APPENDICES An Alternative Academic Creative Writing Pedagogy? The Research and Development of Theorised Teaching Principles and Processes for a B.A. Honours Degree in Creative Writing and an M.A. Degree in the Teaching of Creative Writing Pieter Oberholzer 0218420H APPENDICES Page Appendix 1: Handbook Fiction Examples – Full Texts 1 Appendix 2: Handbook Fiction Examples – Excerpts 2 Appendix 3: Handbook Fiction Examples – References 3 Appendix 4: Quantitative Questionnaire 4 Appendix 5: Email Communication Extract 6 Appendix 6: Workshop Research Consent Form 7 Appendix 7: Student Profiles – Phase 1 2005 8 Appendix 8: Student Profiles – Group 1 Phase 1 2006 11 Appendix 9: Student Profiles – Group 2 Phase 1 2006 14 Appendix 10: Student Profiles – Phase 1 2007 17 Appendix 11: Student Workshop Attendance – 2005 to 2008 20 Appendix 12: Phase 1 Workshops 2005 Structure, Content and Teaching Materials 22 Appendix 13: Phase 1 Workshops 2007 Structure, Content and Teaching Materials 92 Appendix 14: Phase 2, Workshops 2007 Structure, Content and Teaching Materials 102 Appendix 15: Phase 2 Workshops 2008 Structure, Content and Teaching Materials 105 Appendix 16: Short Story Research Readings 145 Appendix 17: Writer Experiences 154 Appendix 18: Examples of Student Writing Responses 171 Appendix 19: Selected Sentences with Soul 190 Appendix 20: Selected Student Short Stories 198 Appendix 21: Student Writer and Writing Categories 238 Appendix 22: Student Text Feedback Examples 241 Appendix 1: Handbook Fiction Examples – Full Texts Restricted to Short stories 149 Example short story texts 15 Janet Burroway Imaginative Writing Specialist short story essay/anthologies account for ... The Art of the Short Story 64, On Writing Short Stories 18, 82 short story samples. Writing Fiction Janet Burroway 27, Narrative Design Madison Smartt Bell 12 all contemporary American short story writers, Robert de Maria The College Handbook of Creative Writing, 12 mixture contemporary American, traditional short story authors. Most Popular Authors Raymond Carver, 3 texts, five examples, 4 handbooks, “Cathedral” 3 exposures. Anton Chekhov, 4 texts, five examples, 4 handbooks, “The Lady with the Pet Dog” 2 exposures. Flannery O'Connor, 3 texts, 4 examples, 3 handbooks, “Everything That Rises Must Converge” 2 exposures. Eudora Welty, 3 texts, 4 examples, 3 handbooks, “Why I Live at the PO” 2 exposures. Guy de Maupassant, 3 examples, 3 handbooks, “The Necklace” 2 exposures. William Faulkner, 3 examples, 2 handbooks, “A Rose for Emily” 2 exposures. Katherine Mansfield, 3 examples, 2 handbooks, “Miss Brill” 2 exposures. Joyce Carol Oates, 3 examples, 3 handbooks, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” 2 exposures. Following authors have their texts used as examples twice: Margaret Atwood, “Happy Endings” James Baldwin – “Sonny’s Blues” Charles Baxter – “Gryphon” and “Snow” Kate Chopin, “The Storm” and “The Story of an Hour” John Cheever, “The Swimmer” Louise Erdrich – “Sister Godzilla” and “Saint Marie” Nadine Gordimer “The Diamond Mine” and “A Company of Laughing Faces” Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Birthmark” and “Young Goodman Brown” Ha Jin “In the Kindergarten” and “Saboteur” D.H. Lawrence, “The Rocking-Horse Winner” and “Odour of Chrysanthemums” Tim O'Brien – “The Things They Carried” Robert Olen Butler – “Hotel Tourine” and “Missing” Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” James Joyce, “Araby” and “The Dead” Contemporary American Authors – 58 American Authors Earlier Periods – 17 Academic degreed and or teaching – 37 Iowa Writers’ Workshop Graduates – 8 Pulitzer Award Winners – 8 National Book Award Winners – 4 Nobel Prize for Literature – 7 Non-American Authors – 20 English Authors – 4 Russian Authors – 3 French Authors – 3 1 each German, Canadian, New Zealander, Nigerian, Swedish, Argentinian, Colombian, Japanese, Irish, and South African 1 Appendix 2: Handbook Fiction Examples – Excerpts 10 Handbooks 481 Excerpt Examples Most Popular Authors of Excerpt Examples Raymond Carver, 23 excerpts, from 3 texts, in 4 handbooks, 20 excerpts from “Cathedral.” Ernest Hemingway, 14 excerpts, from 10 texts, in 8 handbooks, 4 excerpts from “Hills Like White Elephants.” Flannery O'Connor, 10 excerpts, from 6 texts, in 5 handbooks, 4 excerpts from “Everything That Rises Must Converge.” James Joyce, 8 excerpts, from 4 texts, in 5 handbooks, 4 excerpts from Ulysses. Charles Dickens, 8 excerpts, from 8 texts, in 4 handbooks. Anton Chekov, 8 excerpts, from 5 texts, in 3 handbooks, 4 excerpts from “The Lady with the Dog.” Margaret Atwood, 7 excerpts, from 7 texts, in 4 handbooks. William Faulkner, 7 excerpts, from 5 texts, in 5 handbooks, 3 excerpts from “A Rose for Emily.” John Cheever, 5 excerpts, from 5 texts, in 3 handbooks. Stephen Crane, 5 excerpts, from 3 texts, in 1 handbook, 3 excerpts from “The Blue Hotel.” Toni Morrison, 5 excerpts, from 4 texts, in 3 handbooks, 2 excerpts from Beloved. Mark Twain, 5 excerpts, from 4 texts, in 4 handbooks, 3 excerpts from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Leo Tolstoy, 5 excerpts, from 4 texts, in 3 handbooks, 2 excerpts from The Death of Ivan Illich. Following authors have had excerpts from their texts used 4 times in 3 or more different handbooks with most used text in brackets: Edgar Allan Poe (“The Fall of the House of Usher”); Joyce Carol Oates (“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”); Tim O'Brien (“The Things They Carried”); Lorrie Moore (“People Like That Are the Only People Here”); Gabriel Garcia Marquez (One Hundred Years Of Solitude); Barbara Kingsolver (The Poisonwood Bible); Charles Baxter (“Gryphon”); Mary Gaitskill (“The Girl on the Plane”); F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby); John Updike. Contemporary American Authors – 127 American Authors Earlier Periods – 17 Academic degreed and or teaching – 89 Iowa Writers’ Workshop Graduates – 19 Pulitzer Award Winners – 8 National Book Award Winners – 8 Nobel Prize for Literature – 10 Non-American Authors – 73 English Authors – 31 Russian Authors – 7 German Authors – 5 French Authors – 4 Irish Authors – 3 Japanese Authors – 3 Scottish Authors – 3 Canadian Authors – 2 Australian Authors – 2 Spanish Authors – 2 1 each: Colombian, Czechoslovakian, New Zealander, Danish, Greek, Italian, Polish, South African, Egyptian and Indian. 2 Appendix 3: Handbook Fiction Examples – References References 618 16 handbooks [16] Charles Dickens – David Copperfield (5), Bleak House (4), A Tale of Two Cities (2), A Christmas Carol (2), Great Expectations (1) Nicolas Nickleby (1) and Our Mutual Friend (1). (8 Handbooks) [14] James Joyce – Ulysses (8), Portraits of the Artist as a Young Man (2), “The Dead” (2) and Finnegan’s Wake (2). (7 Handbooks) [14] Leo Tolstoy – Anne Karenina (5), “The Death of Ivan Illich” (3), War and Peace (2), Resurrection (2), Childhood (2) (6 Handbooks) [12] William Faulkner – The Sound and the Fury (4), Absalom, Absalom! (4), “A Rose for Emily” (1), Requiem for a Nun (1), As I Lay DyingI (1) and Go Down (1). (10 Handbooks) [12] Henry James – The Wings of the Dove (3), The Portrait of a Lady (2), The Turn of the Screw (2), Roderick Hudson (1), Daisy Miller (1), The Spoils of Poynton (1), The Princess Casamassima (1) and “The Beast in the Jungle” (1). (6 Handbooks) [12] Franz Kafka – Metamorphosis (8), Amerika (1), “A Country Doctor” (1), “A Crossbreed” (1) and “A Judgment” (1). (9 Handbooks) [11] Ernest Hemingway – “Hills Like White Elephants” (3), For Whom The Bell Tolls (2) The Sun Also Arises (1), In Our Time (1), A Movable Feast (1), The Old Man and the Sea (1), “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (1) and “Clean, Well-Lighted Place” (1). (9 Handbooks) [11] Virginia Woolf – Mrs Dalloway (4), To the Lighthouse (2), “Kew Gardens” (2), A Room of One's Own (1), The Waves (1) and The Voyage Out (1). (4 Handbooks) [9] Margaret Atwood – Bodily Harm (2), Cat’s Eye (2), Alias Grace (1), Life Before Man (1), Surfacing (1), The Handmaid's Tale (1) and Murder In The Dark (1). (3 Handbooks) [6] Anton Chekhov – “The Lady with the Dog” (4), “In the Ravine” (1) and “Ward Six” (1). (4 Handbooks) [6] Joseph Conrad – Heart of Darkness (4), The Nigger of the Narcissus (1) and Lord Jim (1). (3 Handbooks) [6] Fyodor Dostoyevski – Crime and Punishment (3), Notes From Underground (2) and The Brothers Karamazov (1). (3 Handbooks) [5] John Fowles – The French Lieutenant’s Woman (4) and The Magus (1). (4 Handbooks) [5] D. H. Lawrence The Fox (2), Sons and Lovers (1), The Rainbow (1) and “The Blind Man” (1). (4 Handbooks) [5] Herman Melville – Moby Dick (4) and The Confidence Man (1). (5 Handbooks) [5] Vladimir Nabokov – Lolita (5). (5 Handbooks) [5] Edgar Allan Poe – The Raven (1), “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1), “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1), “Ligeia” (1) and “The Pit and the Pendulum” (1). (4 Handbooks) [5] Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice (3), Sense and Sensibility (1) and Persuasion (1). (2 Handbooks) 3 Appendix 4: Quantitative Questionnaire The Design and Development of an Undergraduate Creative Writing Programme Research Questionnaire Surname: ____________________________ First name(s): ____________________________________________ Student No: ____________________ Telephone No: _____________________ Cellphone No:______________________ Email Address: _______________________________ Field of Study (eg Psychology, Journalism, Dramatic Art): ______________________________________________________ Is English your first language? Yes No Answer each of the following questions by putting a tick () in the ONE box, which most accurately reflects your answer. 1. Based on your writing experiences during your final school year, how would you describe your Creative Writing learning experience? very negative negative average positive very positive 2. Based on your writing experiences during your final year at school, how would you rate your level of interest in Creative Writing on a scale from 1 to 5 if 1 represents No Interest and 5 Very Interested? No interest Very interested 1 2 3 4 5 3. Is Creative Writing an activity you have pursued for personal enjoyment, in your ‘free time’, outside of the school’s formal requirements? No Yes 4. If the University were to offer a Creative Writing module at undergraduate level, how would you rate your level of interest in enrolling for that Creative Writing module, on a scale of 1 to 5 if 1 represents No Interest and 5 Very Interested? No interest Very interested 1 2 3 4 5 5. If the University were to offer Creative Writing as a Major subject at undergraduate level, how would you rate your level of interest in enrolling for that three-year Creative Writing programme, on a scale of 1 to 5 if 1 represents No Interest and 5 Very Interested? No interest Very interested 1 2 3 4 5 4 6. If selected, would you be interested in participating in a series of extra-curricular creative writing workshops during 2006? No Undecided Yes Consent Form Project Title: The Design and Development of an Undergraduate Creative Writing Programme. Student: Pieter Oberholzer (0218420H). Contact Details: 0829021825 [email protected] Supervisor: Dr Pamela Nichols Contact Details: 7174136 [email protected] Degree: PhD Research Sample: First-year English Literature students. Purpose of the Study: The quantitative research component of the project is aimed at identifying and tracking the level of student interest in Creative Writing and selecting students to participate in the second phase of the study (Creative Writing Workshops) with the objective of identifying student experiences of the teaching and learning of Creative Writing, which will influence the design and development of the undergraduate creative writing modules and programme. Benefits of the Study: The benefits of this study relate to the identification of student Creative Writing needs and experiences as a vital component of the design and development of Creative Writing modules and/or courses. Confidentiality: Although the information contained in the completed questionnaire will be used in the PhD Thesis, the identity of the student respondent will remain strictly confidential between the student respondent and the researcher. Consent 1. Your completion of this research questionnaire and your participation in this research study is voluntary and you have the right to decline to participate at any time. 2. By signing in the space provided below you confirm your willingness to participate in the study. Full Names __________________________________ Student No. ______________ Signature____________________________________ Date ____________________ 3. You are entitled to a copy of this signed consent form and, on request, one will be provided to you. 5 Appendix 5: Email Communication Extract I offer these creative writing workshops as a part of the research for my PhD Thesis, which is aimed at developing an undergraduate creative writing programme. You have already received a copy of the agenda items discussed at the meetings in November as well as a summary of the proposed format and content of the workshops for this year. It may prove to be a worthwhile and rewarding programme for you and the other students, who have a desire to write and improve their writing and your participation is certainly of fundamental importance to my creative writing research. The workshops will run for two hours, ideally from 2 pm to 4 pm. So as not to interfere with your academic work, there will only be 10 workshop sessions spread throughout the year, commencing next quarter and ending in October. These workshops will not fall in exam preparation, exam writing, study break or vacation times and there are at least two weeks between each session, with up to 6 weeks between sessions during the holiday times. Once you have had the time to assess all these workshop details, I would appreciate it if you would let me know whether you intend to participate or not. If you are keen to take part, let me know which afternoons you have available for attending the workshops. Once I receive details of your availability, I will put the groups together and advise you as to the make up of your group and on which dates the workshops will take place. 6 Appendix 6: Workshop Research Consent Form Consent Form Project Title: The Research, Design and Development of an Undergraduate Creative Writing Programme and a Postgraduate Creative Writing-Teaching Course. Student: Pieter Oberholzer (0218420H). Contact Details: 0829021825 [email protected] Supervisor: Dr Pamela Nichols Contact Details: 7174136 [email protected] Degree: PhD thesis. Research Sample: Second, third and Honours-year students participating in the extra-curricular Creative Writing Workshops. Purpose of the Study: The PhD thesis is aimed at providing undergraduate creative writing modules and a programme based on a practical, teaching and learning foundation. Benefits of the Study: The benefits of this study relate to the identification of the practical processes and pedagogies necessary for the design and development of creative writing modules, which will enhance the teaching and learning of creative writing amongst undergraduate students and graduate students who wish to teach creative writing. Confidentiality: Although the students’ responses to the workshop processes and activities will be transcribed, interpreted and evaluated and will be used in the thesis, the identity of the student respondent will remain strictly confidential between the student respondent and the researcher. Consent 4. Your participation in the extra-curricular creative writing workshops is voluntary and you have the right to decline to participate at any time. 5. By signing in the space provided below you confirm your willingness to participate in the workshops and agree to your responses to the processes forming a part of the thesis study. Full Names __________________________________ Student No. ______________ Signature ___________________________________ Date ____________________ 6. You are entitled to a copy of this signed consent form and, on request, one will be provided to you. 7 Appendix 7: Student Profiles – Phase 1 2005 Benjamin Benjamin is a qualified technician in the computer industry, who, having worked in his native Dublin for a number of years, decided, once he turned 30 years of age that he wanted to study in a different field and experience new horizons. He travelled to Johannesburg and is studying English Literature and History as his major subjects, while spending his spare time exploring South Africa and teaching matric students at a school in Soweto as a way of contributing socially to his host society. Benjamin remembers himself as isolated during his childhood, while at school and describes how he would “write stories as a way of passing the time.” More recently, however, his writing has been confined to diary pieces and social commentary, because he has struggled to identify topics that he feels committed to writing about. His favourite authors are Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams and Nick Hornby. His heroes are the writers Roy and Terry Fisher, his role model is his father and his current locational inspirations Dublin and specifically Johannesburg, with its “contrasts and contradictions,” which Benjamin finds irritating and frustrating, as well as fascinating. Despite appearing to be a regular, committed diary and journal writer, Benjamin provided no journal entries during his participation in the workshop process. He also did not continue into the second workshop phase in 2006 due to academic work commitments and his determination to continue to contribute in some way and add social value during his stay in Johannesburg. Kathryn Kathryn is an English Literature and Media Studies major, who seems intent on entering the world of journalism, but she is still unsure of what she really wants to do with her life. She is in her early twenties and her desire to write and become a writer stems from her love of reading, the praise she received from teachers for her imaginative writing and the encouragement she received from her father. Kathryn’s home life was a disrupted one and she makes use of extensive diary-writing as an outlet for her tensions and frustrations. She describes her role models as being “strong and independent woman” and the writers she admires are Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath and Anne-Marie McDonald, whose book, Fall on Your Knees inspired her to be a writer more than any other book she has read. In terms of her writing surroundings, Kathryn prefers to write in solitude, whether outside or inside, her location must be secluded and ultimately she must be isolated. Most of her writing is done at night, when everyone else is asleep. Kathryn entered the workshop process with an ongoing, frustrating dialogue with herself about her own writing. This frustration stems from a persistent striving for perfection: I distance myself from my work, because I’m afraid of what other people might think. I have all these ideas for writing, they just won’t sit on the page. I want everything to be perfect. It’s so tempting just to tear the page up. Kathryn admits that she likes stories that “pull your heart out of your chest while it’s still beating,” and that she enjoys reading “spontaneous and honest writing,” but that her writing is exactly the opposite. During the workshop process Kathryn began to see her own writing as more of a place for self-expression than exposure. For her it was a “break-through moment” when she realised that all her frustration stemmed from her perfectionism and her own excessive criticism of her work. 8