Fairy Tale & Myth: Retelling and Re-imagination

Class Description

Mirrors, moons, trickster gods and talking lions — there's a reason we keep returning to our favorite fairy tales, myths, and folk tales. Through the bravery and cunning of heroes we learn how to navigate our own world in the language of symbols. But if we want to explore those themes and aesthetics in our own writing, how do we do so without completely copying or re-tracing faded steps? In this course, we'll identify our personal connection to myths and stories and learn how to identify their core and morality from their aesthetic. We'll interrogate Western conventions and themes and examine patterns in international fairy tales by exploring Bolivian folklore, American cryptids, Middle Eastern oral stories, Scottish ghost stories, Asian mythology, and African fables. By the end of this class, students will have completed several short “fairy tale field work” entries exploring their personal relationship to ancient stories, and workshop 2 creative pieces of prose, creative nonfiction, or poetry that examine, re-tell, or re-imagine existing tales and myths. The goal in our writing and feedback to each other is to analyze and articulate each writer's connection to these mythic stories, and how that will inspire and inform their own work.

Class Format

This is an Online: On-Demand class that will take place on our asynchronous online learning platform, Wet.Ink. Weekly lessons and assignments open each Wednesday. Students will receive an invitation to Wet Ink before 5pm on the first day of class!

*NOTE that while our handy dandy "Schedule" tab states a 6-7pm class time, there are actually no live meetings for this class! Weekly lessons and assignments open each Wednesday. Students will receive an invitation to Wet Ink, our online class platform, before 5pm on the first day of class.

Scholarship Information

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 more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.