In this class, we will read, write, and workshop short stories. Each week writers will submit stories to the instructor and fellow writers, who will carefully read and prepare written responses to the work. The goal of the workshop will be to provide strategies for revision, so by the end of class, not only will you have written a couple of stories, but you will have read, considered, and, in effect, rewritten your classmates' stories as well. As a result, you will become a better writer by becoming a more astute and thoughtful reader. In addition, we will read classics from writers old, such as Flannery O' Connor, and new, such as Sam Lipsyte, to name but two, and place particular emphasis on those unlikely moments in stories where our disbelief goes out the window, and we are left transported, thinking, "That was amazing." We will touch on the hows of these mysteries and more, with an aim to write our own.
Recommended text: The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, edited by Tobias Woolf. Handouts will also be provided.
919.317.01 Homewood campus
Thursdays, March 5 through April 30, 6:45 to 8:45 p.m. (no class April 9)
Cost: $280; eight sessions
JHU full-time faculty/staff are eligible for 80% tuition remission. You will be unable to register online and receive the discount. Contact 410-516-8516 for registration information.
