Class Description
For writers who feel overwhelmed by the notion of starting a story from nothing, the real world can provide a useful gateway into the fictional world. Plus, the art of shaping credible fiction often means that we look to the actual world around us for ideas and cues.
This six-week class will use personal experiences and observations to craft compelling fiction and characters. The first two classes will focus on in-class exercises, explorations, and low-key mini workshops of student work. The last four classes will focus on workshopping one longer work (up to 15 pages) by each student, along with in-class exercises and readings, as time allows. By the end of the course, students will have built several scenes and story starters along with one fuller draft ready for revision. Class readings may include such authors as:
- Roberto Bolano
- Aleksandar Hemon
- Edwidge Danticat
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.