Fiction Workshop

REVISED

English: Creative Writing Fiction, Intro Workshop, E226-AA

Winter 2025 (continuation of Fall ’24)
Instructor: Prof. Josip Novakovich.
Tuesday 5:45-8:35, LB 659-4 SGW
Office LB644.3; Office Hours: Tuesday 2:30 – 5:30 and by appointment via Zoom.
514-917-2095
[email protected]

Course Description
An introduction to writing fiction. We will continue to cover the elements of fiction and writing
techniques exemplified in published stories. You will be introduced to the range of possibilities
in fiction: short story (various lengths, micro, short, long), novel (chapters), cross-genre (prose-
poem), true story (memoir or personal essay), and different genres (fantasy, crime, sci-fi, literary,
etc.). We will do a variety of exercises and writing assignments. And we’ll be running a writing
workshop, with participants presenting their original work for class discussion and feedback,
with advice for further development and revision. You will gain a sense of what works in your
prose as well as in the prose of your peers, developing not only writing skills but also editorial
skills, which are essential for revising and improving works in progress.

Course Objective
To develop a range of techniques for structuring a variety of stories and to free up your
imagination to become a versatile fiction writer.

Texts:

Many online pieces in the public domain listed in the schedule of classes.

Course Requirements for the Winter Semester:

1. 15 pages of original fiction. A page is around 300 words, double spaced, in 12-point font.
2. 5 pages of exercises and sketches—character portraits, landscapes, scenes in various
genres and modes.
3. Participation. Discuss, contribute, argue in a friendly and constructive manner. Regular
in-class writing to address various craft issues. If you don’t like public speaking, read out
your written feedback. Write at least one long paragraph (minimum 150 words, max 400)
about each text assigned for discussion: make a craft observation, could be as minute as a
word choice or global such as plot structure, whatever intrigues you. Read all the stories
by your peers and listed on the syllabus and discuss them in class.
4. Regular attendance. If you miss two or more classes this semester without a certified
excuse, your grade will be lowered.

Grading:
You get the final grade for both semesters at the end of the course. The grade will be the average
of your Fall semester’s and Winter semester’s grades.
Fiction Workshop

Quality of your writing and your diligence are the main criteria.
1. and 2. = 50%. You need to satisfy the major requirements of a sound story (novel)—
convincing characters, vivid setting, plot, style (fresh word choices, avoidance of clichés,
varied syntax, etc.). Some experimental stories may set their own criteria for assessment
but in order to experiment, one should first be in command of structuring a story.
In your sketches, experiment, play, keep in writing shape. Show evidence of good effort
to write in various modes.
3. and 4. 50%. Quantity and quality of your input—comments on assigned readings and
other participants’ stories, in-class writing assignment, paragraphs about the stories
assigned.
Perfect attendance will enhance your grade and absences will detract from your grade.
.

Academic Integrity: No plagiarism. If you write a story as a take on another story, acknowledge
the story as a source of your variation on a theme. You may quote from another text but indicate
the source. Don’t have your friends or strangers write for you; don’t buy stories online.
ChatGPT may, in time, prove a useful tool, but it is not a replacement for the human
imagination. Nor can a story concocted by ChatGPT be seen as reflective of your own ideas and
effort. If you use a few lines processed through ChatGPT, indicate it the way you would quote
from the work that is not yours.

Workshop Etiquette: Respect your peers. Don’t interrupt people when they make their points
(unless they carry on beyond two minutes). Agree to disagree if you encounter different esthetics
and politics. Even if you happen to be an atheist, respect everyone’s faith and cultural traditions.
Don’t attack participants’ works on ideological grounds (or any grounds). Critique imaginatively
and constructively to encourage each other. Be more eager to find something praiseworthy,
something that works in a story rather than to dwell on an apparent weakness. And do unto
others as you’d like to them to do unto you. If you want good feedback on your stories with
marginal comments, give good feedback to others.

Schedule of Classes
Read the listed texts before the class and be prepared to discuss the elements of fiction
exemplified in the stories. Write a paragraph about each story—something you notice, whatever
intrigues you. While each story is listed as an illustration for certain craft issues, such as plot,
setting, POV, etc. they basically incorporate all the elements of fiction.

A note about how to read the texts. Pay attention to the basic elements of fiction and the
techniques displayed in the stories. Don’t tell us whether you like the story or not. A math
professor will never ask you whether you like a proof; you just have to understand how the proof
works. Many of these stories are classics and have gone through many inspections and they are
here for a reason: learn from them.

January 14.
Sources of Fiction. Setting. Conflict. In class writing assignments.
Fiction Workshop

“Monkey Garden,” Sandra Cisneros.

http://monkeygarden.weebly.com/uploads/4/1/6/9/41695525/themonkeygardenpdf.pdf
“Why? Why? Why?” Mikhail Iossel. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/why-why-
why

January 21.
Plot.
“The Necklace,” de Maupassant.
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Neck.shtml
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. https://www.katechopin.org/story-hour/
“The Overcoat,” Gogol. http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Over.shtml

January 28. More about plotting. “The Blue Hotel,” Stephen Crane.
http://www.shortstoryamerica.com/pdf_classics/crane_blue_hotel.pdf

February 4.
Character.
“Naga,” Narayan
“A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor
http://mrdoige.com/documents/oconnor_aGoodManIsHardToFind.pdf

February 11. We begin critiquing participants’ stories, 3 a session. You will sign up for a
date when you present your work, and post your story on Moodle (the story submissions forum)
by the preceding Saturday. Minimum length, 2000 words; maximum, 5000.
Word Choice, Description, concrete details.
“We Didn’t,” Stuart Dybek.
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://static.catapult.co/production/
class_syllabus_files/967/original/Stuart_Dybek_-_We_Didn%27t-1_1666800151.pdf

“The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien. https://docs.google.com/viewer?

a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxkZW1hcmlvc3dlYnNpdGV8Z3g6M2E3Yz
VjM2MwOTdhYTIz

February 18. Your batch of sketches is due. 5-6 pages, double spaced. Attach them in the
assignment forum for the week.
POV, Voice.
“Wants” by Grace Paley. https://biblioklept.org/2014/03/08/wants-grace-paley/
“Hills like White Elephants,” Hemingway.
https://anthology.lib.virginia.edu/work/Hemingway/hemingway-hills
“My Oedipus Complex,” Frank O’Connor
http://fullreads.com/literature/my-oedipus-complex/

February 25. Reading Week.

Fiction Workshop

March 4.
“Seven Floors,” Dino Buzzati
Louise Erdrich, “The Stone” | The New Yorker

March 11.
Playfulness in writing stories. Have fun writing.
“The Book of Martha,” Octavia Butler.
https://www.sevenstories.com/blogs/102-an-exclusive-short-story-from-octavia-butler-in-
celebration-of-her-birthday
“The School” by Donald Barthelme. https://electricliterature.com/the-school-donald-
barthelme/

March 18. Your short stories (or novel chapters) are due. Email them to
[email protected]. 2000 words minimum. If your stories have been critiqued
before this date, this semester, you are exempt from this deadline; you are invited however to
send your revised story in response to the class critique.

Freedom in writing fiction.

Anne Lamott, “First Drafts” https://wrd.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/1-Shitty%20First
%20Drafts.pdf
“The Rememberer” by Aimee Bender. https://missourireview.com/article/the-rememberer/
“The Sacrificial Egg,” Chinua Achebe

March 25. Forms of short fiction.

Flash fiction by Lydia Davis, Jamaica Kincaid, and others: https://lithub.com/11-very-short-
stories-you-must-read-immediately/
“Emergency,” Dennis Johnson. https://www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/stories-week-2014-
2015/story-week/emergency-denis-johnson

April 1. Various genres—sci-fi, gothic and ghost stories.

“Harrison Bergeron,” Kurt Vonnegut. https://archive.org/stream/HarrisonBergeron/Harrison
%20Bergeron_djvu.txt
“The Eyes Have It,” Philip K. Dick. https://www.pkd-books.com/the-eyes-have-it
“Rose for Emily,” Faulkner. https://mrkingrocks.com/files/rose.pdf

April 8. Final class. We’ll summarize what we have learned, and you all can read a page or two
(no more than two) from your fiction.

April 15. Your work for the semester portfolio is due. A story or 2-3 short shorts or a novel
chapter (altogether 15 pp). The sketches, 5 pp. At least twelve substantial paragraphs (150 words
or more) of the work you read and analyzed during the semester, addressing the craft techniques
you have noticed.