Instructors: Ben Fama
Price range: $75.00 through $175.00
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During these weeks together, I hope to foster an exciting and comfortable place for us to come together and discuss how fiction works, as well as ways to improve your own writing. Learning to write, finding your voice, and discovering what you want to write about takes years, and the best way forward is to continue writing while assimilating the experience from class as you continue working. It is also important to read a lot, as much as possible, and think about what you enjoy about the things you really enjoy.
We will close read and discuss authors such as Mary Gaitskill, Margaret Atwood, Donald Barthelme, Angela Carter, Dennis Cooper, and more.
General questions/notes:
Find techniques and strategies that the writer uses that you can use in your own writing. What details are they focusing on about people places and things, and where do those details guide us.
Find the things you, as a writer, notice first (observe without judgment).
Read the story twice consecutively.
Short stories usually arrange themselves around the “event.” Think about the event and what effect it has on the characters. How does the world the story builds give them space to react? In novels, characters are brought from one condition to another. Short stories don’t have this space necessarily. Maybe we should ask, what events in the story (and ideas about the world) is the space of the writing accommodating?
We will workshop on a rotating basis, everyone will submit twice over the four weeks. Submissions should be limited to 20 pages max (double spaced). Be sure to submit your piece by Wednesday evening, midnight, before Friday’s class.
Ben Fama is the author of the full length poetry collections Fantasy (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2015) and Deathwish (Newest York, 2018). His debut novel If I Close My Eyes is now available from Sarka Press. He is the editor of Wonder Books and lives in New York City.
Virtual classes are usually based on video conferencing. At the moment we use Zoom. Instructors may utilize email as well as the specific ‘class page’ to share materials.
Class pages are accessible to students through their account page. CLICK HERE to visit your account.
Each class is different, and Ruth Stone House allows a wide degree of freedom to instructors as to how they run their classes. If you miss a class or have technical problems you can request a video link to the class you missed.
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In order to attend a Zoom based class, make sure you meet these technical requirements: Click here
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FInancial aid is applied for on a class by class basis. Not all classes offer financial aid. There is a limited amount of funding available, and aid is awarded in the order received.
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