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Assignment 3 Flash Creative Nonfiction

The assignment requires students to write a piece of flash Creative Nonfiction (CNF) between 500-800 words, due on February 25th, with a draft due for workshop on February 11th. The grading criteria emphasize literary style, significance of stakes, structure, theme, and writing mechanics. Students are encouraged to choose topics they are comfortable sharing, ensuring their work is personal yet suitable for peer review.

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8 views

Assignment 3 Flash Creative Nonfiction

The assignment requires students to write a piece of flash Creative Nonfiction (CNF) between 500-800 words, due on February 25th, with a draft due for workshop on February 11th. The grading criteria emphasize literary style, significance of stakes, structure, theme, and writing mechanics. Students are encouraged to choose topics they are comfortable sharing, ensuring their work is personal yet suitable for peer review.

Uploaded by

alijafar8192005
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Writing 1000: The Writers’ Studio

Assignment 3: Flash Creative Nonfiction


Length: 500-800 words (do not exceed the word count)
Due: Final Draft in Week 7 (Tuesday February 25th)
Value: 15%

Write a piece of flash Creative Nonfiction (CNF) on a topic of your choosing; you can use the
Week 5 writing prompts to get you started (see lecture slides). The same instructions about
scope from the Flash Fiction assignment apply to this one: although this is a short piece of
writing, it needs to create a complete experience for the reader. If you feel like you are only
scratching the surface of your subject, then consider narrowing your focus or choosing a
different topic altogether.

**You are required to bring a draft of your Flash Creative Nonfiction Assignment
to the Week 6 workshop (Tuesday February 11th). If you fail to do this, you will
receive a 10% penalty on your final draft submission.

Grading Criteria/Rubric for Flash Creative Nonfiction:


1. Literary style: Creative Nonfiction (CNF) uses all the tools of literary writing. In telling
a true story, your piece should still develop concrete imagery, setting, character, scene,
metaphor, etc. While CNF almost always includes some self-reflection, your piece should
SHOW before it TELLS. Through your writing, allow readers to experience what you did,
including a sense of discovery and surprise.
2. Stakes/Significance: Remember that CNF should not be a journal entry, an anecdote,
or an uncritical outpouring of emotion; avoid long passages that simply describe feelings.
There should be clear stakes. What could have been won or lost? Even if your tone is
humorous, pick a topic that had a significant impact on you.
3. Structure: Your piece can use a traditional linear narrative approach (beginning,
middle, end), but you can also experiment with nonlinear timelines and structure. If your
piece uses a less conventional structure, make sure that it still feels complete (and that
the structure fits/enhances the content).
4. Theme/subtext: Although readers often come to CNF to learn from the experience of
others, you should resist ending your piece with a moral or lesson. If you focus on
exploring the experience instead of teaching a lesson, you will produce a piece that is
more complex, more sophisticated, and, in the end, more powerful than one that wraps
up with a tidy moral or lesson. Try to convey theme through subtext.
5. Writing style/mechanics. Does your prose use fresh language and avoid clichés? Is
the writing free from typos, grammar errors, and punctuation issues?

IMPORTANT: Although CNF is personal, you are under no obligation to share experiences that
you are not comfortable sharing. Remember that your piece will be workshopped by your peers
and read/graded by your instructor. Choose your subject-matter accordingly, and only write
about experiences that you are comfortable sharing with the class and your instructor.

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