Advanced Fiction

ENGLISH CFE Subject & Catalog Number

Description

The course will consist of two halves. In the first hour of each class, we will be doing close readings/literary-critical analyses of an assigned text (see below, ‘Course Syllabus & Schedule’, for all the reading material for the semester), with the aim of isolating some aspect of the craft of writing in order to take bearings for your own. We will be looking at technical things such as point of view, free indirect discourse, narration, character, interiority, style, movement, affect, but also at broader issues: metaphysics, politics, inequality, race, colonialism/imperialism, the white gaze. You will not only have read the assigned text with critical rigor but also taken notes of the points you want to raise in class. Each week, two students will lead the discussions on the text for the week, and raise discussion topics, which the remaining students in the class will engage with. We are aiming for engaged, alert discussions, so it may help to have something written down to facilitate our conversations.

Please note: Reading the assigned text is obligatory. Previous Creative Writing workshop experience is desirable. Also, having taken a critical class on novels in any humanities department will be an advantage. If you’re writing YA fantasy, there are other courses on offer that would be a better fit.

In the second half of the class, divided into two equal segments of 55 minutes each, we will be workshopping the writing of two students. To this end, every week two students will hand in something they have written, to the tune of 2,500-5,000 words, to me and to everyone in the group, ideally one week before their turn. At our first meeting, I will circulate a rota for you to put down your names and walk you through the syllabus, the aims and objectives of the course, workshop rules, expectations, requirements etc. For our first workshopping session, two students should hand in work five to seven days before. Our goal is for each of you to have two turns, and approximately 5-10,000 words of your work critiqued, by the time semester ends. Copies of these writing samples will be returned to you at the end of each workshop with comments from me and from everyone in class. You are also expected to hand in to me the letters that you write to your peers, giving feedback on their work; 25% of your grade depends on this (see ‘Course policies, assignments, grading’ document. Work submitted must be single-sided, double-spaced, paginated and, ideally, bearing a title. It must have your name on it and, on the top right-hand corner of the first page, my name and ‘Advanced Fiction, Spring 2026’.