What is it that makes a story a story? Short stories come in all shapes and forms, but in order for a piece to land, there must be a shift, or the explicit lack of a shift. More often than not, identifying what the shift is, or where the story turns, is something that emerges in the revision process.
This class will look at portions of stories written by Z.Z. Packer, Tania James, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, YiYun Li and others and discuss how authors writes the shift. Is it a dramatic event? An emotional change? A long pending realization? And at what point in the story does the shift occur? Participants will also spend time with their own work. Students should either bring a short story to class that needs work and/or be prepared to generate material based on class discussion. You will leave this class with a better version of your story along with tools you can apply to your other work.