While discussing the Frederick Douglass essay, we noted that his narrative participates in the reflective mode, in which the writer offers a detailed account of a past experience, as well as observations about that experience’s greater significance.
I would like you to respond to Douglass’s reflective essay by writing one of your own. This is a relatively short and ungraded piece (you will simply receive “credit” or “no credit”), so feel free to stretch yourself a bit as a writer. Take this as your one and only opportunity to write creative non-fiction in this course.
To write this short essay of about 3 pages (double-spaced), you must:
-- choose an experience you feel is worth recounting
-- consider the larger significance of the experience—ideally, beyond your own, individual life
-- decide which details are worth relating to the reader, and which can be passed over quickly or omitted
-- write a first draft of the essay, concentrating your energies on getting it down on paper/onscreen
-- revise that draft, making sure you have firmly linked the particular experience you describe to the larger significance
-- edit for diction and sentence clarity
Due date: Thursday, 9/16, hard copy, in class
No comments:
Post a Comment