Please note that this is an online workshop conducted via Zoom. Participants will be provided information on how to join the online sessions.
Jumpstarting Your Stories
Have you always been interested in writing fiction but don’t know where to start? Are you coming back to fiction writing for the first time in a while and looking for a refresher? This is a six-week, introductory online workshop for anyone interested in jumpstarting their fiction writing and getting the stories in their head onto the page. Each week, we’ll focus on a different, practical aspect of fiction writing—shaping a scene, evoking a setting, establishing character, nailing dialogue, approaches to revision and more. We’ll explore each topic through interactive craft discussions, writing prompts and readings of published short stories by authors like ZZ Packer, Karen Russell, George Saunders, Lauren Groff, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, and Jennifer Egan. All participants will have one of their own short stories workshopped by the group, receiving feedback from the instructor and their fellow writers about their writing strengths and how to build on them. At the end of the course, you will have at least one full story draft, a better sense of your voice and style, the beginnings of other new story ideas, and a toolkit of fiction fundamentals to support your writing moving forward.