It goes without saying that fiction writers need to read fiction—carefully, flexibly, broadly, deeply! But what clues and cues might be found in music and visual art that we can borrow for our written works? In this generative workshop, we will listen to music, look at art, and read the fiction and hybrid works of writers who have found new structural possibilities for literature in other art forms.

What might a wordless, eventless Chopin ballade have to teach about the rising action and dynamism considered bedrocks of compelling storytelling, for example? How might the cutting and collage techniques used by an artist like Lorna Simpson be replicated in a sentence, and to what effect? Might an image or a sound incite a plot as effectively as tense incident? And what new meanings might our fictions make when we pattern them in the manner of jazz arrangements (à la Toni Morrison), or still lifes (à la Stuart Dybek), or ragas (à la Amit Chaudhuri), or infinitesimally shifting light installations (à la Geoff Dyer)?

Each day we will collaboratively read at least one short literary work, engage with its extra-literary sources or correspondents, and then write an exercise employing the artistic strategies we’ve discussed. Though our focus will be on fiction, this course is open to writers of any genre. Students need not have any project already in progress, but should expect to generate several new and exciting starts!

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; provide first impressions on writing you produce in our week together.