Overview of Course

As Saul Bellow once said, “A writer is a reader moved to emulation,” and this craft-based workshop will prove just that. Intermediate Creative Writing: Fiction will focus on developing student writing in relation to reading. Each student will submit two original pieces, either as short stories or novel excerpts, and be expected to provide timely feedback to their classmates’ work as well. Generative lessons will focus on crafting openings, establishing setting, infusing musicality, defining genre, recognizing tonality, finding voice, and more. Readings will span in era, genre, and style, from an international array of writers, many of which represent countries along our route. Students will also lead a lecture based on a writer of their choosing. With an emphasis on drafting and revision, this semester will culminate in revised portfolios of material created in class and discussions on the next steps in becoming living writers. Above all, our goal will be to write in pursuit of originality; inhabiting characters, spaces, and places that confront our expectations of reality—and to grow together, both on and off the page.