* Please note that this schedule is fluid until we have a set number of students, which will be sometime in the next two weeks. There may be more workshop days, instead of what's listed here. And there may be more or less craft talks and story discussion readings.
WEEK 1: January 9
- Introduction
- Taking stock: what are your talents, skills, and passions?
- Taking stock: what stories have you written?
- Sign up for workshops
- Openings exercise
NO CLASS January 16
- Spend the week reading over your work and pick two or three of your stories (or a novel, if you have that) that you will spend this class revising.
WEEK 3: January 23
- Read Chapter 1 of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers (SEFFW) and do exercises / bring a sample where you are telling and would like to show, or where you're showing and think you might be able to tell
- Pick a craft book and a short story collection from Dr. Hand’s Library
- Read "Confessions of A Bird" and "The Sugar Shell" (click links)
- Write your own edit letters for the stories/novel you're going to revise in this class. See the assignment here.
WEEK 4: January 30
- Read stories and write responses for Workshop #1
- Read Chapter 2 of SEFFW and do exercises / bring a sample from your work where you are showing and/or describing a character
Week 5: February 6
- Read Chapter 3 of SEFFW and do exercises / bring in a scene that you will rewrite (during class) in different point of view
- Craft Talk #1 (Lisa)
- Read story forStory Discussion #1 (E. J.)
WEEK 6: February 13
- Read stories and write responses for Workshop #2
- Read Chapter 4 of SEFFW and do exercises / bring in an example where you feel the proportion might be off in your story (i.e., you give too much time or description to an unimportant character, too much detail, or the converse: you skim over something that is important to the story, not giving us enough details.)
- Read story for Story Discussion #2 (Emily)
NO CLASS February 20
WEEK 8: February 27
- Read Chapter 5 of SEFFW and do exercises / go through the checklist on dialogue with an entire one of your stories, bring the other story to work on in class.
- Craft Talk #2 (E. J.)
- Read story for Story Discussion #3 (Cameron)
WEEK 9: March 6
- Read stories and write responses for Workshop #3
- Read Chapter 6 of SEFFW and do exercises / bring a 3-5 page section of a story to read aloud.
- Read story for Story Discussion #4 (Lisa)
WEEK 10: March 13 (no class, but complete the homework)
- Read Chapter 7 of SEFFW and do exercises
Read story for Story Discussion #5 (Ryan)
NO CLASS March 20 (Spring Break)
WEEK 11: March 27
- Read stories and write responses for Workshop #4
- Craft Talk #3 (Emily)
- Read Chapter 8 of SEFFW and do exercises / highlight the beats in one of your stories
- Read story for Story Discussion #6 (E. J.)
WEEK 12: April 3
- Read Chapter 9 of SEFFW and do exercises / bring a section that needs to be broken up into smaller pieces or a section where everything is too short and needs to have something longer in there
- Craft Talk #4 (Cameron)
- Read story for Story Discussion #7 (Emily)
- Write a second set of edit letters to yourself. See the assignment here.
WEEK 13: April 10
- Read stories and write responses for Workshop #5
- Read Chapter 10 of SEFFW and do exercises / checklist
- Read story for Story Discussion #8 (Cameron)
WEEK 14: April 17
- Read Chapter 11 of SEFFW and do exercises / highlight -ing and as phrases, -ly adverbs, and figures of speech
- Craft Talk #5 (Ryan)
- Read story for Story Discussion #9 (Lisa)
WEEK 15: April 24
- Read Chapter 12 of SEFFW and do exercises / come ready to talk about what you think of as your writing voice, with an example that you believe best illustrates it.
- Bring your story journey letters. See the assignment here.
- Bring stuff with which to party
