Class Description
How do you write popular fiction with literary depth? How do you tackle the hands-on, practical issues of writing genre and genre-influenced fiction—like plotting, starting and ending a story, keeping track of themes—and make your work 'smart'? In a world where literary lions like Junot Diaz and Cormac McCarthy win Pulitzers for works that build on pop fiction, writing a smart page-turner that uses both literary and genre tropes has never been more dynamic. 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 of writing popular fiction. In class, we’ll workshop your stories and novel chapters, explore the terrain of each genre, work on writing and idea-generating exercises, and discuss the magazines and publishers looking for your sort of fiction. While this class expands on topics covered in Grub's "Writing the Smart-Page Turner" class, it is open to anyone with previous workshop experience.
Did you know that we have scholarships available for all GrubStreet classes? To apply, click the "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button in the top right corner of this page. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your scholarship application and await our Scholarship Committee's decision before registering for the class. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
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.