Fiction Writing

This course is an introduction to the techniques and strategies of fiction writing, with particular emphasis on the short story. Weekly reading assignments will include both anthologized stories and student-generated ones. Students will be asked to complete a short exercise, a brief critical essay, and two full-length stories, each extensively revised twice. Two conferences with the instructor will be required, and there will be ample opportunity for further optional ones.

The class will be conducted as a combined seminar/workshop in which students will read and discuss one another’s work. Students who shrink from class participation and/or courteous critical engagement of their writing are advised to reconsider their interest in this course. Similarly, students whose attendance from 1:30 to 4:00 P.M. on Fridays may be compromised by different commitments, athletic or otherwise, are regretfully discouraged from applying.

*PLEASE NOTE:
Enrollment is limited to 15 students. If you are interested in taking the course, please submit a two to five-page sample of your best prose fiction to Professor McInerney of English, Woodside Cottage by May 30 (the sample may be excerpted from a longer piece of writing). Be sure to label the sample with your name, college, year, and campus mailing address. A letter regarding your standing in the course will be in campus mail on your return in the fall.p