CRW 3110 Fall 2024 - Smith

Fiction Technique offers a supportive space to experiment with your voice, your style, and the stories you want to tell. The goal is to give you the tools and the vocabulary (think: plot structure, character development, writing conflict) to write whatever you can imagine.

The most important aspect of writing well, however, is reading well (and plenty). Thus, this class will also ask you to read and engage with a variety of published stories and peer work, always asking what are the aims of the story? And what are the elements of craft that helped the story achieve those aims?

Practically speaking, we’ll spend the first half of the semester practicing fiction skills—which include both writing techniques and learning how to read like a writer. In the second half of the semester, we will focus on producing full-length work, workshopping, and revising that work.