Class Description
How do write popular fiction with literary depth? How do you tackle the hands-on, practical issues of writing genre and genre-influenced fiction... like plotting? Or starting a story? Maybe even cooking a good ending for a story? How do you keep track of complicated plotting and themes? All while giving your genre work a good literary polish? This class, which addresses specific topics requested by Grub students, will teach writers of romance, mystery, science fiction, erotica, supernatural or suspense fiction how to strengthen their literary potential while getting a grip on the "nuts and bolts" aspects of writing popular fiction. Classes will entail the workshopping of your stories and novel chapters, exploring the terrain of the genres, the use of writing and idea-generating exercises, and discussion of the magazines and publishers looking for your sort of fiction. While this class expands upon topics covered in Grub's "Writing the Smart-Page Turner" class, it is open to all but recommended for those with previous workshop experience. Authors covered are likely to include:
- Joyce Carol Oates
- Douglas Adams
- Junot Diaz
- Cormac McCarthy
- Mickey Spillane
- Annie Proulx
- Rosellen Brown
- Philip K. Dick
- John LeCarre
- Rod Serling
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.