CRW 3110 spring 2022 Slaughter

This course is an undergraduate creative writing workshop focused on the craft technique, writing, critique, and revision of short fiction. While there is much to learn from the historical evolution of the short story, this class will focus on fiction written, published, and received by audiences in the 21st century—just as the work of student writers in the class will be. By reading and discussing a wide range of contemporary short fiction—including flash fiction, magical realism, hybrid genres, digital/interactive fiction, and illustrated texts, alongside traditional narrative-based works—students will discover the trends, techniques, and styles that are prevalent in fiction today. Through exposure to new possibilities in writing, assisted by generative exercises that encourage students to compose in experimental modes, as well as those that come most naturally to them, students will form a foundation from which they can begin to determine, first, the literary lineages and influences that shape their own writing, and second, where their individual voices fit into today’s ever-shifting literary landscape.