Fiction Inside out

Catalog description

In this fiction workshop, we will identify and practice the essential technical elements of fiction writing. We will look under the hood, take the back off the clock, peer into the innards, in order to study the formal decisions necessary for effective story-telling. Our inquiry will include: point of entry; character and plot; creating meaningful scenes; interiority vs. external action; exposition; the management of time; the position of the narrator; linear v/s modular design; dialogue and its uses; conflict and resolution; image systems and so on. Fun exercises that encourage play, class readings, technique essays and student work will be points of departure for our enquiries into the internal workings of fiction. Readings include among others Sharma, Marcus, Gurganus, Bulawayo, Anam, and essays on the craft of writing by Butler, Hrijbal and Keesey among others.