Class Description
Fiction II is designed to give intermediate writers who are already familiar with workshops the intensive review they need to make their stories deeper and sharper. This course offers a model for workshopping your manuscripts in which you will receive written comments from the students and the instructor before your story is discussed in class. Instead of remaining silent, you will be an active participant in the conversation about your story, with a focus on concrete revision options. Classmates will be encouraged to incorporate content-based criticism (e.g. “how does this character challenge or reinforce stereotypes? what are the socio-cultural implications in this piece?”) with craft-based criticism (e.g. “how does the author show this character’s change over time?). This structure aims to give the writer a stronger voice in their own critique, for readers to thoughtfully examine and learn from their initial feedback during the workshop, and for everyone to leave class with a clearer revision strategy for their work. We may read work by Alexander Hemon, Salman Rushdie, Yiyun Li, Mavis Gallant, Roxanne Gay, V. S. Naipaul, and others. The goal is to write and revise two short stories, up to 20 pages each. The creation of self-contained narratives can be a useful challenge for novelists; workshopping novel chapters is discouraged.
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.
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. Please visit the Resources tab to access the video-conference link.
Zoom Participation:
Students are not required to turn their camera on, but are encouraged to participate any way they feel comfortable through functions such as the live chat, emoji reactions, and unmuting the microphone. Learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
We ask that instructors enable closed captioning and send a transcript of the session after class. You can also enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting. If your instructor forgets to send the transcript, just send ’em an email!