CRW 5130 Summer 2024 - Winegardner

At the core of this rigorous, traditional workshop is the premise that any student work under discussion could be better. In a great majority of fiction handed in to a graduate workshop, the thing that most needs to get better is the storytelling and structure. To attack that, this class will take a nuts-and-bolts approach to mastering the fundamentals of what a story is and how it's put together.

The default mode here is that students will be expected to workshop, revise, and resubmit two short stories (though you could workshop three). If you wish to workshop any portion of a novel, we will meet one-on-one to custom-tailor a workshop strategy for that book (rather than treating it the way we would a short story).

“A writer,” said Saul Bellow, “is a reader moved to emulation.” “I know of no good, ignorant writers,” wrote Richard Wilbur. “Great stories and novels,” said Charles Baxter, “are permission-givers.” In this course, you’ll develop your writing in tandem with your reading: eradicating ignorance, receiving permission, being moved to artful emulation. The strangeness of individual talent won’t be blunted by such things. Quite the contrary.

Requirements: For MFA students, this course satisfies 3 of the required 12-15 hours of writing workshops. For PhD students, it counts toward the 27 hours of required coursework.