Session 6: Is it over? In this last week, we will look at story endings.How does place generate new information for the character and reader? What kind of details deepen the emotional meaning or subtext of the scene we’re working in. Session 5: Wait, where are we? This week we will slow down and look around, considering place as secondary character in our story work.This week we will look at the structure of a scene, get our people talking, and look at the various forms dialogue can take.

Session 4: Who said what? If we have a protagonist and an antagonist at this point in our story work, chances are we need to get them talking.In our third week we will seek inspiration from the various forms a story’s antagonist might take. Most often conflict stems from an obstacle standing in the way of our characters desires. Session 3: How will they get it? For a story to have an arc we must have a conflict.Our in-class exercises this week will focus on characterization and character desire. Session 2: What do they want? To have a story, we must have a central protagonist and that protagonist must want something even if, as Vonnegut said, it is only a glass of water.So, our first week together we will discuss and play around with the various points of view available to us and the effect each can have on our reader. Session 1: Whose story is it? The very first choice we make, often unconsciously, when starting to write a story is the point of view from which it is told.I want my writers to leave our time together feeling confident in their strengths, aware of where they should keep challenging themselves, and completely capable of reaching their writing goals. As an instructor, I strive to facilitate supportive and inspiring spaces for both generative and more critical workshop courses. Each writer can expect to leave this course with a new awareness of the essential craft elements of the short story form (concrete detail, characterization, point of view, conflict, dialogue, setting), as well as a nearly complete, if not finished, short story. If time and interest exist, we may share and discuss some of our in-progress work, but the main goal of this course is to get (re)acquainted with the fundamentals of great storytelling and to make new work. From these discussions we will take inspiration and have two opportunities to write, responding to craft-relevant writing exercises. Our discussion of these stories will lead us into brief talks on of the fundamentals of craft at work in each.

Each week we will read one well-regarded short story, from modern masters to a Joyce classic. This course is designed for writers just starting out as well as intermediate writers looking to gain new insight into their process. To join the waitlist, please email Randy Winston at.

Kept Animals by Kate Milliken