Tattoo the Wicked Cross, earned a place on the San Francisco Chronicle's Western 100 List of Best 20th Century Fiction. He has taught creative writing at San Francisco State University, University of California, Berkeley, University of San Francisco, Sonoma State University, and Foothill College, as well as at numerous writing conferences and at San Quentin, Folsom, Vacaville and other correctional institutions. He is a founder and president of the multicultural writing group PEN Oakland, and a former boxing coach for University of California, Berkeley.