University of Central Florida Flash Nonfiction Against the Grain Discussion The required reading is : Flash Nonfiction: “Against the Grain” (2 chapters)—pp

University of Central Florida Flash Nonfiction Against the Grain Discussion The required reading is : Flash Nonfiction: “Against the Grain” (2 chapters)—pp. 157-169.

First assignment: Personal response to the video (500 words): Choose a quotation from this week’s video that impacted you in some way. Begin a journal entry with that quotation and write at least 500 words about your reaction to the quotation and the larger video. Consider the following questions about the video: What did you learn? What made you think in a new way about your life? What parts were especially motivating or scary or enlightening or surprising or disagreeable? In what way might you utilize something from the video in your own writing? What about the video did you like or dislike? (You don’t have to answer all these questions in the journal entry, but they should help get you started on a response.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYCKzpXEW6E

Second one: Craft Group prompts should be discussion starters that explore some specific quote from The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Nonfiction chapters assigned for this week. Be sure to

(1) introduce and include a quotation from the chapter, video, or podcast you’re discussing that exemplifies the craft element you want to explore.

(2) Tell us what you think about the quote, then

(3) ask an open-ended question that refers to it.

You’ll need all three elements to get full credit. These prompts should be ideas that get us started thinking and discussing. They should not be questions that can be answered with a fact or with a yes or no.

Example: In The Rose Metal Press Field Guild to Writing Flash Nonfiction, Dinty Moore writes, “The brief essay, in other words, needs to be hot from the first sentence, and the heat must remain the entire time.” He goes on to explain that “the heat might come from language, from image, from voice or point-of-view, from revelation or suspense, but there must always be a burning urgency of some sort, translating through each sentence, starting with the first.” All this heat is a daunting imperative, but I think it’s important for writers to get adept at finding the heat of their ideas and stories in order to write engaging prose. Where do you find heat in Lia Purpura’s essay “Augury,” which we had to read for this week? Does the heat come from more than one source?

The third one is : Perusall Critiques: After the Writing Assignment: Essay #2 drafts have been uploaded to Blackboard, I will move those drafts to a Perusall Group folder under “Library.” It used to be under “Documents,” but Perusall decided to change names midway through this course! (This is all accessible via Blackboard), and you will be responsible for critiquing each of your group’s essays, including at least two specific positive comments and two specific suggestions for improvements. Each post counts as ONE comment.