Fiction Writing Workshop

Department - LART
Offered - Fall, Spring
Course number - LENG-335

This course focuses on the craft of composing fiction, including narrative design from the traditional to the experimental, point of view, voice, tension and resolution, character construction, and dialogue. We will also discover how student and professional writers catch and sustain their reader's attention. As models for creative writing, we will choose a small number of works by such authors as Jhumpa Lahiri, Raymond Carver, Alice Munro, Tim O'Brien, Ha Jin, Amy Tan, and Milan Kundera. Thinking as writers, not critics, we will read these stories as we read our own: with an eye and an ear tuned to the construction of imaginative stories people enjoy reading. However, the primary emphasis of this writer's workshop will be on shaping student's original short stories. The sessions will be highly interactive, including peer editing and regular small-group work. We will also explore the possibility of students publishing their stories in literary journals and eZines.

Credits: 3
Course Chair: Darla Hanley
Prerequisites: LENG-201
Required of: None
Electable by: All