How We Roll

Our objective in this class is pretty simple: read, write, have fun. I want you to feed and cultivate your innate passion for writing in general and stories in particular. We won't be doing full group critique, as such, but those of you who are moving on to the upper level CW courses next year will be prepared with the basic vocabulary and strategies you'll need to successfully analyze stories in critique. Just as important (probably moreso) everyone will get a lot of practice in reading a story like a writer. That is to say: slowly, closely, with an eye towards not just what happens in the story but how the writer made it happen.

We'll spend the first couple of weeks reading exemplary stories, writing in class, and talking about the core elements of writing fiction. Then we'll set up a conference schedule.

My goals are for you to write everyday, for us to do a weekly close group reading of a published story, and for me to meet with each of you individually once a month about your own writing/reading for this class.

I also want you to read on your own and I'll set aside class time each week for you to do it. The minimum requirement is three books during the semester, but you're not limited to just three. The only requirements are that the books are fiction, you haven't read them before, and they're not assigned for another class. These are books you want to read. We'll work with these books in various ways, so it's important that you keep up with this extended assignment, and bring your current book to class everyday.