How Does Fiction Work?
What makes literary fiction different from a fictional movie or a play? What is asked of you as a reader while you’re reading? What is backstory and where is it embedded in the story? What is story structure? How do characters drive a plot?

Students will read short stories, watch films and/or plays adapted from short stories to see how people working in different genres “read” fiction.

Readings will include the following: James Joyce, Tobias Wolfe, Raymond Carver, David Mamet, Lorrie Moore, Joyce Carol Oates, Hisaye Yamamoto, Al Young, Ishmael Reed, and others.