Fundamentals of Fiction

This intensive, immersive course is designed for graduate-credit students with strong writing skills and an interest in becoming fiction writers but little formal experience, students who would like to develop a solid foundation in story and scene structure before embarking on an advanced fiction writing course. The first part of the course focuses on close analysis of the craft of fiction. Students read and discuss various short stories and essays by fiction writers about craft. Students then apply these techniques and methods to generate and shape an original short story or the first chapter of a novel (about 15 to 20 pages of fiction), which is workshopped in class.