FICT 82 — Plotting Outside the Box: Alternative Story Structures
Quarter: Spring
Instructor(s): Nina Schuyler
Date(s): Apr 1—Jun 3
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Tuesdays
Class Meeting Time: 6:30—8:30 pm (PT)
Tuition: $610
Refund Deadline: Apr 3
Unit(s): 2
Enrollment Limit: 22
Status: Registration opens Feb 24, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Spring
Day: Tuesdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 6:30—8:30 pm (PT)
Date(s): Apr 1—Jun 3
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $610
Refund Deadline: Apr 3
Instructor(s): Nina Schuyler
Enrollment Limit: 22
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Feb 24, 8:30 am (PT)
Most of us have been taught that the causal plot—with one thing causing another, ultimately leading to the protagonist’s transformation—is the only way to plot a story. But countless alternative plot structures exist to explore. What about plotting through argument, associatively, or lyrically? Deviating from the traditional plot structure provides another lens for organizing the world, which can feel not only fresh and original but also truer to experience. As Nicole Krauss writes in her novel Forest Dark about the traditional causal plot, sometimes the degree of artifice is greater than the degree of truth. We will look closely at nine alternative forms of plot structures: associative, episodic, expository, argumentative, discursive, thematic juxtaposition, symbolic juxtaposition, epistolary, and lyrical. Some of these structures don’t lead to character transformation. While the traditional plot precludes disorder, several of these alternative forms invite it in and revel in this energy. We’ll study stories that use these different structures by Stuart Dybek, Jenny Offill, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and others. To put our learning into practice, students will try each of these structures. The course will alternate between discussion of different plot structures and workshops of three to four students’ stories. Upon completion, you’ll better understand the vast panorama of possibilities available to you as a fiction writer.
NINA SCHUYLER
Author
Nina Schuyler has taught creative writing for nearly two decades. She was an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco. She is the author of In This Ravishing World, which won the W.S. Porter Prize and the Prism Prize for Climate Literature. Her novel Afterword won the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award for Literary and Science Fiction; The Translator received the Next Generation Indie Book Award for General Fiction and was a finalist for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing; and The Painting was a finalist for the Northern California Book Award. Her nonfiction book How to Write Stunning Sentences and her craft book Stunning Sentences: A Creative Writing Journal are Small Press Distribution bestsellers. Schuyler received an MFA in creative writing from SF State, a JD from Hastings, and a BA in economics from Stanford.Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.