"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."
—Maya Angelou
In the Extended version of this workshop, you will have more time to work on your reading and writing assignments. This is the ideal starting place for those whose busy lives don't allow for much writing time each week.
Once upon a time. . . a character faced a challenge and, against significant odds, achieved a goal. . . and lived happily ever after. . . or not. The deceptively simple structure of the story is so familiar to us as to be almost instinctive. But successful short story writers know there is much more here than meets the eye. The short story requires a sharply focused idea, finely rendered characters and tightly crafted prose to be effective.
In this workshop you will work with a published short story writer to develop and refine your story ideas. When you're finished, you will have written and revised two complete short stories (up to 4,500 words each). You will get feedback from your instructor on your first and second draft of both your stories.
This workshop will consist of seven four-week sessions. Each session will include online lectures and associated textbook reading assignments, along with a writing assignment drawn specifically from the work in progress, which will be submitted to the instructor for private review at the end of the second week of the session. During the third and fourth weeks of each session, work will be posted for group review and feedback. Throughout the workshop you will be able to participate in asynchronous lecture discussion and encouraged to take advantage of ongoing informal discussions and posted self-directed writing exercises. (2.8 CEUs)
| Workshop length: |
28 weeks |
| Textbook(s) to purchase: |
Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular (by Rust Hills; Houghton Mifflin)
|
| Course Developer: |
Will Allison |
| Tuition: |
$500.00 |
Workshop Outline
Session One: The Short Story as a Form
What makes a short story? What is "short"? What are the conventions of the short story form?
Writing Assignment: Narrative summaries of the two story ideas you'll develop during this workshop (maximum 250 words each).
Session Two: The Rough Draft
How are short stories composed? Why start with a rough draft? Character first
Writing Assignment: A complete rough draft (from beginning to end) of your first story idea (up to 4,500 words).
Session Three: Back to the Beginning
What makes a strong beginning? How do you know where to start?
Writing Assignment: Revise the beginning of your short story (up to 1,500 words, or roughly one-third).
Session Four: The Middle
The importance of pacing; How is information released? How do you balance internal and external action? Four common structural problems (and how to fix them)
Writing Assignment: Revise the middle one-third of your story (roughly the next 1,500 words).
Session Five: The Ending
What does the ending need to accomplish? Three common problems with endings (and how to avoid them)
Writing Assignment: Revise the final one-third of your story (roughly the last 1,500 words).
Session Six: Revision
The process of revision; How much is enough? What’s the difference between revising and polishing?
Writing Assignment: A complete rough draft (from beginning to end) of your second short story (up to 4,500 words).
Session Seven: Keep Writing
Workshop wrap-up
Writing Assignment: The complete final draft of your second story (up to 4,500 words).