Writers must know how to transform life’s experience into stories. Everyone has stories hidden inside, wanting to find their fictional form. We will explore the basic “moves” that writers use to create an exciting story. We’ll learn how to plot a story, use engaging dialogue, ferret out motivation, paint lively characters and use different points of view. Using our own life experiences as a jumping off point, we’ll change what actually happened into what makes great fiction. Recommended text: The Best American Short Stories 2016 by Junot Díaz and Heidi Pitlor, editors, ISBN-13: 978-0544582897.
Week One
- Welcome Letter
- Moves in the Story Apollo
- Week One and Two: A Writer's Worksheet
- Characterization
- The Power of Fiction, Reading Lolita in Tehran
- Steps in Revisions in Writing 2
- How to Get Started - Letting Go Story
- O'Connor Essay on Short Story
- Mapping Out a W
- Shifts in Writing Lenses
- Guidelines for Participating in a Writer's Workshop
- Plotting the W Form
Week Two
- The Moves in for the God of Love, for the Love of God
- Sample Dialogue Scenes
- Making Dialogue Work
- Writer's Palette Delays
- Labors of the Heart
- James Agee's Detail
- Internal Monologue and other Short Story Techniques
- Internal Monologue and Suspense
- A Good Man is Hard to Find
- Dialogue in the Woods
- Steps in Developing a Plot
- Show vs. Tell
- Point of View
Week Three
- Moves in the Politics of the Quotidian
- Types of Leads
- Editing a Story for Character Development
- Grace Paley Character Development
Week Four
- Creating Suspense in Stories Through Details
- Punctuation Effects
- Exercises on Detail
- Moves in Story on This Side
- Point of View
Week Five
Week Six
Bruce Spang (bspang4@gmail.com) is a former poet laureate of Portland, Maine, and author of seven books of poetry and one novel—The Deception of the Thrush. He works as an editor of Smokey Blue Arts and Literary Review. Having worked as a college and high school teacher of literature and creative writing, Bruce enjoys working with writers to hone their skills and gain more confidence in the craft of writing.
