Creative Writing II: Fiction Topics

Topics in fiction writing with particular concentration on specific forms or other aspects of the genre using readings as models and inspiration. This might include the novella or the short-short story or techniques such as magical realism, meta-fiction, minimalism, etc., depending on the instructor. Prerequisite: ENG 201.

Current Semester Information

302A: Tps:LinkedStoryCollectn

Creative Writing II: Linked Story Collections

This is a fiction workshop for students who have already taken ENG 201 and are familiar with the fundamentals of story. This topic-specific fiction workshop will focus on the hybrid genre of the linked story collection sometimes also called the novel-in-stories or the story cycle. We will read linked collections including ones which use the form to look at community from varying points of view and with varying story structures. As a class we will create and map an imagined community and every student writer will supply a story to a linked class collection.

We may read the complete books or selections from "Winesburg, Ohio" by Sherwood Anderson, "A Visit from the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan, "Olive Kittredge" by Elizabeth Strout, "The Ms. Hempel Chronicles" by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, "Things We Didn't See Coming" by Steven Amsterdam, "The Imperfectionists" by Tom Rachman, "The Circus in Winter" by Cathy Day and "Knockemstiff" by Donald Ray Pollock.