Creative Writing: The Short Story

BASIC COURSE: Creative Writing: The Short Story 1 (5 weeks)
Week #1 2013-03-07	Week #2 2013-03-14	Week #3 2013-03-21	Week #4 2013-03-28	Week #5 2013-04-04
ADVANCED COURSE: Creative Writing: The Short Story 2 (6 weeks)
Week #1 Introduction to the Class 2013-03-07	Week #2 The Parts of a Story 2013-03-14	Week #3 Writing the First Draft 2013-03-21	Week #4 The Business of Writing 2013-03-28	Week #5 Peer Review 2013-04-04	Week #6 The Final Draft and Wrap-Up 2013-04-11

Welcome to Creative Writing: The Short Story 1 & 2!

Welcome to Creative Writing: The Short Story 1 & 2, currently being offered through Bangor Adult and Community Education by instructor David M. Fitzpatrick. Starting in 2013, the previous single class has been split into two classes to better accommodate students of different levels.

Creative Writing: The Short Story 1 (CWSS1)
Anyone can write short fiction in this fun and easy course designed for the casual creative writer. Each night will cover different story-writing aspects and get you writing immediately with fun exercises. Students must bring USB flash drives and should be familiar with using a Web browser and Microsoft Word.

Creative Writing: The Short Story 2 (CWSS2)
This intensive, fast-moving course is packed with lessons, exercises, take-home assignments, and a semester project to complete a story and submit it to a national fiction magazine. Students will learn storybuilding techniques, storytelling skills, and the business aspects of writing. This course relies on student teamwork and is intended only for serious writers. Prerequisites: Students must be approved by the instructor; if you sign up, the instructor will contact you, so please provide an email address. Students must bring USB flash drives and should be familiar with using a Web browser and Microsoft Word. NOTE: If you signed up for this class and don't meet the requirements, you are not going to enjoy this class. Consider switching to CWSS1, the Wednesday-night class, to try that one first.

HELPFUL INFORMATION

About the instructor David M. Fitzpatrick is no Stephen King, but he knows about writing short stories and getting them published. Plus, he writes for a living. Here's everything you need to know about him.	About the anthology series I'm publishing an ongoing series called Spectrum Stories. Read about the current titles in the series: A Quiet Blue Wheel, An Odd Red Puzzle, The Forgotten White Door, and the new title, That Amazing Green Toy.	Anthology Guidelines We no longer do anthologies for the class, but click here to read the previous AGT submission guidelines. I hope to do anthologies in the future, and this will give you an idea of what I'd been doing.
"Reflecting" the antho's title If you've been invited to submit into one of my anthologies, you know you must craft stories that in some way "reflect" the title of the anthology. How do you do this? Here are a few examples, along with a great student outline for her story in the anthology An Odd Red Puzzle.	Writer's Glossary I've tried to define many of the most common terms you'll hear about in the world of writing fiction. This includes many examples of writing forms.	StoryBoard A handy, brief, seven-step process to writing a short story and submitting it for publication. This won't make you a great writer, but it will show you the ropes of how it's done.
Methods of Writing Writing by hand or with a typewriter is fine until you have to share your work with others in class. Plus, there are many reasons you should embrace technology.	Recommended Reading I have a selection of books that I routinely recommend to fiction writers. I'm providing them here with brief descriptions of each, and why I feel they're invaluable to any writer.	In Memoriam To those who don't know, Penny Lehman from our Spring 2010 class passed away. Penny died March 26 following an unattended heart attack. Read more about Penny here.

USEFUL FILES

Manuscript template This template is a Word document that is preformatted for most of what you need for standard manuscript format. It is double-spaced with one-inch margins; there is a formatted header; and there is a block on page one for your personal information. Use this whenever you begin a new writing project. Remember: underline when you mean italics (unless a publication requests otherwise) and use a # on an empty-line scene break.		Short-Story Checklist Once you're done your first draft of your project story, or editing someone else's, use this checklist to ask yourself questions to make sure you're on the right track.	Microsoft Works converter For converting Works files to Word docs. (We seem to need it frequently in class, usually when someone has written in Works and has brought work in that cannot be opened in Word.)
Manuscript format example This is not the manuscript template. That's above. This is an example of standard manuscript format. Note: Editors may require specific differences; check local listings!	Submitting your work This covers all the basics of submitting to a publication, in short form.	Cover letter examples Five examples of the same cover letter, with explanations on why they're good or bad.	Contract example A sample contract. Contracts vary wildly. Always read any contract you sign very carefully!