Spring 2013
English 252: Intro to Fiction
Stories happen everywhere. Even Nebraska. Especially Nebraska. This semester, we're going to explore the literature of Nebraska as we read and write fiction. Wonderful, surprising, stupendous fiction doesn't have to happen Someplace Else--great fiction can happen anywhere, even in the snarkily-termed flyover states. We'll be reading Ron Hansen's new and selected collection She Loves Me Not, Ladette Randolph's anthology A Different Plain, which features many writers who are in our UNL English department, and we'll finish out the semester by reading Sean Doolittle's thriller Rain Dogs, set in the Sandhills. We will have the opportunity to talk, in person, with Jonis Agee (who teaches in our English department) and Sean Doolittle, author of Rain Dogs. This semester, we'll be reading and writing the best of what comes from this state we've chosen to call home.
Spring 2012
English 252: Intro to Fiction
Fall 2011
English 252: Intro to Fiction
Welcome to
the Introduction to Fiction! In
this course, we will be looking at all aspects of fiction, from process to
craft to criticism. English 252 is a writing course, so I expect you
to take your writing (and the writing of your peers) seriously. I expect you to be open to honest and
critical discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of your work and that of
your classmates. I expect you to
be willing to experiment with your writing—get out of your comfort zone—and try
out some of the ideas brought up in class. All writing is creative. In addition to writing short stories, we will also be
writing critically about what we’re reading and what we’re writing. But this is also a reading
course—writers read. It’s how we
learn. We will not only read
various texts to demonstrate various concepts, we will read each others’ work
with compassionate, critical eyes with a goal of helping each other improve our
craft.
- John Keeble, Nocturnal America
- Andrea Barrett, Servants of the Map
- William Kent Krueger, Iron Lake
- Alice LaPlante, Method and Madness: The Making of a Story
