Writing Workshop #3 (recap)

If you missed the Writing Workshop this Thursday (8/4), or simply want to see the images and prompt again, here you go! The goal of this response was to try to use a character to jumpstart a story, since many of the best stories start with characters first, and then use who they are, and their own internal conflicts and desires to form a story.

Writing Workshop #3: Choose one of the self-portraits above and write a story about this person, either interpreting the portrait literally or symbolically. Who are these people, and why do they depict themselves like this? What kind of story could they be in? What conflicts or relationships are they in the middle of? What genre do they exist in?

Comments

Examples of Cover Letters and Manuscript Format (for Story #1)

SAMPLE COVER LETER Dear Connor, Jessika, Kara, or Other Editor, (you can find the editors' names on the website) Please accept my story science-fiction story, "The Real Mona Lisa," for consideration in a future issue of Chatterbox Literary. The story is 6,051 words and has not been submitted elsewhere or published previously. (always give the genre, title, word count, and if you're sending it to other publications at the same time). I am a professor of English at a small university in Oklahoma, where I teach classes in writing (mostly to people who hate writing), British literature, and the Humanities. My stories have most recently appeared in After Dinner Conversation, Allegory, and The Lorelei Signal. (if you don't have any publications, you can just leave this blank, or add more of your bio--something colorful and interesting without being too cute) Thank you, Joshua Grasso SAMPLE MANUSCRIPT FORMAT Joshua Grasso ...

For Monday: Best American SF/F, Forward and Introduction

For Monday's class, read the Forward by John Joseph Adams, and the brief Introduction by the guest editor (and famous author) Nnedi Okorafor. These are both pretty short and are NOT stories, but they explain two important things: * How stories are chosen for a genre publication like this one: both where the stories come from and what the criteria for choosing them are * What genre means to both writers, and especially Okorafor, who writes speculative fiction. We also get an insight into how she markets her work, and whether or not genre distinctions are all that important to her. I won't give you any questions or quizzes over this reading, but we will talk about it in detail on Monday, and some of these ideas may factor into future writings in one way or another.

Welcome to the Course! Now Get Writing...

Welcome to the blog site for our Fall 2026 Creative Writing: Genre course, focusing on writing what is popularly known as "speculative fiction," which comprises genres such as science-fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, and their various subgenres. The goal of this class is to allow you to experiment with different styles and approaches to writing fiction, using the lens of the fantastic and the bizarre. Don't worry if you've never done this before, or if you don't even read sci-fi or fantasy literature--you don't need to! The point of this class, as in most college classes, is to grow, experiment, and have fun while doing so. The guilding quote for this class, borrowed from the great speculative fiction writer, Ursula K. Le Guin is: “The artist deals with what cannot be said in words. The artist whose medium is fiction does this in words . The [writer] says in words what cannot be said in words” (Ursula K. LeGuin, Introduction to The Left Hand of Darkness )....

ENG 3733: CW Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror

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