This advanced discussion course is best suited to writers who have experience with the workshop model. Most of our time together will be devoted to workshopping student-generated fiction. In addition to reading assignments and in-class writing exercises, students will be expected to write and substantially revise two new short stories, and to provide thorough feedback on 3-4 peer submissions each week.
On craft days, we will read fiction by contemporary writers, including Shirley Jackson, Edward P. Jones, Zadie Smith, and others. We will approach this reading from a writer’s perspective, paying close attention to the techniques authors employ to keep us reading, to startle us with insight, to make us feel, and we’ll consider how to apply these techniques to our own work. We will revisit the elements of fiction—point of view, plot, setting, character, etc—discussing them in the context of both the assigned reading and peer submissions. Short writing exercises will help us explore the exhilarating subtleties of these elements and how the effects created by their manipulation or even outright absence power our most compelling fictions.
We will learn to think of revision as a process of discovery—very often, the real work of writing. By the end of the semester, writers will have written and revised two new stories, and expanded their understanding of the possibilities inherent in their fiction and the genre at large.
This course satisfies the following CURRENT English major/minor requirement: Identity & Difference
This course satisfies the following NEW English major/minor requirements: Foundations & Methods 300/400-level
***IMPORTANT*** This course is currently open to English Creative Writing Minors and English Creative Writing Capstone students. This course will open to all students who have completed or are currently enrolled in English 323 or 324 on Tuesday, April 11th. If you have taken this enforced prerequisite, you will be able to freely enroll in this course on Tuesday, April 11th. This course is closed to students who are not English Creative Writing Minors / in the English Creative Writing Capstone program until Tuesday, April 11th. You will not be able to enroll prior to this date.
Course Requirements:
Attendance and participation are essential to your success in this course. Students will write and revise two short stories over the course of the semester, and will be expected to submit peer critique letters for 3-4 stories per week. Grades will be based on effort, participation, and the quality of your attention to revision and peer critique. In lieu of a final exam, you’ll turn in a portfolio of polished, revised writing at the end of the semester.
Intended Audience:
This course is intended for students with significant workshop experience.