Course Overview

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."
-- Maya Angelou 

• Full Course Description
  "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."
  -- Maya Angelou 
  
  Throughout the semester we will read a variety of short fiction, paying special attention to the elements of craft at work in each story. The course is designed to teach the apprentice writer how to read with intention, attention and deep appreciation for both the mechanics and the mystery of art. Reading assignments will be paired with generative writing prompts to connect the student to her own artistic wellspring. These weekly writing prompts will lay the basis for the student to write two full-length, short stories, which will then be shared with the workshop. 
  
  Among the writers whose short fiction we will read this term are: Amy Bloom, Frederick Bush, Raymond Carver, Michael Chabon, John Cheever, Michael Cunningham, E.L. Doctorow, Joshua Ferris, Mavis Gallant, Gish Jen, Edward P. Jones, James Joyce, Jamaica Kincaid, Jhumpa Lahiri, Alice McDermott, Lorrie Moore, Alice Munro, V.S. Pritchett, Philip Roth, Karen Russell, J.D. Salinger, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Elizabeth Strout, John Updike, Eudora Welty, Joy Williams, Tobias Wolff and William Trevor.
• Writing

  Writing

  We will begin the semester with brief, weekly writing exercises (1-2 pages). Later in the term each student will write two short stories (approximately 15 pages) for workshop discussion.

  We will establish a fixed schedule for “workshopping” student writing at the start of the semester. Student writing will be distributed via email five days prior to the date the material is to be discussed in class. All work is to be typed, double spaced. And all student submissions are to be printed out by the members of the workshop.

• Reading

  Reading

  From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction by Robert Olen Butler

              Publisher: Grove Press; Reprint edition (January 9, 2006)

              ISBN-10: 0802142575

  Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway and Elizabeth Stuckey French

              Publisher: Pearson; 8th edition (January 13, 2010)

              ISBN-10: 0205750346

              ISBN-13: 978-0205750344

              N.B. This book is ridiculously expensive. Any edition will be fine. Try to find a used copy of an older edition.

  Course Packet (To be provided by the instructor at the first class. Cost not to exceed $25) Containing stories by:

  Bloom, Bush, Carver, Chabon, Cheever, Cunningham, Doctorow, Ferris, Gallant, Jen Jones, Joyce, Kincaid, Lahiri, McDermott, Moore, Munro, Pritchett, Roth, Russell, Salinger, Singer, Strout, Updike, Welty, Williams, Wolff and Trevor

   

  Reading assignments and writing exercises will be given at each class meeting. If you should miss a class, please contact another student about the reading assignment and the writing exercise.

  A note on the reading: In this course, we will be attempting to read as writers.

  Our chief aim in examining published work will not be the identification of symbols or the analysis of themes.  Rather, we will be reading in order to learn how to write. We will be approaching stories as apprentice craftsmen.  We will be dismantling stories and inspecting their component parts - voice, tone, mood, character, dialogue, etc.  

• Participation and Grading

  PARTICIPATION

  This class will be run as a workshop. As a member of this cooperative, each student is entitled to a careful and considerate reading of his or her work. Along with that entitlement comes an obligation. Everyone is expected to come to class having read and considered the work to be discussed that day. You will be responsible for a detailed written commentary on each of your fellow students’ manuscripts. Your job in this course is to function as both writer and editor.        

   

  GRADING

  Given the structure of this course, attendance and class participation are crucial.

  If you miss more than one class, your grade will be reduced by five points (e.g., a B becomes a B-). If attendance is problematic for you, you could easily end up with a failing grade in this course.

   

  Class participation will count for 40% of your total grade.  Each student is expected to come to class ready and willing to share her/his ideas on what is to be discussed that day.

   

  HELP

  Writing can be a lonely business. As you embark on the longer work assigned for the class, you may find yourself in need of some additional guidance. I’m happy to meet with you prior to class and/or to talk with you over the phone or via email.

• Faculty Bio
  Rachel Basch (B.A. Wesleyan University; M.A. New York University) is the author of three novels: The Listener, out now from Pegasus Books, The Passion of Reverend Nash (named one of the five best novels of 2003 by The Christian Science Monitor) and Degrees of Love. Basch's nonfiction has appeared in n+1, Salon,The Huffington Post, The Millions and Parenting. Basch was a 2011 MacDowell Colony Fellow. She received the William Van Wert prize for an excerpt from her novel, The Listener.
  A dedicated teacher of creative writing for over 25 years, Basch is a contributor to Now Write!: Fiction Writing Exercises From Today's Best Writers & Teachers. Basch currently teaches in Fairfield University's MFA Program and in Wesleyan University's Graduate Liberal Studies Program. In addition she works independently with writers and leads a private master class.
  Basch received her B.A. from Wesleyan University and her graduate degree from NYU's Creative Writing Program, where she was awarded a Teaching Fellowship and a University Scholarship. She has lived in Connecticut for 30 years.