This is an online workshop that takes place via Zoom

This workshop is full. Please sign up on the waiting list here so you receive priority registration the next time this class is offered.

Reading Fiction Like a Writer

What lies beneath the surface of a short story? In this workshop, we’ll read like a writer. We will examine and discuss short stories with an eye on the blueprints beneath the prose. Each week, we’ll focus on a specific craft element—such as image, rhythm, metaphor, or narrative movement—for exploring how fiction works and what writers might choose to weave into the work. We’ll read with an eye toward technique: how writers build scenes, arrange sentences, and structure plot. Our goal is to develop a more deliberate, diagnostic reading practice—one that not only informs your writing voice, or your understanding of a writer’s ethos, but also sharpens your sense of the story being told.

We’ll treat stories as living ecosystems—made up of structure, language, image, character, and more. Every reading will be a chance to study how these elements collide and cohere, while also reflecting on your own interpretive instincts as a reader or writer. This workshop is about both discovering or returning to craft elements with fresh eyes to expand our understanding of what the short story form can do. Readings may include fiction by Louise Erdrich, Gabriel García Márquez, Michael Cunningham, and Elizabeth McCracken.