Class Description
Thinking about getting an MFA? Feeling ready to publish? In this intensive forum, you will polish and/or complete at least two short works of fiction. The emphasis is on building and applying elements of craft, such as narrative point of view, story arc, dialogue, specificity of language, openings, and good sentence-making. The class will consist primarily of extensive peer workshop, along with short lectures and close examination of published short fiction chosen, to the extent possible, to speak to the specific craft issues raised in students' work, and/or to illustrate some novel approach to an element of craft. Authors discussed in class will range from older masters such as Chekhov, Katherine Mansfield, James Baldwin, William Trevor, and Alice Munro, to newer voices such as Claire Vaye Watkins, Lauren Groff, Tea Obreht, and Nam Le.
The course will be open to students working on short fiction and flash fiction; novel chapters will be discouraged. You will be in the company of other serious writers and an experienced instructor dedicated to giving comprehensive and insightful feedback. Only students who have taken previous fiction workshops at Grub Street or elsewhere should apply. Space is limited to 9 students in order to foster a closer, more intense and more rigorous learning experience.
Applications for this class have closed. You will hear from the reading committee within a week.
To learn more about instructor Chip Cheek and his teaching style, check out the short podcast with him in our GrubStreet Instructor Interview series:
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!