Writing Co-Lab

In this class, we will read stories that bring into play curiosity, unfold through experimentation, and evoke wonder, including short work by Angela Carter, Julio Cortazar, Franz Kafka, Etgar Keret, and Zadie Smith. We will learn about the dramatic arc made famous by Aristotle in his study of tragedy and the ways it can be applicable to the writing of short stories. We will examine three-part and five-part structures by analyzing the mechanics of fairy tales and jokes. Finally, moving beyond the traditional set-up, build-up, and punchline formulas, we will explore non-traditional structures for storytelling which take inspiration from the natural world (stories shaped like hurricanes, waves, and honeycombs) relying on Jane Alison’s excellent craft book Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative. In-class writing prompts will allow students to experiment and try out different fiction-writing techniques focusing on the shape of stories. By the end of the course, each student will have acquired a practical understanding of story structure to support their next writing project.