A well constructed
short story hides its seams, but this course seeks to find those loose threads
and yank on them. To put it another way, one of the goals for most writers for
is to create stories that feel like organic wholes, but these works are
really the culmination of a number of careful decisions, such as
characterization, plot, voice, and P.O.V.
In this class, we
will study short fiction (mostly contemporary but with a few classics mixed
in) and make an effort to reverse-engineer the stories we read. Our goal is to
better understand the kinds of choices that writers make and the effect(s) of
these choices on the finished work. We’ll read short stories by writers like
Charles D’Ambrosio, L. Anette Binder, George
Saunders, Jess Walter, Mary Miller and others. I’ll
provide most, if not all, of the short stories we’ll
read.
We’ll also write our own stories with special attention to the
elements of short fiction. Most writing assignments will have a specific
craft-based goal in mind.
Ultimately, by
becoming more discerning readers of fiction, we will become better writers.
Thus, this course is open to all students with an interest in the careful
reading of short fiction and the desire to improve their own fiction writing.
Required texts
(this will change before the course begins. Feel free to email me at dfscriv@hawaii.edu if you have any questions about course texts)
Catherine Brady—Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction
-isbn: 0230580556, 9780230580558