This intense, generative course is a workshop in the classical sense of woodworking or cobblery; our focus will be on craft, not critique.  

Every workshop member will turn in one-to-three-page story “chunks” which will ultimately be assembled into a 10-to-20-page short story. These chunks (typically scenes, but not always) may be linear or not; they may closely model the structure or techniques of one of our readings—or not.

Depending on class size, we will have micro-discussions of each person’s chunk, or at times we may do other types of creative response, during which the writer is not silenced and is free to ask for specific types of feedback. Each week, we'll “apprentice” with established ink-slingers by closely reading short stories that use different tools, styles, and building strategies, such as the list, reverse chronology, epistolary, comes to realize/fails to realize, second person, unreliable narrator, and others. We will also do some craft-based, in-class exercises. The instructor will have a private conference with each writer about their finished draft.

Trigger warning: Some readings may be visceral, disturbing, or violate the social contract.