INTRODUCTION TO FICTION WRITING

Writing sample required to apply. Instructions and the application form can be found here: https://english.barnard.edu/english/creative-writing-courses.

This class is an introduction to writing fiction, with a focus on the short story. The initial weeks will focus on writing exercises and also deep reading of published short stories, in order to attempt to understand the space we enter when we enter a piece of fiction, what does it mean to move through it, how is it moving. Later, student work will become the main text as the focus shifts into workshop. Stories likely on the syllabus include Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” Octavia Butler’s “Speech Sounds,” Mieko Kanai’s “Rabbits,” Carmen Maria Machado’s “The Husband Stitch,” and the flash fiction of Lydia Davis.