CMN117

Weekly structure: $50$ -minute block → $10$ -minute break → another $50$ -minute block.
• Alternative offered: work straight through and finish about “twenty-two” (≈ $2{:}20$ p.m.).
Entire semester runs for $12$ weeks.
Students are free to slip outside for water/air at any time, especially because of the heat.

Divided into three parts.
Core purpose: show that you can…
• Understand a chosen genre.
• Write for a real-world reader/market rather than only for personal experimentation.
• Demonstrate knowledge of standard tropes, techniques, expectations, and aesthetics.
Encouraged to tackle a genre you dislike or have never tried—good practice and often pleasantly surprising.

Education major → likes manga/graphic novels (faster to read).
Ruby Winell: double major creative writing/history; loves fantasy.
Eli Roche: Bachelor of Creative Industries (creative production + “playing with genre”); favourite = hard sci-fi (e.g.
Greg Egan).
Andrew Ross: enjoys fantasy, thriller, mysteries.
Bryce Kelly: sci-fi fan (Ted Chiang short stories) + heavy recent diet of historical non-fiction (Master and Commander era). Wants to write in that blended space.
Jenna Nicholsholt: sci-fi & historical non-fiction.
Mia Painter: Psychology major (elective); enjoys thrillers.
Oliver Hoeksema: Arts (creative writing & drama); favourite = psychological thriller.
Lecturer also flags separate “graphic/illustrated book” course for those interested.

Pronunciation debate: “ˈʒɒn-rə” (French-leaning) vs. Anglicised “john-rah.”
Working definition offered in class discussion:
• A set of expectations about aesthetic, conventions, tropes, and reader experience.
• Example given: fantasy + adventure often carry the hero’s journey and medieval flavour.

Central pleasure: figuring out the story alongside the protagonist; detective-like engagement.
Often alternates timelines (past/present) to fuel suspense.
Page-turner effect: reader worries they “missed something,” keeps flipping pages.
Not necessarily gory (example author: Lisa Chu).

Emotional interiority from page one—reader “inside the character’s head.”
Spectrum from formulaic HEA (Happy Ever After) to “brutally real” heartbreak endings.
Typical tropes: protagonist usually female; male POV romance is rarer; power-position love interests; wardrobe details in early paragraphs.
Mentioned contemporary author: Colleen Hoover—popular but predictable for some readers.

Settings such as Master and Commander (Napoleonic naval life).
Readers expect factual grounding, period language, and real geopolitical backdrops.

Lecturer projected random blurbs (covers hidden).
Students deduced genre clues:
• Historical epic → references to “rise of empires,” legendary artifacts.
• Literary fiction vs. romance → presence of clothing description and introspective tone.
• Crime sample → immediate gunshot, investigation, missing boy, terse prose.
• Fantasy sample → archaic diction, prologue-style scene-setting, hint of epic quest.
Purpose: train eye for signal words, settings, stakes, character archetypes.

Task: write one paragraph that instantly signals a chosen (or unfamiliar) genre.
Suggested to try Western, horror, crime, etc.
Required elements:
• Clear conventions.
• Implicit promise of genre-specific plot/atmosphere.
• Marketability—“sell your book in the first paragraph.”
Peer readings included:
• Cliché-leaning but effective crime opening.
• LA-noir internal-monologue (“oxygen leaks from holes burned through my lungs”).
• High-fantasy chase with griffin, nymph-stolen horse, enchanted rope, silver sword.
• Urban-fantasy nightmare sequence with lightning, screaming alleys, sudden calm.

Balance dialogue vs. description: Too much → script-like; too little → unnatural pacing.
Replace “he gasped” tags by showing physiological/emotional states.
Worldbuilding: weave details through action; avoid $30$ -page lore dumps.
Action openings (esp. crime) vs. slower atmospheric openings (fantasy) — each valid but must match genre promise.
Small sensory hint early in horror/thriller “normal” chapter can foreshadow later chaos (preferred by some readers).

Student had stalled reading Frank Herbert’s Dune Messiah but loved the film adaptation; cinematic spectacle sometimes eclipses dense prose.
Discussion on how movies drop introspection yet add visual “wow” factor → genre expectations shift across media.
Franchise note: Herbert wrote $7$ books; ultimate protagonist may be Paul’s son, so first films are only setup.
Speculation that the studio may stop after next film rather than adapt entire saga.

Crime: “dead body within first chapter” rule.
If your setting is contemporary but you need a slight medieval feel, sprinkle archaic vocabulary (scabbard, squire, rampart).
Always anchor reader quickly:
$\text{setting} + \text{stakes} + \text{character voice} \Rightarrow \text{immediate genre recognition}$
Trying new genres enhances versatility; may reveal unexpected passions.

Writing “for the market” vs. pure artistic impulse — class leans on responsibility to reader expectations.
When deploying tropes, be conscious of avoiding lazy stereotypes; use conventions as scaffolding, not as crutches.

Graphic/illustrated writing course cross-referenced for students interested in visual storytelling.
Notion of “hero’s journey” ties back to foundational narrative theory (Campbell, Vogler) likely covered in earlier lectures.

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