Graduate Writing Workshop: Fiction

The writing workshop is a critical element of creative writing inside and outside of the academy and is the foundation of most creative writing curriculums. The workshop not only helps writers develop the language of critique and allows them to hone their eye for craft, but—perhaps most importantly—it can establish a vital community amidst the sometimes lonely art of writing.

 

With these ideas in mind, the goals of this workshop are multifold:

 

To develop a critical vocabulary for talking about writing as writers

 

To understand how readers receive your work

 

To examine the craft of the best contemporary American short stories

 

To build a writer community that will hopefully carry your writing life beyond the university

 

 

Required Texts

 

Best American Short Stories 2016 (ed. Junot Diaz)

Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction (Catherine Brady)

 

Assignments

 

Stories (drafts and revision) for workshop

Written responses to your peers’ work

Reading Responses