In this course, we'll shore up the basics but also dig past them: how do relationships drive a story? Why does setting matter? How does language build a mood, a whole atmosphere? We’ll dissect and consider scene, tension, character development, and pacing, exploring nontraditional ways of organizing and building plot alongside standard strategies.
We’ll read one novel and discuss how it generates tension from both emotions and ideas (the emotions inside ideas, and the ideas inside emotions). We’ll get to know each other’s work by reading, discussing, and workshopping parts of our own novels or novels-in-progress. We'll have a lot of fun.
This workshop will be feedback and critique intensive, including written and verbal critique from your instructor and peers. Short lectures and discussion of craft are included, and there may be short in-class writing assignments.
