What you'll learn
- How to read like a writer and write a short story
- How to deconstruct and examine in depth what makes a good short story
- How to critically analyse short stories written by classic and contemporary fiction writers ranging from Katherine Mansfield, Richard Yates, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- How to analyse technique and craft
- How to develop plot
- How to analyse and use dialogue
- Understand the use of literary techniques such as symbolism and flashbacks
- How to analyse conflict and resolution
- How to edit
Requirements
- An interest in short stories
Description
Learn how to read and write a short story by analysing texts from both international contemporary and classic authors as varied as Anton Chekhov, Richard Yates, Shirley Jackson, James Baldwin, Kurt Vonnegut, Flannery O'Connor, Katherine Mansfield, Margaret Atwood and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
By the end of this course you will have:
1. Learnt how to critically analyse and appreciate a short story for its technique in delivery;
2. Prepared the first draft of your own story;
3. Read a range of stories by international authors;
4. Been making notes of your own observations, experiences and emotions to help you write; and
5. Experimented with different aspects of the writing craft.
Sign up if you love reading short stories, have always wanted to be exposed to a more diverse range of authors and want to write one of your own.
Who this course is for:
- Short story lovers
Course content
- 01:21Course Organisation
- 01:08Course Structure
Instructor
![Farah Ahamed](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 64 64"%3E%3C/svg%3E){kind=avatar}
- 4.2 Instructor Rating
- 5 Reviews
- 55 Students
- 1 Course
Farah Ahamed writes short fiction which has been published in The Massachusetts Review, Comma Press, and Kwani?. Her stories are bound by an overall sense of oppression and rebellion and explore the ways in which culture, religion, politics and tribalism constrain and determine working life and relationships. They range in time from the early days of independence in East Africa to the present.
Her writing spans many themes –identity, self-determination, ethnic/religious/gender conflicts, through to relationships, and family dynamics. Throughout she is trying to understand our humanity: what sets us apart, and bring us together, as humans.
Recently she was longlisted for the Canadian CBC Books 2019 Short Story Award. She was joint winner of the inaugural Gerald Kraak Award and was highly commended in the London Short Story Prize. Her essays and stories have been shortlisted for the Thresholds Essay Prize, Screen Craft Prize, SI Leeds Literary Prize, DNA/Out of Print Award, and The Asian Writer Short Story Prize. She has been nominated for The Pushcart and Caine prizes.
Farah is a lawyer with a Diploma in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. She was born in Kenya and currently lives between London and Lahore. At the moment she is working on a short story collection inspired by Lahore.