ARE THERE RULES?

Should we kill our darlings? Must we show but not tell? Does it matter if setting is a character? Which of the received rules of writing fiction really do hold up (as some of them undoubtedly do) and which are merely words?

HOW THE WORKSHOP WILL WORK

In this 8-week generative fiction workshop beginning October 24, we’ll spend half of the time talking about published stories that follow (or don’t), an established rule. We’ll encounter each work with an open mind and democratically figure out what’s working and where the lessons may lie. (Authors to be discussed: Suzanne Rivecca, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, John Berger, Mariana Enriquez and more).

In the second half of each class we’ll workshop our own stories, with a special eye to what each author was trying to accomplish and what rules they set for themselves as they wrote.

This course meets synchronously over Zoom on Sundays from 1:00-3:00 p.m. EST.

Participation is limited to 12 people and every participant will have a chance to receive detailed feedback on their work. All writing levels are welcome, so long as you care about fiction & read fiction as well as write it.

SIGN UP!

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

John Cotter is the author of the forthcoming memoir Losing Music (Milkweed, 2023) and the novella Under the Small Lights (Miami University Press). His essays and fiction have appeared in Raritan, Guernica, Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading, Washington Square, Georgia Review, Literary Review, and Commonweal. In January of 2022 he'll be a resident fellow at the James Merrill House in Stonington, Connecticut.