Short Fiction Workshop
with Ken Foster

The great editor and novelist William Maxwell often said that when asked "What is your story about?" the only appropriate answer should be to read the story. Every page, every paragraph, every word should count. Yet, often as writers, we lose track of the story, or we make the mistake of holding onto our tiny original vision of where the story should take us.

This online workshop will focus on re-imagining stories that are stuck. Over the course of eight weeks, we will work individually and as a group, honing our skills of imagination and--perhaps even more important--editing and revision. This is a course for people who are willing to take chances, fall on their face, and not be embarrassed to be helped back onto their writing feet. While new work will be encouraged, it will be more useful for writers to come to the course with at least one piece that they are willing to tear apart. Additional assignments will use short exercises to practice particular skills and to reveal our talents and weaknesses to our workshop community (so that they can better critique us).

Each student will have the opportunity to workshop two full-length short stories. Story length is limited to fifteen pages for the workshop, so that we can focus on getting only the most essential elements on the page. In addition, there will be ample opportunties for online student discussions and consultations, and all students are encouraged to share work beyond the official workshop assignments.

In this class you can expect to learn:

--How to focus your story on the page
--How to cast a skeptical eye on your own work
--How to reimagine and explore latent possibilities in revision
--How to break out of your habits in characterization and plotting

Admission requirements:
You should submit a letter of interest, including a brief work history, previous courses, and a writing sample of no more than 15 pages.

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Ken Foster is the author of a collection of stories, The Kind I'm Likely to Get, which was a New York Times Notable Book. He is also the editor of two anthologies, The KGB Bar Reader, and Dog Culture: Writers on the Character of Canines. His memoir about dog rescue, The Dogs Who Found Me, will be published in 2005. In addition, his work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney's, The Believer, Village Voice, Newsday, Urban Dog,Salon and many other publications. From 1994-1998, he was the founding curator of the KGB Bar reading series in New York City. His column, "Storied Shorts," a review of current short story collections, appears in The Westchester Journal News. The recipient of fellowships from Yaddo, Sewanee Writers Conference and the New York Foundation for the Arts, Foster has taught at The New School, The Iowa Summer Writing Festival, and Florida State University.

Chic Lit: Writing Women's Literature
with Stephanie Lehmann

Sex. The city. Single girl. Cheating boyfriend. Glamorous job. Evil boss. Jimmy Choos. These are some of the staples of chicklit, the popular novels with candy colored covers that aren't romance and aren't literary, but something in between -- and a little of both. Editors are looking for the next Bridget Jones's Diary or The Devel Wears Prada because women, who make up 85% of all readers, are buying them up. In today's world, where we're expected to be smart and ambitious yet wear six inch heels, these books are like friends. Easy to relate to, intimate, funny, sarcastic, and definitely not preachy. They're a window into what's really going on inside the hearts and minds of other women. Often a form of masked memoir, chicklits can be light and breezy, but they can also be deeply felt stories of self-actualization.

Editors are looking for novels that will help the genre stay fresh. The market is constantly evolving; marriage, motherhood, and divorce are all part of this ongoing dialogue on what it means to be a woman today. You can be one of the writers who helps define what the genre will become.

In this class you can expect to learn:

--Strategies to help get out that first draft
--How to create a heroine your readers will root for
--How to plot her journey so everything goes wrong (at the right time)
--How to create romantic and sexual tension
--How to rewrite with the objectivity of a therapist
--Why you need an agent and how to get one
--Where to go for information about what's happening in publishing now
--How to find your voice -- the one that tells the story that can only be written by you

Admission requirements:
You should submit a letter of interest, including a brief work history, previous courses, and a writing sample of no more than 15 pages.

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Stephanie Lehmann is the author of Are You in the Mood?, Thoughts While Having Sex, and The Art of Undressing. Her plays have been produced Off Off Broadway, and she is a contributor to Salon.com. Originally from San Francisco, she's a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, and has an MA in Creative Writing from New York University. Lehmann now lives with her husband and two children in Manhattan, where she's an associate at the Elaine Koster Literary Agency. Her fourth novel will be published by Penguin/NAL in March 2006.

Basic Screenwriting
with Andy Craft

In this class we study the fundamental principles of writing for the screen. We look at how this accelerated form of story telling affects the emotional pitch of the experience we have of watching a movie. We study screenplay format and why it is the way it is. We study character and its effect on plot. We look at conflict and its motor function. We will study theme and premise and how they underpin the whole movie.

Each week a series of lectures addresses these indispensable tools. Students will be expected to watch movies at home, take part in online discussions and complete a variety of assignments designed to familiarize them with these essential elements of screenwriting. Students will be expected to begin work on developing a full length original script. (No adaptations, please!) The second half of the course will be devoted to workshopping these ideas.

By the end of the course students will be prepared to work on a full length original screenplay.

Admission requirements:
You should submit a letter of interest, including a brief work history, previous courses, and a writing sample of no more than 15 pages.

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Andy Craft has written and produced musical theatre in London and New York. Has worked as a script consultant and story developer for TenPaces Productions, Maniac Films, Longfellow Pictures, Ariel Semmel productions among others. He has taught screenwriting at beginners, intermediate and masterclass level at NYU for five years. He currently has a movie in development and is also working on a novel.

Advanced Screenwriting
with Andy Craft

You have created believable characters, you know who they are and why they do what they do. Or at least you hope so. You have a great idea for a plot and have begun to piece together an outline. It's almost right but somewhere in the middle things are, well, stuck. You have some great dialogue but no real reason for people to be saying it and you've also come up with some great ideas for some visuals, but somehow the whole idea is missing that sense of urgency that drives it forward to a satisfying conclusion.

In this course we revisit the guiding principles of screenwriting and see where you've skimped. We get to the heart of your original idea and find out what's good about it. Each week, a series of lectures and assignments covering character, theme, more character, stakes raising, conflict heightening (more character) and use of image will help you sharpen your story building skills. Students will be expected to share their ideas and process via online postings and discussion.

By the end of the class students will have a tight and seamless outline and the beginning scenes of an original movie that will work.

Admission requirements:
You must be entirely familiar with screenplay format. You should submit a letter of interest, including a brief work history, previous courses, and a writing sample of no more than 15 pages.

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Andy Craft has written and produced musical theatre in London and New York. Has worked as a script consultant and story developer for TenPaces Productions, Maniac Films, Longfellow Pictures, Ariel Semmel productions among others. He has taught screenwriting at beginners, intermediate and masterclass level at NYU for five years. He currently has a movie in development and is also working on a novel.