Fiction - Finding the Want, Defining Desire
Course Description:
This workshop is for short story writers and novelists who have work in progress and are ready for feedback. Through critiquing one piece from each participant we will explore the slippery shape of story, and the many vantage points from which to enter a novel. Emphasis will be on motivation/desire/want, the energy that drives fiction and most often gives us the key to the difficult middle of the story.
The goals of this workshop are to offer positive feedback, an infusion of energy for the work ahead, and to sharpen the tools we use to critically evaluate our own work.
Suggested Reading:
A more extensive reading list will be provided at the workshop, but books you may want to seek out in advance: A Passion for Narrative, A Guide to Writing Fiction, by Jack Hodgins (McClelland & Stewart 2001); Thing Feigned or Imagined, The Craft in Fiction, by Fred Stenson (Banff Centre Press 2002), Aspects of the Novel, by E.M. Forster (Mariner Books 1956, Penguin Classics 2005).
Course Preparation:
Participants will be asked to submit their stories or novel excerpts one month in advance of the workshop. Submissions will be distributed to all participants prior to the workshop. Participants will be asked to read and be prepared to offer general comment on every submission, and to be close readers and give detailed feedback on a few. General critiquing guidelines will be provided in advance, along with questions specifically related to each story for the close readers.
Course Cost: *
$475
* includes admission to all Conference events, readings and panel discussions
