FICT 165W: Short Story Writing

“Of the many definitions of a story, the simplest one may be this: it is a piece of writing that makes the reader want to find out what happens next. Good writers, it is often said, have the ability to make you keep on reading them whether you want to or not—the milk boils over, the subway stop is missed.” A note from the instructor: The quote above (by Bill Buford, the former fiction editor of The New Yorker magazine) reminds us of the fundamental goal of good fiction: to tell a story that gets the reader to turn the page. While the prose styles, thematic explorations, and social and cultural critiques are often the attributes of a writer that are discussed the most, all good writers have the ability to hold the reader’s attention, to get him or her to read from one sentence to the next. So how is this accomplished? Since we encounter our favorite short stories in their final, finished state, it’s easy to forget that great stories are always the culmination of sustained explorations of idea and craft. Designed for students of all levels, including those encountering fiction writing for the first time, this course will focus on the process of writing short fiction. Students will have the opportunity to write their own stories through exercises that will help to originate, shape, and translate an idea into the characters, plot turns, point of view, and narrative voice, all of which will contribute to a compelling and promising (if imperfect!) first draft. Students will then step back and examine the draft with the class with the goal of creating an even better second draft. Along the way we will study the work of past and present masters of the craft, from Anton Chekhov and Flannery O’Connor to Haruki Murakami, Joyce Carol Oates, Raymond Carver, and Alice Munro. Texts Required: The Story and Its Writer, Compact 7th Ed. Bedford’s/St. Martin’s Press. Required: Jerome Stern, Making Shapely Fiction. General Course Structure In the first part of our ten-week course, we will be exploring the basic elements of short story craft in two basic ways: by reading examples of great stories by contemporary masters and by writing short exercises ourselves. These exercises are designed to both develop specific fiction-writing skills and to help you generate ideas for your main submission to the class, a first draft of a short story, 3000-6500 words in length. In the second part of the course, during weeks 6-10, we will be discussing and commenting on each other’s story drafts, as a way of helping the writer assess the strengths of the draft and helping him come up with strategies for writing a stronger, more compelling second draft.

Weekly Reading Assignments: We will be reading about two stories a week from The Story and Its Writer; only those two stories are required (more on this later). I have also included optional readings in the syllabus, which are for those students who have the time and inclination to explore further. These also include supporting material from TSAIW such as essays and interviews. My goal is to expose you to a wide range of writers approaching the shortstory form in a number of different ways. These are absolutely, one-hundred-percent optional. In addition, we will be reading about aspects of short story craft from Jerome Stern’s Making Shapely Fiction, which is a fantastic introduction to the main components and terms of short-story writing. These are short, succinct definitions of the terms we will use in our workshops. Stern’s book is optional, but recommended; we won’t be having a formal discussion on its contents, but I’ll be referring to it from time to time. It’s a fantastic reference to have at your desk as you begin to learn the craft of fiction writing. However, the basic concepts it brings up will be covered in one way or another over the course of the term. Weekly Writing Assignments The writing exercises are designed to relate to the readings and topic for the week. They are typically scene-length—up to 500 words each. They should be posted in the forum no later than 11:59 p.m. on Thursday. This will allow time for your classmates and myself to read and offer feedback. The exercises are designed to practice an aspect of craft and/or stimulate story ideas. Feel free to interpret the prompts loosely, and to adapt them to suit your needs. In fact, if you have come into the class with some idea of what to write about already, you’re entirely permitted to continue your own writing instead of following the prompts. Your short story At the end of week six, you will turn in one full-length story draft of 3000-6500 words. We will be offering in-depth, detailed comments on each of these stories. These will be due at 12 p.m. on Thursday, 8/1. Posting Comments on Exercises and Workshops Giving and receiving feedback on written work is an essential component of a workshop class. Each week you’ll comment on one of your classmate’s pieces. Be sure to read each piece twice before commenting, the first time simply for enjoyment, and the second time with an eye for how it’s written. Your responses to each other should be a couple of paragraphs long. Positive feedback is important, especially in an early draft of a story or scene. Make sure to identify some of the positive aspects of the story, and be specific. (Instead of the general, “I liked the characters in your piece,” try “Zimmerman was memorable, especially because you gave him a particular, colloquial way of speaking.”). You’ll also want to address questions you had about the piece or suggestions for improvement. In doing so, remember that these are not finished pieces. It’s therefore

important to approach your comments by asking yourself the question, “If I had written this first draft, what kind of comments would I find the most helpful?” The idea here is to anticipate the writer’s intention and to help him or her fulfill that intention. Lastly, please be aware that electronic communication lacks the visual and verbal cues we would typically employ in a traditional classroom setting to indicate friendliness and support. Online, comments can easily come across more harshly than intended. One way to try to prevent this is to always say something positive first, and then to choose your words carefully. If using acronyms and emoticons helps you, by all means use them (but within reason, please! Please, none of the following: “OMG!!! LOL!!!). Furthermore, do consider that your posted thoughts will retain a permanence not present in most classroom exchanges, so be careful about posting off-color jokes or biting, sarcastic remarks. I don’t wish to stifle your creativity or honesty in any way, but it’s also important to me that we form an environment that is supportive and nurturing. Butt ideally your comments should be as collegial as possible. Note: More specific guidelines for responding to workshop stories will be provided before the workshop phase of the class begins. Chat Each week, I’ll host an hour-long live chat session. This is intended to be a virtual office hour of sorts, with the important exception being that the conversation will be more of a group discussion in real time. It’s an opportunity for you to just drop in and ask any questions you’d like. Please note that this is entirely optional. The chat is tentatively scheduled for Tuesdays, time TBA. Your Weekly Responsibilities 1. Log into Blackboard, and read the entire “schedule” page. This includes my “lecture” for the week, as well as assignments, optional readings, and other reminders. 2. Read the assigned texts. Post your responses in the discussion section of the forum. 3. For weeks 1-6, respond to the writing exercise, post your response in the forum, and read and comment on one other student piece. 4. For weeks 6-9: Provide in-depth comments for each full-length student piece submitted in the forum. Check back later in the week to continue your involvement in the discussion. 5. IMPORTANT! Please understand that with the exception of providing comments for the full-length piece, all of the above is essentially optional. Although many students take online courses with the absolute best intentions of doing every last little assignment, “real life”—in the form of business and family obligations, business, etc—can get in the way. Sometimes, the resulting frustration or anxiety causes students to drop completely out of the class. Rather than adopting an “all-or-nothing” approach to your participation in the course, I recommend simply doing what you can, when you can. If there are a couple of weeks in which you don’t get to the reading, or if there are times when you can’t complete a writing exercise, don’t worry. In terms of priorities within class work, please do your best to comment on your classmates’ submissions. If

you have to be away from the class for a couple of weeks, that’s fine. You can always come back when things become more manageable. What I’ll Be Doing 1. Sending out a weekly email with general information about the class and reminders about upcoming assignments. 3. Participating in the weekly chats as described above. 2. Moderating discussions in the forums. I’ll be most active on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, though I will check in on Mondays and Wednesdays as time permits. Of course, you’re free to participate in class discussions at any point during the week. While I will moderate our discussions, I encourage you to remain active even when I’m not present. In this way, we can foster a healthy and active class environment. If you have a question about course content or class assignments, I encourage you to post it in our forum rather than emailing me; your classmates may be wondering the same thing. If you have a private question or concern, please feel free to contact me via email, and I’ll do my best to respond within 24 hours, weekends excepted. Grading Some of you may wish to take this course for a grade, which will be assessed as follows: Writing exercises: 20% Story draft: 40% Forum and Workshop Participation: 40% Please note that you can change your grading status at any point before the final class meeting, by contacting the Stanford Continuing Studies department.

SCHEDULE Week One: Making that Page Turn 1. Margaret Atwood, “Happy Endings” 2. Raymond Carver, “Cathedral” 3. Jerome Stern: tension, conflict optional story: Grace Paley, “A Conversation With My Father” optional commentary: Margaret Atwood, “Reading Blind” Week Two: Character and Plot 1. Alice Munro, “Miles City, Montana” 2. Anton Chekhov, “The Lady With the Little Dog” 3. Jerome Stern: character, plot, position optional story: Joyce Carol Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” optional commentary: Alice Munro, “How I Write Short Stories,” Anton Chekhov, “Technique in Writing the Short Story” Week Three: Point of View 1. Bobby Ann Mason, “Shiloh” 2. Louise Erdrich, “The Red Convertible” 3. Jerome Stern: point of view, psychic distance, narrator optional story: William Faulkner, “A Rose For Emily”

Week Four: Action through Dialogue 1. Raymond Carver, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” 2. Tobias Woff, “Say Anything” 3. Jerome Stern: dialogue optional story: Ernest Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants” Week Five: More than Just Scenes 1. Jhumpa Lahiri, “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine” 2. James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” 3. Jerome Stern: exposition optional story: Jonathan Franzen, “Good Neighbors” (link) optional commentary: James Baldwin, “Autobiographical Notes” Stories due Thursday, 8/1, 12 p.m. Week Six: Workshop/Beyond Realism. 1. Haruki Murakami, “The Ice Man” (PDF) Week Seven: Workshop/Voice I. 1. Gish Jen, “Who’s Irish?” Week Eight: Workshop/Voice II. 1. Lorrie Moore, “How to Become a Writer” Week Nine: Workshop/Endings 1. Flannery O’Connor, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” optional/supplemental: O’Connor, “A Reasonable Use of the Unreasonable” Week Ten: Workshop/Edits 1. Raymond Carver, “Beginners, Edited” (link) 2. “Rough Crossings” (article about Carver) (link)