This is an immersion course: for ten weeks, we will soak ourselves in the short story form. Warning: your fingers will get pruny. We’ll be reading as many short stories as we can; some we’ll love, and some we’ll hate. We’ll discover how to create vivid characters, settings, and scenes. We’ll learn the importance of plot, the pros and cons of each point of view, and how to write convincing dialogue. We’ll also experience the “writing workshop,” in which we read and critique each other’s work. Perhaps most importantly, we will learn how to critique and revise our own. At the end of the quarter, everyone will hand in twenty pages of revised writing, including at least one short story. If this appeals to you, then sign up and dive in!

Janet Burroway and Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft, 7th ed.

ISBN: 0-321-27736-8

Also, a course packet.