Crafting Your Short Story or Novel (MN245)

If you want to write short stories or novels – or develop your storytelling skills – this course will guide you from a blank page to THE END. Topics covered include:

• Shaping raw materials, or even a single idea, into a story
• Three methods for generating a story from nothing
• Plotting and improvisation
• Genre fiction fundamentals
• Character development
• Case study: “That Room”, by Tobias Wolff
• Finding your beginning and ending
• Writing the first draft
• Simple editing tips
• Formatting a professional manuscript and cover letter
• Publishing your work

Your instructor brings over two decades of experience as a publishing house employee and as a published writer. By the end of the course, you should have completed a work of short fiction or a first novel chapter.

This class will be online through Zoom. You will receive a Zoom invitation prior to class. You must have Zoom downloaded on your computer and have a webcam, audio (microphone) and internet to take this class.

Instructor: Russell Richardson