the purpose of this unit is to introduce us to the process of revision. since, in unit II we practiced the craft of stroke, stroke, stroke and have by now done more than simply "begin" but have tried to shape the raw materials of free-writing into more readable, polished pieces, in unit III we will revise. few written works have ever appeared in print without having been subjected to revision and yet writing must appear to be spontaneous, natural, not "worked over." a tall order. thus I call this unit the "disturbing pleasure of revision" because revision is a contradictory act. you labor in order to look spontaneous, you work so that your performance appears seamless, as a ballet dancer must work to make the dance elegant, seamless and seemingly EASY.

yeah, right!

the work in this unit, therefore, will ask you to revise and to examine the process and concept of revision.

October 24 (t) Grace Paley and the process of revision. Discuss A Conversation with My Father
 

HOMEWORK for Thursday: In-class presentations

Find and bring to class one example of a revised piece of writing, comparable to the examples in WHC. These must be revisions of a published author, so you must: as a researcher, introduce the class to your chosen writer and as a writer yourself present the revision and explain why the revision is "better" than the original. This may take some work and digging.

And you will present the example in class, to the class. That is, you are the teacher. You must speak at least 5 minutes, and the cut-off is 10 minutes.
 

October 31 (t) More presentations. BOO!
 

HOMEWORK: Exercise 7: Choose one of the characters from your dialogue exercise and write ONE PARAGRAPH in which that character describes the other one from your dialogue, in response to this question, asked by a friend of both characters: "what does so-and-so want, anyway?"

November 7 (t) in-class revision work: point of view
 

HOMEWORK: Read A Rose for Emily
          Question: Why is the point of view in this story so crucial?

November 9 (r)  Discussion: Point of View

HOMEWORK: Exercise 8: Character by indirection. Choose one of the characters from your dialogue and write 200-600 words in which you describe any place inhabited or frequented by that character--a room, a house, a garden, a cafe--but the character cannot be present in the room, house etc. at the time.

BRING 5 copies to class.

HOMEWORK: Find a published, fictional description of room, house, garden, cafe etc. 200-600 words,that you think clearly creates a character by indirection, and bring a copy of it to class.

November 16 (r) Building Characters
 

HOMEWORK: Exercise 9:

Give us a glimpse of the mood and nature of the conflict your two characters have been involved in by describing the place where the conflict originally happened--and remember, the confict itself doesn't happen in your piece!) You aren't to say anything directly about the persons involved or the conflict itself--this is the stage without the actors on it, if you like. And this kind of suggestion is something words can do better than any other medium, even film, because the words can have such particular depth of emotion and meaning. Use any props you like here, furniture, clothes, belongings, weather, climate, history, anything. Focus on any item or detail that reveals the nature of your characters OR can foreshadow the conflict.