CW 86 — Reading Like a Writer and Writing Like a Reader
Quarter: Fall
Instructor(s): Robert Anthony Siegel
Date(s): Sep 29—Oct 27
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Tuesdays
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 6:00—8:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $400
Refund Deadline: Oct 1
Unit(s): 1
Enrollment Limit: 30
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Fall
Day: Tuesdays
Duration: 5 weeks
Time: 6:00—8:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Sep 29—Oct 27
Unit(s): 1
Tuition: $400
Refund Deadline: Oct 1
Instructor(s): Robert Anthony Siegel
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Enrollment Limit: 30
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Close analytic reading is one of the best ways to improve your fiction. It sharpens your eye for the hidden moves beneath the surface of a story, giving you tools to apply to your own pages. Each week we'll discuss a single story in depth, followed by a brief craft talk highlighting elements of its construction. We’ll end with a generative writing exercise tied to the reading, which students may share. The five selected stories will vary in subject, theme, and style and together offer a crash course in core elements of fiction: scene, exposition, subtext, conflict, resolution, and narrative change. Students will gain insight into story structure and generate pieces that can stand alone or grow into future stories. Readings will include “Simple Recipes” by Madeleine Thien, “The Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Cafeteria in the Evening and a Pool in the Rain” by Yoko Ogawa, and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Gabriel García Márquez.
Students who have previously taken CW 86: "Reading Like a Writer and Writing Like a Reader" are welcome to join as the structure is the same, but the readings and exercises are new.
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, and The Paris Review and has been anthologized in The Best American Essays 2023. Siegel taught 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.