Event – Detail

This craft course will explore the many forms fictional stories can take, and how we as writers can play with structure to create compelling, singular narratives. From the traditional pyramid to experimental lists to meandering lines, we’ll consider questions of plot, voice, characterization, and the manipulation of time, all through the lens of story shape. In addition to reading and discussing model short stories by writers like Zadie Smith, Donald Barthelme, and Anne Carson, participants will experiment with writing and revising their own work according to new forms. For creative writers of all levels and persuasions.

Leigh N. Gallagher is a writer and educator based in Philadelphia. She’s the author of the novel Who You Might Be (Henry Holt, 2022) and her fiction, non-fiction, and reviews have appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Lit Hub, Full Stop, American Short Fiction, Salt Hill, and the Reading Room anthology, as well as in nontraditional formats through collaborations with artists and musicians. A graduate of the Helen Zell Writer’s Program at the University of Michigan, she’s led classes and workshops at a range of institutions, including Pratt, the City University of New York, the University of Michigan, the Center for Talented Youth, Blue Stoop, InsideOut Detroit, and the Detroit Art Book Fair.