Taught by James Tate Hill, contributing editor for Lit Hub, fiction editor for the literary journal Monkeybicycle, and author of Blind Man's Bluff (W.W. Norton, 2021), which includes his essay from Prairie Schooner listed among the Notables in Best American Essays 2020.

In this 8-week course we will create and learn about short fiction that is risk-taking and full of discovery. In Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, she says, “Because this business of becoming conscious, of being a writer, is ultimately about asking yourself, “How alive am I willing to be?” Together, we will work on allowing our writing to take us to surprising places, to show us what we are thinking, to bring us the spark of topics, places, and people we want to explore.  Throughout the course, you will complete two creative drafts of stories and you will grow as a reader and writer through providing feedback on your classmates’ writing.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Discover and develop the basic building blocks of short fiction
• Experiment with new techniques to stretch creative skills and voice
• Receive peer and instructor feedback on two short works

NOTE: Students are required to purchase Thrill Me by Benjamin Percy. Links to published stories will be listed in the syllabus and provided by the instructor via email.

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

This class is entirely asynchronous which means you complete the weekly assignments on your own schedule. There are no set meeting times in order to allow for greater participation; your cohort will consist of writers from across different time zones, which allows for a wonderful diversity of voices.

Along with your weekly deadlines there is plenty of interaction with JT and your peers within Wet Ink, our dedicated online classroom. Craft materials, lectures, reading assignments, and writing prompts are all available through the online classroom. Students also post work and provide and receive feedback within the online classroom environment.

You can get the work done as you see fit week-to-week, so it is perfect for any schedule. There are discussion questions each week inspired by the assigned readings and topics in the lecture notes. Students are encouraged to take these wherever is most compelling and/or useful for them. JT engages with these discussions throughout the week and you will receive feedback from all assigned writing activities.

HOW DOES WET INK WORK?

Wet Ink was built and designed specifically for online writing classes. Wet Ink is private, easy to use, and very interactive. You can learn more about the Wet Ink platform by Watching a Class Demo.

• Instructor: James Tate Hill
• Class size limited to 9 writers
• Starts June 27th, 2022
• Course is fully ONLINE; students can work according to their own schedule within weekly deadlines. Once you have enrolled the instructor will send you a link to our online classroom, provided via Wet Ink.