THE SHORT STORY FICT 127 W. Valerie Brelinski. Stanford University Online Writer s Studio. Spring 2012

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1 THE SHORT STORY FICT 127 W Valerie Brelinski Stanford University Online Writer s Studio Spring 2012 Course Description This course will focus on the skills, processes, and techniques essential to the short story. As we study the craft of short fiction, we will observe and analyze (and perhaps emulate) the ways in which such authors as Denis Johnson, Alice Munro, Mark Richard, and Wells Tower have attempted to illuminate both the worlds they are writing about and our own. We will look at the short story s compression of time and space and its supposed moment of revelation that contains within it (as Wallace Stegner says) the whole of the world. We will become expert readers, ever-improving literary analysts, and beginning writers. We will try our hands at producing a short story of our own, and we will come to know the joys and sorrows (as every writer should!) of the writing workshop. This course is appropriate for writers of all experience levels. Required Reading Our primary text -- Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft (8 th Edition) by Janet Burroway ISBN-10: Craft/dp/ /ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=8-1 I will also post weekly short stories (or links to them) online. How This All Works Each week will begin with an introductory craft talk that you ll find in the Schedule section. To enrich and expand this discussion, I may occasionally attach short readings on craft from some of my favorite writers and teachers of writing, and I will ask you to read a pertinent chapter from our main text, Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft. I will also assign short stories for you to read that highlight and illustrate the particular skill we are working on during that week. You ll find these listed/linked to under This Week s Reading. Under Topics for Discussion I will pose a couple of questions based on the readings to help you think through how the craft techniques are actually being used in published fiction and how you can use them in your own writing. Under Writing Assignments, you ll find several different revision and honing exercises designed to allow you to focus on an aspect of your fiction. Our group conversation begins when you post your musings and discoveries in the Discussion Forum. The Forum is a bulletin board where all the action happens. Here, we ll have ongoing conversations about your work, the stories we read together, and different fiction topics. This is where you ll post your work, and where our workshop will take place. Workshops In this course, everyone s primary responsibility will be writing one complete short story of approximately 15 pages (double-spaced), and commenting on the writing of other students. We will divide into two groups beginning week 6, and you will be responsible for reading and

2 commenting on two workshop submissions each week. When you are workshopped, you will receive a detailed letter of response from each member of the workshop, and from me. We will all look at 1) details that matter, 2) characterization, 3) dialogue, 4) setting, 5) plot, 6) point of view and 7) theme, and offer you feedback and guidance to direct you forward in your writing. All students will be able to view these letters of response, and all members of the class will be able (and encouraged) to post responses to each other s comments. Workshop Feedback Becoming a good reader is an important part in your development as a writer. Learning how to identify the strengths and weaknesses in others fiction will help you recognize the strengths and weaknesses in your own. When I m critiquing someone s work, I like to read the piece twice the first time through, I read for pleasure and an overall sense of the work. The second time through, I know enough to begin asking questions and paying attention to specific issues. Besides commenting on the issues I ve described above, I d like you to describe what makes the chapter or chapters memorable; articulate its underlying ideas; and finally make specific suggestions for revision. Remember: your job isn t to tell the writer to write a different story; rather, by using the power of your imagination, you should attempt to describe what the story could be in its best incarnation and then provide detailed suggestions for how the writer could realize the best incarnation of her project. Be kind. Be generous. Read another s work as you would like your own work to be read. Don t shy away from making suggestions. (Being too nice is its own kind of irresponsible workshop behavior) Comment with an eye towards helping another writer write the best short story possible. Barbara Kingsolver once said that the wonderful thing about being a writer is that everyone can win! It s not like running a marathon where only one person breaks the tape at the finish line. Weekly Reading Reflections Reading is a fundamental part of a writer s training. Writers love to read, and they engage in the act of reading just as anyone with an appreciation for the written word does. They read to find out what happens next and why. They read to lose themselves in imaginary worlds. They read to understand characters they d never encounter in their real lives or to become more intimate with those who seem as familiar as family and friends. They read to make discoveries about themselves and new situations. They read to feel. At the same time, writers read as writers, paying close attention to the architecture of the text. We, writers, read to understand the choices that another writer has made to produce certain effects. We might ask: Why does the opening of this work make me feel so sad? What makes this unsympathetic character likable? How is time handled in this story? Writers -- as readers -- love language and often find themselves weeping over an unexpected yet perfect adjective, waxing poetic about a sentence s strange syntax, or cursing a conjunction. This course asks you to practice reading as a writer, since this will ultimately strengthen your own writing. You will be encouraged to bring together your emotional side (How does this make me feel?) with your analytical side (What formal choices has the writer made that could explain the way I m feeling?). Each week, I ll post a couple of questions for you to reflect on. I highly encourage you to jump in to these discussions. As you know, discussions are always more interesting when more people participate and there s a wide range of opinions. Weekly Writing Exercises The weekly writing exercises are designed to allow you to practice the techniques we re discussing, to step back and think critically about your short fiction, and/or to allow you focus on a specific element of your current story. I d like you to complete as many of the weekly assignments as you can. Writing routinely (and not just when that overrated deity, inspiration,

3 strikes) is something that successful writers do, and the weekly assignments give you permission to write regularly. My commentary I will comment briefly on your short weekly exercises, and much more extensively on your workshopped stories. I post these responses in the forum where anyone can read them. This is because, in a live course, I d be making many of the comments during class discussions so that everyone benefited from them. Although we aren t sharing the same physical space, you should think of Forum and the discussion threads as a place to interact with each other. After posting your critique, you may read someone else s and find yourself wanting to elaborate on his or her comments or offering a different perspective. I will also read your comments to one another and pipe in when I have something to add. These discussions will be as lively as you make them. Honing your skills as a reader is a good way to improve your own writing. You are, after all, the first (and probably most obsessive) reader of your own work. My online presence I ll be online and actively responding to new posts in the classroom three days a week. Typically I do this on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, although it can vary depending on other obligations, holidays, etc... I also check my about once a day, and respond as promptly as I can. The beauty of an online class is that we can all do our work when our schedules permit; we don't have to be working simultaneously. So log on when it's convenient for you, morning or night, weekday or weekend. Just keep in mind that at the end of the week, on Sunday night, we move into a new week in the forum. If you are late with an assignment and you want to receive feedback, don't post it in the "expired" week or you run the risk of no one seeing it. Post it in the new week. I do one last sweep every Monday, to read and respond to posts that came in over the weekend. But after that I move on to the new week. Your Involvement The fabulous thing about the online writers studio is that it brings together like-minded people from all over the United States and, increasingly, the world. (No, Stanford is not paying me extra to say this.) You ll get to know doctors and school teachers, commodities traders and Jungian analysts, all of whom share a passion for the written word. This is your class. I m the guide, yes, but the quality of our discussions will depend upon your engagement, insightfulness, and good humor. This course will be as good as you (and you and you and you and you and you.) give. So, please participate fully and generously in discussions. Read your classmates work with a keen eye and a sense of possibility. And please, let me know if there s anything I can do to make this a better experience for you. I welcome suggestions, detours, and even shortcuts on gravel roads. If there s something you want to discuss, let me know. If there s an assignment that you think would work in this class, tell me. This is your class. One more note: writing workshops are built on trust. I think this is even truer in online workshops where we re not all sitting together in the same room. To build this trust, it s important that we all agree that the work you present here stays within the workshop. If you love someone s piece and want to share it with your husband/wife/best friend/crazy cousin, ask the writer first. Chances are, she (or he) will swoon with pleasure and after recovering with the help of smelling salts, give you the go ahead. But please first get permission. The weekly schedule This is how a typical week will break down in this course:

4 Every Friday afternoon I will post new Forum threads for the coming week, and send out your weekly letting you know a bit about what to expect for the next seven days, any changes to the syllabus, etc... Every Tuesday (by midnight PST), your weekly discussion question responses will be due. Every Wednesday in weeks 1-6, I will be holding virtual office hours from 12:30-1:30 p.m., PST, in the chat room. Once we begin workshopping, I will switch from group office hours to one-on-one conferences with each of you after your workshop. Every Thursday (by midnight PST), your weekly writing exercises will be due. -Once workshop begins, each person s piece will be up for a week. I will post the pieces for the coming week on Friday, along with any discussion question threads. Your responses to the authors will be due the following Sunday (by midnight PST). A Final Important Note Although many students take online courses with the absolute best intentions of doing every last assignment, "real life"--family, illness, professional deadlines--often has a way of making that impossible. Sometimes, the frustration this causes prompts students to drop completely out of the class. Rather than adopting an "all-or-nothing" approach to your participation in this course, I recommend simply doing what you can, when you can. If there are a few weeks where you don't get to the reading, fine. If you have to skip a couple exercises, this is also okay. As long as you're continuing to work on your full-length piece and commenting on your classmates' submissions, you'll be fine. And remember, while a 15 page short story is the goal, I would rather see you write 10 strong and inspired pages of a completed story than 30 dashed off ones. if you DO have to take a couple of weeks completely away from the class, you can always come back! "The door is always open," as they say. Grading For those of you who are taking this course for a grade, the breakdown is as follows. Please note that you can change your grading status at any point before the final class meeting (Friday of the last week of class) by contacting the Stanford Continuing Studies department. Writing Exercises: 20% Workshop Submissions: 40% Participation: 40% Schedule Title for Week One: Getting Started Week One: To Read This Week Chapter 1 in Writing Fiction (Burroway s story examples are optional) Boys by Rick Moody Lust by Susan Minot Week One: Writing Assignment Make a list of all the things that keep you from writing. Be honest. And specific. Week One: Discussion Points --Susan Minot and Rick Moody obviously used list-making as a way in to jumpstart the storywriting process. Other writers have utilized this tool as well. Tim O Brien s The Things They Carried and Stuart Dybek s We Didn t obviously began as lists. --What is it that transforms a list into a story? Use Minot s and Moody s stories as examples.

5 Title for Week Two: Seeing Is Believing Week Two: To Read This Week Chapter 2 in Writing Fiction (Burroway s story examples are optional) Evacuation Order #19 by Julie Otsuka Week Two: Writing Assignment Think about a time when you were decidedly embarrassed (most of us won t have to think back very far). Remember what was taking place and how you felt about what was occurring. Now, recreate this scene in writing without using the word embarrassment or shame or any synonym thereof. Simply place a character into this situation and let it unfold without telling us how this character is feeling; instead, show us his or her response(s). Week Two: Discussion Points --Otsuka s story does a great deal of showing, much more even than most stories. Why do you think she felt this was particularly necessary? --In your opinion, which abstract concepts does Otsuka show most vividly/creatively? --Which of her techniques would you like to swipe for your own writer s toolkit? Title for Week Three: Creating Characters That Matter Week Three: To Read This Week Chapter 3 in Writing Fiction ( Gryphon is especially good) Memorial Day by Mark Richard Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower Week Three: Writing Assignment Choose a character to write about. Now, have that character walk into a convenience store and purchase some items. Let us, as readers, watch and listen. Let us find this character interesting, believable and worth caring about because of what he looks like, what he does, and what he says. Put this scene in third person. Let the scene be as long as it needs in order to fully reveal this particular character. Week Three: Discussion Points --Mark Richard takes on the especially daunting task of creating Death as a character. How does he go about making Death believable, interesting, and worth caring about? --How well does Wells Tower succeed in getting us to care about and identify with his unlikely and unlovable characters? Title for Week Four: Characters, Part Deux Week Four: To Read This Week Chapter 4 in Writing Fiction (story examples optional) Sea Oak by George Saunders Week Four: Writing Assignment Characters whose insides (thoughts, dreams, feelings, opinions, etc.) are in conflict with their outsides (actions, speech, appearance, etc.) can be made to seem pitiful, despicable, foolish, and sometimes strangely brave or wonderful. Decide ahead of time how you want your reader to feel about your character. Now create a few scenes (as many as it takes) in which we come to that understanding of your character via conflicting characterization. Week Four: Discussion Points --In Sea Oak what are the three best examples of direct characterization coming into conflict with indirect characterization? --Which character reveals the largest disconnect between internal reality and external? Why? Title for Week Five: A Place To Hang Your Story s Hat Week Five: To Read This Week Chapter 5 in Writing Fiction Travis, B. by Maile Meloy Charity by Mark Richard Week Five: Writing Assignments

6 Introduce a couple of characters into your Laundry Room setting and use the conflict inherent in its strangeness as a starting point for action and dialogue. Week Five: Discussion Points --How do Meloy and Richard use setting to their own writerly advantage? --Are their characters products of their own environments, or do they act in opposition to them? Title for Week Six: Bending Time To Your Will Week Six: To Read This Week Chapter 6 in Writing Fiction (plus Carver s story) Incarnations of Burned Children by David Foster Wallace Zog-19 by Pinckney Benedict Week Six: Writing Assignments 1. Turn D.F. Wallace s story into complete summary. 2. If you were to turn your current day s activities into a story which of today s events should be in scene and which should be in summary? 3. Complete Writing Exercise #3 on page 257 in Writing Fiction Week Six: Discussion Points --How do Carver s and Wallace s choices in the manipulation of time affect the stories they are telling? Why? --Benedict breaks every possible short story writing rule about the use of time (and space!) in his story. How does he get away with this? Title for Week Seven: Plotting Week Seven: To Read This Week Chapter 7 in Writing Fiction The Baker s Wife by Sara Powers The Paperhanger by William Gay Week Seven: Writing Assignment Complete Writing Exercise # 3 on page 293 in Writing Fiction (notice how closely this aligns with this week s two short stories) Week Seven: Discussion Points --Do our two short stories follow the Desire + Danger = Drama formula? If so, how so? And if not, how not? --Look up/google the phrase Triangulation of Desire. How does this concept have anything to do with this week s stories? Title for Week Eight: Point Of View Week Eight: To Read This Week Chapter 8 in Writing Fiction (story examples optional) Ranch Girl by Maile Meloy White Angel by Michael Cunningham Week Eight: Writing Assignment Complete Writing Exercise # 5 from page 334 of Writing Fiction Week Eight: Discussion Points --When you write, which point of view feels most comfortable to you? Do you naturally start writing from one particular POV? If so, why? --Why do you suppose Meloy chose the 2nd person POV? What are its advantages in this particular story? Wouldn t 1st person or 3rd person POV been just as good, if not better? --What happens to a story once the focus character is gone? Title for Week Nine: Workshopping Week Nine: To Read This Week Workshop stories Week Nine: Writing Assignment Prepare for the next workshop read and critique student stories Week Nine: Discussion Points --What questions would you like answered about your story when it is workshopped?

7 Title for Week Ten: Workshopping And Final Notes Week Ten: To Read This Week Workshop stories Week Ten: Writing Assignment Critiques of workshop stories Week Ten: Discussion Points --What specific questions do you still have about short stories, and writing in general? --What stories, authors, publishers, writing programs, etc. would you like to know more about?

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