Intermediate Fiction Writing

Course Objectives

• Identify the elements necessary to make a wide range of short stories successful.
• Convey through diagrams and explanations what makes a particular story successful.
• Use what you have learned—including the complex and unconventional choices authors make about plot, setting, point of view, etc.—in your own rough drafts.
• Learn to give and receive good feedback based on the craft elements you have learned, a skill essential to taking your writing to the next level.

What You Learn

• The shape of fiction
• Dialogue
• Pacing
• Shapes and patterns
• The pitch
• Storytelling
• Character, climax and the moral center
• Point of view
• Story diagram
• Revision
• Manuscripts and feedback

How You Learn

• Lectures/modules
• Reading assignments
• Videos
• Writing assignments
• Discussion participation
• Writers’ workshop
• Final manuscript

Is This Course for Me?

This course is a natural next step in honing your writing skills, if you have already completed Introduction to Writing Fiction ENGLISH X464 or the equivalent. Lectures and in-class exercises focus on the short story; however, if you are primarily interested in working on a novel, you can still benefit greatly.