Intro to the Short Story [Jeff Bender]
Introductory | “Where does one begin?” asks Amy Hempel in an essay on short stories. Her answer: “With obsession and nerve and ground worth reporting on.” This six-week online introduction lays down a few simple but fundamental craft concepts for writing short stories. Students will generate and workshop new work while we discuss passages from Hempel, Denis Johnson, Sandra Cisneros, and Jamaica Kincaid. Students should be willing to risk vulnerability and intimacy.