"The value of any work of art owes much to the character and personality of the artist who created it. You need to learn the rules of writing fiction, not so that you can use them as formulae or crutches to produce safe, workmanlike stories, but so that mastering the craft of storytelling will liberate you from those rules."
—Peter Rubie,
The Elements of Storytelling
Read what students are saying about this class.
You may also want to check out the 6-week version of this course, the Accelerated Fundamentals of Fiction Writing workshop.
Writing fiction can be an exciting and enjoyable creative outlet—giving voice to the characters who fill your imagination. Putting your fantasies on paper can be a satisfying exercise in and of itself. But at some point, if you're really serious about your fiction, you'll need to acquaint yourself with the techniques generations of fiction writers have used to bring their characters and stories to life. The goal of this workshop is to provide you with an understanding of these fundamental techniques and to encourage—through the use of creativity exercises, hands-on writing assignments and constructive critical feedback—the development of your individual style and creative expression.
You don't have to decide yet whether your ultimate goal is a collection of short stories or The Great American Novel, because the focus in this workshop will be on the development of effective creative writing techniques that can be applied to any long or short fiction form. You'll learn how to develop believable characters and let them speak—and act—for themselves. You'll learn how to set the stage, and make readers feel as if they are right there with your characters. You'll learn the basics of plot—enough to prepare you to tackle any kind of fiction project. (If you're ready to start a specific project now, see our Focus on the Short Story or Focus on the Novel workshops.)
This workshop will consist of six two-week sessions. Each session will include online lectures and associated textbook reading assignments, along with writing assignments incorporating the techniques learned in the session, which you will submit to the instructor for private review at the end of the first week of the session. During the second week 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 and creativity exercises. (2.4 CEUs)
| Workshop length: |
Twelve Weeks |
| Textbook(s) to purchase: |
Fiction Writers Workshop (by Josip Novakovich, Story Press) |
| Course Developer: |
Raymond Obstfeld |
| Tuition: |
$350.00 |
Workshop Outline
Session One: Getting Started
Q&A to get you started; The role of setting in fiction; Setting description; How setting relates to plot; How setting relates to theme
Writing Assignment: A 500-word scene where setting is of primary importance.
Session Two: Character Building
Creating believable characters; External and internal "markers"; Drawing characters from life
Writing Assignment: "Profiles" of two characters, preferably in opposition to each other (maximum 250 words each).
Session Three: Characterization & Point of View
Characterization techniques: narrative, dialogue, action; Choosing—and maintaining—a point of view
Writing Assignment: Three characterization "studies" (preferably of one of the characters from Session Two), using each of the three characterization techniques discussed (maximum 250 words each).
Session Four: Dialogue
The function of dialogue in fiction; Writing realistic dialogue; Attribution; Voice; Dialect; General rules of dialogue usage
Writing Assignment: A 500-word first-person scene of dialogue (and related action) between two-three characters; The same scene, rewritten in limited third-person from a different character's viewpoint.
Session Five: Plot
What is Plot? Conflict; Units of plot; Scenes
Writing Assignment: Write a series of connected scenes, up to 2,000 words maximum, using the techniques described in this session.
Session Six: Polishing Your Prose
Drafts; The key to successful revisions
Writing Assignment: A complete short story, two to three short-short stories, or a novel chapter (maximum 3,000 words total).