This is an in-person workshop that takes place at Inprint House

Fiction from Fairy Tales: A Generative Workshop

The dark and dangerous woods. The beast under the bridge. The withered old lady, really a powerful witch, who grants wishes when treated well, or wreaks havoc when treated poorly. Fairy tales are often the first stories we learn as children and their structure, their characters, and their tropes inform our understanding of how fiction works. For centuries, writers have used fairy tales as inspiration for stories, novels, and plays. Contemporary authors like Karen Russell and Olga Tokarczuk often play with our knowledge of folktales and fairy tales in beautiful, strange, unexpected ways.

Using short stories such as “The Devourings” by Aimee Bender and “The Trespasser” by Bonnie Jo Campbell, we will examine ways we can use fairy tales as inspiration for our own writing and discuss elements of the craft of fiction we can derive from these stories. Each week, we will work on generative exercises based on class discussions. The exercises combined are meant to lead to a complete rough draft of a new story.

All styles and genres are welcome. We will read from our exercises each week and provide each other oral feedback. The class will also receive copies of craft essays and short stories for optional further reading.