READING & WRITING THE SHORT STORY

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The Short Story – A Workshop in RevisingActive, thoughtful, and serious participation by all students is fundamental to yourlearning process and to the success of these discussions. The quality of this participationwill represent a significant portion of your final grade. This does not mean that you mustspeak at great length; rather, you should comment on specific aspects of your classmates’stories in order to help them to identify what you believe are their strengths as well asspecific opportunities for further development.<strong>WRITING</strong> REQUIREMENTSStories-In-ProgressYou are required to produce two stories this semester. You will be writing 3 versions ofeach story, for a total of 6 required submissions. One version of each story will bepresented in class; the other two versions will be handed in to me. You will work yourfirst story until spring break. You will work on your second story for the balance of theterm. I will be assigning personal due dates to each of you for your own stories. This isless confusing than it sounds so long as you follow the schedule.Workshop Manuscripts (must be distributed to the entire class in printed form—noemailing except by my request)Each student will on 2 occasions present longer, original manuscripts in class forworkshop discussion. You are free to write about anything you chose. These manuscriptsshould run somewhere between 8-12 pages, doubled-spaced, 12-point font. Thesemanuscripts should be thoroughly proof read and corrected prior to distribution.Discussions about manuscripts containing recurrent grammar and punctuation errorsoften get sidelined by grumbling about mechanics rather than focusing, as they should forthe sake of the writer, on the story being told. Spell Check and Grammar Check highlightmany errors, but there is no better method for finding errors than reading your own workaloud. (Make certain that your Spell Check is set to Formal.)If your story is much longer than 12 pages, ask yourself if you have included more thanyou need, if you are unnecessarily repeating material, or if you have gone off topic. Ifyour manuscript is much shorter than 8 pages, ask yourself if your story is fullydeveloped, or if there’s more to add that would enrich the story that you’re looking to tell.There is no magic number of pages that constitute a short story – or a novel, for thatmatter. I do, however, want you to experience the authority of a fully developed story.Likewise, while many short stories run longer than 12 pages, I want you experience theshort story as an art of condensation, as opposed to the novelistic world of elaboration.On a practical note, it too often isn’t possible to give due diligence to the workshopstories at hand as well devote ample time to writing your own stories when reading longmanuscripts in a workshop of this size.Spring 2013 2
The Short Story – A Workshop in RevisingWorkshop Story Critiques (e-mail to me before class every week)When you are reading the work of your classmates, do so with pen in hand and makesuccinct and legible notes on the manuscript. Also write a brief, narrative response to thework – a paragraph will suffice – in which you focus on some specific aspect of the storywith respect to the manner in which it is crafted. While all authors appreciatecomplements, be sure to use these critiques as an opportunity to identify what you believeis the point of the story, as well as the way in which the author might enrich their storythrough the further employment of an element of craft. For example: Is the dialoguemoving the forward story, or is it merely filler? Is it possible to distinguish one characterfrom another, or should the author further develop attributes of characterization. Whichones? Try to be as specific as you can and as constructive as possible.Print out your comments and give to the author along with your annotated copy of theirmanuscript. Be certain to sign your comments on both the manuscript and your note.Also e-mail a copy of your comments to me no later than 9 a.m. on the day of class.Write or paste your comments into the body of the e-mail (do not send as attachments).<strong>READING</strong>Published StoriesMost weeks, I will assign one published short story. Most of these stories are containedin the required anthology The Art of the Short Story (Goia, etc., editors). Other stories,etc. will be available on-line as PDFs or links, as indicated. Bring your anthology to classevery week so that you can refer to the stories during discussions.Spring 2013 3
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READING & WRITING THE SHORT STORY

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