CW 86 — Reading Like a Writer and Writing Like a Reader
Quarter: Winter
Instructor(s): Robert Anthony Siegel
Date(s): Feb 10—Mar 10
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Tuesdays
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 6:00—8:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $385
Refund Deadline: Feb 12
Unit(s): 1
Enrollment Limit: 25
Status: Registration opens Dec 1, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Winter
Day: Tuesdays
Duration: 5 weeks
Time: 6:00—8:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Feb 10—Mar 10
Unit(s): 1
Tuition: $385
Refund Deadline: Feb 12
Instructor(s): Robert Anthony Siegel
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Enrollment Limit: 25
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Dec 1, 8:30 am (PT)
Close analytic reading of great short stories is one of the best ways for students to improve their own fiction writing. Each week in this course, we’ll meet online to talk about a single short story. Class begins with discussion, then moves to a brief craft talk highlighting the story’s construction. We’ll end with an in-class writing exercise keyed to the reading, which students are encouraged to share with the group.
The five selected stories are all different in subject matter, theme, and style but together offer a crash course in the basic elements of fiction: scene, exposition, subtext, conflict, resolution, and narrative change. Each has something distinct to teach us. For instance, by closely reading “Likes” by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, students will learn about the masterful use of objects in storytelling. In “The Lazy River” by Zadie Smith, we’ll study an essayistic piece of short fiction, while “Gold Boy, Emerald Girl” by Yiyun Li exemplifies the effectiveness of building character slowly. Students will gain insights into story construction and compose five short in-class writing exercises that can evolve into future stories.
The five selected stories are all different in subject matter, theme, and style but together offer a crash course in the basic elements of fiction: scene, exposition, subtext, conflict, resolution, and narrative change. Each has something distinct to teach us. For instance, by closely reading “Likes” by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, students will learn about the masterful use of objects in storytelling. In “The Lazy River” by Zadie Smith, we’ll study an essayistic piece of short fiction, while “Gold Boy, Emerald Girl” by Yiyun Li exemplifies the effectiveness of building character slowly. Students will gain insights into story construction and compose five short in-class writing exercises that can evolve into future stories.
ROBERT ANTHONY SIEGEL
Author and Writing Coach
Robert Anthony Siegel is the author of a memoir, Criminals, and two novels, All Will Be Revealed and All the Money in the World. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian Magazine, The Paris Review, The Drift, Oxford American, and Ploughshares and has been anthologized in The Best American Essays 2023, The O. Henry Prize Stories 2014, and Pushcart Prize XXXVI. Siegel taught in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington for 22 years and is an independent writing coach. He received an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.