I trust you are having fun writing your paper on writers and readers in popular culture. Once again, what I would like to see in this assignment is a broader consideration of what our culture is telling us about those who write books, and those who read them. Why do certain images or ideas prevail over others? With what consequence? Remember, you do not have to focus on any one author, nor do you have to focus on fictional depictions of writers or readers alone. You have a fair degree of flexibility in how you want to "people" your essay. Hopefully, Augusten's own life and work will give you some ideas as well.
I will look for three broad qualities when I read your papers: insightfulness, style, and professionalism (the last one simply means grammar and spelling, so please copy-edit before you submit!)
In our next class, we will discuss more about what it means to write books (before we get into what it means to publish books in the following weeks). We will consider the broader social and political implications of literacy and the distribution of cultural capital, writing as a popular aspiration, as well as some specific questions about the role of creative writing programs. We will also learn first-hand about a very unique writing support program, 826 Valencia, from its CEO.
Please take a look at the following articles listed on the side-bar of this blog for next Thursday's class: "MFA v NYC," "We ten million," "The first how-to book for fiction," "Stop writing them," and the excellent video clip about 826 posted earlier on the blog by Caroline.
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