Reading as a Writer

“Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. If it is good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window.”  —William Faulkner  

“My advice to young writers? Read at least 1,000 pages a month. Every month.”  —Sherman Alexie  

One of the best ways to become a skilled writer is to become a skilled reader. In this special creative writing seminar, you will learn to read in a way you were probably never taught in literature classes—not as a reverent admirer but as a craftsperson, an apprentice in the  guild. You will learn how to X-ray any piece of writing from its design to its prose, so that you can make their strategies your own. Examining contemporary masters like Alice  Munro, Joan Didion, and George Saunders, you will learn not only particular techniques but also the reading strategies for uncovering them.  

This course will be valuable for the beginning or advanced writer alike. We will consider traditional elements such as plot, dialogue and point of view, but also more specific ones such as time management, gesture, and metonymy. We will discuss both fiction and creative nonfiction and both traditional and experimental approaches to each. And we will look at both design elements (like plot, point of view and image systems) and prose elements (patterns that help produce narrative voice, style and tone). We will read a wide variety of mostly contemporary authors, including Akhil Sharma, Carmen Machado,  Cheryl Strayed, Colum McCann, Jesmyn Ward, Louise Erdrich, Ha Jin, Eula Biss, Lorrie  Moore, Annie Dillard, Lysley Tenorio, Jhumpa Lahiri, Wallace Stegner, Margaret Atwood,  Barry Lopez, Ocean Vuong, Alice Walker, Ted Chiang, and Tobias Wolff.  

Our analysis of stories and essays in the course will be quite detailed and specific, focusing on particular craft elements. You will learn, for example, how to discover what makes a physical description effective, how to advance plot with dialogue, and how to map the development of a piece’s insight. You will also learn reading strategies that will help you identify on your own what makes great writing great. 

Instructor: Jonah Willihnganz.