FICT 97 — Short Story Workshop: Five Stories in Five Weeks
Quarter: Spring
Instructor(s): Georgina Beaty
Date(s): Apr 9—May 7
Class Recording Available: No
Class Meeting Day: Tuesdays
Class Meeting Time: 6:30—9:20 pm (PT)
Tuition: $470
Refund Deadline: Apr 11
Unit(s): 1
Enrollment Limit: 21
Status: Closed
Quarter: Spring
Day: Tuesdays
Duration: 5 weeks
Time: 6:30—9:20 pm (PT)
Date(s): Apr 9—May 7
Unit(s): 1
Tuition: $470
Refund Deadline: Apr 11
Instructor(s): Georgina Beaty
Enrollment Limit: 21
Recording Available: No
Status: Closed
This course imparts the skills, strategies, and support to help you write a brand-new story of up to 500 words per week while experimenting with approaches to form, reading examples by published writers, and giving you five shots to come up with playful and innovative new pieces of fiction.
For inspiration, we will examine masters of the short form, including Julio Cortázar, Jamil Jan Kochai, Etgar Keret, Sterling HolyWhiteMountain, and Souvankham Thammavongsa, to learn how they achieve their varied effects. We’ll read from a writer’s perspective, looking at structure, escalation, the movement of time, character, and perspective. You will then apply that learning to your writing, both with in-class exercises and your weekly writing outside of class.
Writing assignments will focus on different “ways in” to writing: observation, voice, memory, and “real life,” leading up to your final (fifth!) story as an opportunity to synthesize the learning and follow your writerly curiosity. Your short pieces will be workshopped and discussed in small groups so that you can receive feedback. The course will be a dynamic and supportive space that invites experimentation and nurtures growth, leaving you with a portfolio of five new stories.
For inspiration, we will examine masters of the short form, including Julio Cortázar, Jamil Jan Kochai, Etgar Keret, Sterling HolyWhiteMountain, and Souvankham Thammavongsa, to learn how they achieve their varied effects. We’ll read from a writer’s perspective, looking at structure, escalation, the movement of time, character, and perspective. You will then apply that learning to your writing, both with in-class exercises and your weekly writing outside of class.
Writing assignments will focus on different “ways in” to writing: observation, voice, memory, and “real life,” leading up to your final (fifth!) story as an opportunity to synthesize the learning and follow your writerly curiosity. Your short pieces will be workshopped and discussed in small groups so that you can receive feedback. The course will be a dynamic and supportive space that invites experimentation and nurtures growth, leaving you with a portfolio of five new stories.
GEORGINA BEATY
Jones Lecturer in Creative Writing; Former Stegner Fellow, Stanford
Georgina Beaty is the author of the short story collection The Party Is Here. Her fiction has appeared in New England Review, The Walrus, The New Quarterly, The Fiddlehead, PRISM international, and elsewhere. As an actor and playwright, she’s worked with theaters across Canada and internationally. A recent Stegner Fellow in fiction, she received an MFA from the University of British Columbia and is a graduate of the Norman Jewison screenwriting intensive at the Canadian Film Centre. Beaty has received fiction residencies at MacDowell, Jentel, and the Banff Centre. She is at work on her debut novel. Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.