Writing the Novella

Catalog description

Too long to be a short story and too short to be a novel, the novella has been described by Stephen King as a country with “ill-defined” borders situated between “two more orderly regions.” The novella’s intermediary length can make it less palatable to magazine editors and book publishers alike, but in spite of its perceived lack of commercial viability many of our most enduring stories are novellas—Heart of Darkness, The Turn of the Screw, The Metamorphosis, Animal Farm, and A Christmas Carol, to name just a few. In this course, geared toward intermediate and advanced fiction writers, we explore the exciting possibilities of the form through our readings and work on novellas of our own. By the end of the course, students will have read a wide range of novellas by international authors such as Saul Bellow, Robert Bolaño, Eileen Chang, Anton Chekhov, Elena Ferrante, Neil Gaimin, Yasunari Kawabata, and Alice Munro. They will also have completed a significant portion of their own novellas, gaining a deeper understanding of what Ian McEwan calls “the modern and post-modern form par excellence." Prerequisite: Introduction to Creative Writing ( CRWR-SHU 159 or CRWR-SHU 161 ) OR Junior standing. Fulfillment: This course will fulfill one of the two the Intermediate Workshop components for the creative writing minor. Humanities other Advanced course.