Course Statement
If you want to write, you need to read. This class will focus on reading three “best of the year” anthologies. These stories have already been published in the top magazines, journals, and anthologies, and then have gone on to get additional recognition as the best in their genre/s. We’ll break the stories down, analyzing the content to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
CONTENT WARNING: We will read stories and novels that contain sex, violence, and other potentially upsetting material.
Course overview
This course is reading and writing intensive. It is not a course for beginning students. We will not teach the basics in this course. It focuses on an essential skill—critical analysis.
Prerequisite: You must come into this class with one short story already written and ready to workshop. You will write three short stories during the class
Each week you will read two short stories curated by Richard from the various anthologies, analyze them, and be ready to discuss them during the weekly Skype call (2 hours). You’ll learn to recognize what the authors did well, how they were innovative, and then how you might apply that to your own writing.
You will also be responsible for critiquing two of your classmates’ stories, each week, applying the same level of critical analysis to them that you’ll apply to the published stories—that’s four short stories to read each week. In addition to discussing them in class, you will give feedback to your classmates via email. This can be done via Track Changes and comments in word, or you can use a form that will be provided. (See the template as well as guidelines for giving good feedback in the Resources section of this website.)
Additional ongoing questions and conversations will occur on Facebook in a private, secret group.
At the end of the month, you will turn in an original short story, up to 5,000 words, based on whatever inspired you over the course of your studies. Richard will read, edit, and critique each story, returning it to you with advice on what to do next—keep editing, drop it, polish it up, or send it out.
At the end of the semester you will get one hour of private Skype time with Richard to talk about anything you like—your work in class, other projects, the industry in general, markets, query letters, how to get an agent, what to do next, etc.
BOOKS
The Best American Short Stories 2020 edited by Heidi Pitlor, with Jesmyn Ward
ISBN-13 : 978-1328485397
$14.49The Best Horror of the Year Volume Twelve edited by Ellen Datlow
ISBN-13 : 978-1949102604
$15.99The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020 edited by John Joseph Adams, with Veronica Roth,
ISBN-13 : 978-0358469964
$14.99
Note: The anthologies change each year. The workshop uses the newest anthology. If you take the workshop in 2022 you will use 2021’s anthologies.
2022 Advanced Creative Writing Workshop
who is this class for:
Advanced students who are looking to take their writing to the next level.
Authors who have written and/or published several stories already (ideally for pro pay).
Authors who write genre fiction and are looking to make their work more literary.
Literary authors who are looking to add some genre or supernatural aspects to their realism.
Anyone looking to expand their understanding of contemporary speculative fiction.
Authors who don’t need to be taught craft, or the basics of short story writing.
Writers who have the time and discipline to read and write every week for the next sixteen weeks.
Authors looking to expand their understanding of contemporary fiction.
Authors looking to publish in the top magazines, websites, and anthologies.
syllabus
Exact story order and selection TBD; selections change each year.
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the details
Class Size: 8 Students
Cost: $800 (Discounts and payment plans available.)
Platform: Skype
Structure: Video
Duration: 16 weeks
Schedule: Wednesdays from 8:00 to 10:00 PM CST
objectives
To learn how to recognize greatness, and then apply it to your own work.
To understand that not all “great” fiction works for YOU, and that’s okay.
Skype call with class.
2019 Advanced Creative Writing Workshop required reading.
2018 Advanced Creative Writing Workshop.
2017 Advanced Creative Writing Workshop.
2016 Advanced Creative Writing Workshop.
Banner image by Pixabay on Pexels
Sidebar illustration by Daniel Hugo. Used with permission
Bottom image by Kaique Rocha on Pexels
“I feel like I broke through some internal membrane that held me back as a writer in this class. Reading “best of ” genre stories and the in-depth discussions while receiving Richard’s trained analytical eye on my own pieces was unbelievably helpful. I’d take any writing class by Richard—he cuts to the quick, the sublime, and the profound unlike any other teacher I’ve encountered—and I’d recommend this class to beginning and intermediate writers everywhere.”
