“But more than all of these experiences, this is what I will remember. Their stories. The online journal workshops. The English words of young Chinese students writing their first pieces of fiction in their second or third language. Teaching students in Arizona the craft of writing is difficult enough, for there are so many elements that need to coalesce to create a good story. But these native students have read many works of American literature and grown-up in an English speaking culture. To try and distill all of this to students who have very little access to Western, and particularly contemporary American, literature is significantly more challenging.”
–Clint Monson
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“As much as I hate to admit it, the lessons that I created for my classes each day were hardly enough preparation for the questions posed by my students: What is creative writing? What should I write about? What would I even have to say? Suddenly, my own education was on trial, and I was forced to examine everything that I had readily and without reservation accepted as fact. The truth is, as not just writers, but American writers, we are gifted with the often dismissed luxury of ego. From childhood, we are told that we are individually significant, that we should have something to say, and most importantly, that we should say it. Questions are encouraged, and individuality is expected. America, so often referred to as a "melting pot," has always been less a solution than a mixture—although we are a union of people working together, each of us strives to claim an identity and a voice all our own. These ideas, although becoming increasingly more accepted and valued within Chinese society, were still quite new and strange to my students."
–Leah Soderberg
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“When I first met my creative writing students, mostly juniors and seniors at Sichuan University who majored in English, their choice of foreign language, I was taken aback by the thought that my students had come expecting a formula for how to write fiction well. Of course, I knew only to rely on the basic requirements for writing the modern short story—character, plot, narrative arc, dialogue—for my lectures and for workshop. But what these rules and conventions sifted from the very best fiction fail to account is the magic inherent in storytelling. Yes, I was able to impart the practical considerations of fiction writing but magic was something that wasn’t teachable.”
–Paul Ocampo
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“The students we were lecturing to in the composition classes had maybe some experience with Ezra Pound, but most were only familiar with writers like Edgar Allan Poe. My initial idea was to work with the connection between Ezra Pound’s development of the image and Pound’s love/fascination with Chinese classical poetry, such as Du Fu (whose cottage existed in the Chengdu area—we even visited a museum/park dedicated to it). However, I found it more useful to start with the basics of sound, like alliteration and assonance, by using the first line from “The Raven.” From there, I was able to draw comparisons between how rhythm and meter were used in Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro.” So, while we weren’t quite prepared on arrival for the guest lecture responsibilities, it turned out to be a challenging, but intellectually rewarding experience.”
–Ryan Holden
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