Ian Stansel

Biography

Ian Stansel is the author of the short story collections Glossary for the End of Days (Acre Books, 2020) and Everybody’s Irish (FiveChapters, 2013), a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, and the novel The Last Cowboys of San Geronimo (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017). His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in numerous venues such as Ploughshares, Salon, Joyland, The Cincinnati Review, and elsewhere. A native of the Chicago area, he holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a PhD from the University of Houston. He currently directs the Creative Writing Program at the University of Louisville. He lives in Kentucky with his wife, the writer Sarah Strickley, and their two daughters.

Events

Ian Stansel photo

Novel Beginnings: Writing Effective First Pages

When
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Event status
Scheduled
Presenters
Short Description
Questions of how and where to begin a book plague novelists at every level of accomplishment. How do we capture the imagination of our readers and hold their attention? How do we hook them without offering gimmicks? In this class we’ll draw inspiration from some of classic and contemporary literature’s great openings and try to figure out how and why they work so well. Then, through in-class exercises, we’ll look at how you can employ these techniques in your own novel projects. We’ll workshop student novel openings through constructive and supportive discussion. Our focus will be on how we sculpt the raw materials of an early draft into compelling first sentences, paragraphs, and chapters that will urge both general readers and editors to turn to page two and beyond.

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments; provide feedback on writing you produce in our weekend; critique writing you bring from home.
Ian Stansel photo

Short Story Workshop

When
-
Event status
Scheduled
Presenters
Short Description
The focus of this workshop will be two-fold: examining your existing drafts through constructive, encouraging dialogue; and generating new work through in-class exercises. We’ll look at a select few essays on craft and a handful of published stories to help illustrate the ideas brought up, and we’ll discuss such issues as character agency, point-of-view choices, scene development and dialogue, and plot construction. We will workshop one full story from each student. By the end of the week, you’ll not only have a solid handle on revision plans for your own work, but you’ll also come away with a deeper understanding of multiple craft elements—an understanding that you will be able to bring to your next projects.

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments; provide feedback on writing you produce in our week; critique writing you bring from home.
Ian Stansel photo