Fiction and Artistic Imagination

Catalog description

The primary focus of this course is to explore the fiction writer's creative process from different angles, including inspiration, conception, development, revision, and adaptation to the screen. We will be exploring together questions such as the following: What happens during the creative process? What is the relationship between an author's life and the author's fictional works? Where does literary inspiration come from? What do creators of fiction think about as they work? How do short stories and novels get written, rewritten, reimagined? In adapting fictional works, how closely do later writers and filmmakers follow the original work? How do audiences react to changes from the original? Students will read three novels and a selection of short stories as well as some background and critical materials. Also, they will see screen versions of the three novels.