Fiction Writing Workshop with Jonathan Blum

When was the last time you read a story that you couldn’t put down? We all want to write such stories, but how do we do it?

In this six week course, we will workshop short stories or novel excerpts of up to 20 pages, with the goal of helping each writer identify and build on the strengths of their work. In so doing, we will discuss what makes a piece of fiction irresistible. Among the questions we will consider: In what ways does this fiction engage and move us? Does the fiction have a recognizable structure that serves the writer’s artistic aims? Do the events that make up the plot connect to create meaning? Do we have a strong sense of who the characters are? Is setting used effectively? Does the language capture our imagination? What is the story really about?

Instructor 

Jonathan Blum is a graduate of UCLA and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He is the author of two books of fiction: The Usual Uncertainties, which Electric Literature named one of the 15 best short story collections of 2019, and Last Word, a novella, which was named on of the best books of 2013 by Iowa Public Radio. His short stories have appeared in California Quarterly, Gulf Coast, Kenyon Review, and the Sonora Review, among others. Blum has taught fiction writing at the University of Iowa, Drew University, and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. He is the recipient of a Michener-Copernicus Society of America Award, a Hawthornden fellowship in Scotland, and a grant from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation.

Registration

Class size limited to ten students. Students of all experience are welcome.

Class meets on Saturdays in Arts District DTLA.

Cost: $610 per person.

Refundable until October 26, 2022.

Contact: Jonathan Blum jonathanblumort@gmail.com