Sparks in the Void: A Fiction-Writing Workshop

When I began teaching writing at Sarah Lawrence College, I was of the write-what-you-know school and pushed my students to “mine their experience in search of hidden truths” (or something like that). In the 10 intervening years, I’ve traveled 180 degrees from this position, so this course will emphasize the value of play and experimentation in the creation of short fiction. Our reading list may include a short novel or two (Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson, The Collected Works of Billy the Kid by Michael Ondaatje), as well as numerous short stories by writers whose works seem—as the late novelist John Hawkes once phrased it—“plucked from the void.” These writers may or may not include Robert Coover, Dawn Raffel, Joy Williams, Stanley Elkin, Rick Moody, Shelley Jackson, Donald Barthelme, and Harlan Ellison, along with an array of others of whom you probably have not heard. In addition to generating weekly responses to strange assignments, students will each “workshop” at least one story and possibly two. But to be honest, I have grown suspicious of the peer-critique model. We will be writing all the time; but rather than using peer critique as an instructive tool, we will instead use great and unorthodox published works—with a bit of peer critique thrown in for good measure. I am looking for generous individuals who are open to experimentation and play in fiction or who are interested in defining (or redefining) their work in nontraditional terms. That said, the course is offered (generously) to writers of all levels and backgrounds.