Welcome to the literary fiction workshop
Purpose. To provide free instruction on writing literary fiction. (Literary fiction as an art form is an imagined story told in a series of interrelated scenes that enlightens about what it means to be human.)
Who will benefit? Any writer of prose fiction. Literary writers, seeking meaning in story, will especially benefit from exercises focused on desire, motivation, action, credibility, and information transfer.
How to participate:
- 1) Assignments are posted periodically. (You can receive email alerts by RSS subscription, available on each page.) References are given. Rationale for completing the assignment presented. When appropriate, examples are given.
- 2) To participate, Submit your solution to the assignment.
- 3) A critique of your response will be posted. (You can see examples by reading assignments.)
- 4) Responses and critiques are saved with the assignments for future reference and study. Access is free and open to all. You are welcome to resubmit your work after revision too. There are two ways to submit: 1) work off line and paste the completed work in the box (note that you will not be able to access it for revision after you submit), 2) work online in the box, (but,remember, you will have to submit when you finish working on line or your work will be lost, and once submitted you will not be able to edit.
- 5) There is a word limitation that is different for each assignment. Only text with words under the word limit is accepted.
Purpose: Using a famous scene by Flaubert, change the POV (twice) to practice writing in different POV’s and to learn advantages, disadvantages, and restrictions each point of view presents. Be aware: Read the Assignment
Purpose: exploring genre and literary fiction; writing purposeful dialogue; learning to think and create characters.
Purpose: to create a literary story (character-based) with six scenes, each scene limited to 250-words, a story that embodies beginning/middle/end, dramatic elements, and develops characterization through action, that is showing rather than telling.
What to do.
Write your own story beginning. Analyze the examples, and determine what you want to accomplish with your beginning. Read the Assignment
Rewriting a famous story ending. “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Purpose.
Using this famous and well-loved story ending as a template, with your own imagination, create a scene that provides different meaning for story, and still maintains interest and the suspense for the reader to read on. Read the Assignment
Purpose.
Using the prompt provided, learn to create a character-based fictional scene, balancing narrative description, dialogue, and internalization and burying exposition so it does not intrude into story delivery. Read the Assignment
INSTRUCTIONS
The quality of sentences in fiction are crucial for conveying meaning, shaping character, providing momentum for the story, establishing voice not in dialogue, stimulating images, transferring ideas, providing rhythmic structure for reading ease and pleasure.
INSTRUCTIONS
This is a famous photograph from the cover of life magazine. Create three scenes, each no longer than 500 words.
