Chandler Klang Smith

Do we keep houses—or do they keep us? In this course, we will explore the house as a character with agency, capable of imprisoning, manipulating, disorienting, and profoundly altering its inhabitants. As we read a range of novels and short stories, ranging from unsettling realism to weird speculative fiction to outright classic horror, we will consider the literary techniques that can bring architecture and place to such uncanny life. Students will observe the unique and compelling ways that authors use points of view, typography, nested stories, in-world documents, flashbacks/flashforwards, and more to elevate the house beyond mere setting and will have an opportunity to put these tools to use in their own biweekly fiction exercises, which we will workshop and discuss as a group. At the end of the semester, each student will turn in a portfolio that reflects a new understanding of the house and all it can make room to conceal.

“World-building” in speculative fiction often brings to mind the maps on the endpapers of fantasy novels, showing the terrain that characters will traverse on their journeys. But in many great novels and stories, characters start out embedded in the heart of a labyrinth...and never find their way out. In this course, we’ll look at fictive universes that trap and delude their inhabitants, sending them on twisting routes to dead ends or keeping them in ignorance of the powers-that-be who are secretly determining the shape of their lives. We will closely read stories and novels from contemporary authors—including Kelly Link, Victor LaValle, Jonathan Lethem, Kazuo Ishiguro, Samantha Hunt, and others—in order to reverse-engineer the all-encompassing systems they present in their fiction, and students will try their hands at writing exercises inspired by these texts. Ultimately, we will ponder how writers can use systems to convey meaning and how characters can find meaning within them.

“World-building” in speculative fiction often brings to mind the maps on the endpapers of fantasy novels, showing the terrain that characters will traverse on their journeys. But in many great novels and stories, characters start out embedded in the heart of a labyrinth... and never find their way out. In this course, we'll look at fictive universes that trap and delude their inhabitants, sending them on twisting routes to dead ends or keeping them in ignorance of the powers-that-be who are secretly determining the shape of their lives. We'll closely read stories and novel excerpts from authors including Manuel Gonzales, Kelly Link, Victor LaValle, Jonathan Lethem, Kazuo Ishiguro, Samantha Hunt, Mark Z. Danielewski, and others, in order to reverse-engineer the all-encompassing systems they present in their fiction. Ultimately, we'll ponder how writers can use systems to convey meaning, and how characters can find meaning within them.

E. L. Doctorow famously said of writing a novel, “It’s like driving a car at night: you never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” This is undoubtedly a valid approach… but not the only one. In this course, we will work on developing the tools—the atlas, the compass, the GPS—that allow you to relax your white-knuckled grip on the wheel and enjoy the journey with the confidence of knowing where your book is going (and why). If we are lucky, maybe you will even be able to take your eyes off the road for a second to gaze out of the moon roof at the stars. Each student will submit their writing twice: first an excerpt, ideally from the beginning of the manuscript, and then a dossier of materials that concretely lay out the premise, plot, chronology, structure, lore, character arcs, and more. We will talk about process and strategies for shaping the raw material of your imaginings into an expressive whole, and read and discuss two or three contemporary speculative novels with thought-provoking designs. We will consider genre expectations, the way fantastical elements bear on stakes and causality, and how intricate the worldbuilding needs to be in service of your goals. However, fortunately or unfortunately and despite our best efforts, fiction will continue to resist our attempts to demystify it completely. The map is not the territory. No matter what useful routes we chart, we will never predict all the unknowns you will encounter along that lonely midnight road.

Do you have an idea for a sci-fi, fantasy, horror, dystopian, or just plain weird novel...but find yourself struggling to find a way into the story? Do you want to transport your readers to a glittering future, a mythic kingdom, a haunted house, or an apocalyptic wasteland...but don't know the best narrator and/or protagonist to guide them? Fear not! In this writing workshop, we'll examine a handful of contemporary speculative novels to unlock the secrets of how they bring their characters—and therefore their narratives—to such uncanny life. Then you'll apply those lessons to writing your own fiction that your peers will read, discuss, and then provide feedback. By the end of the semester, when you turn in a revision of the excerpt that you workshopped, you'll have your main character’s voice, motivation, backstory, internal conflict, and deepest fears coming across vividly on the page.

Speculative fiction is a blanket term for writing that speculates on a world unlike our own. Sci-fi, fantasy, and horror are a few of the best-known categories; but speculative fiction also encompasses the uncategorizable—work that challenges our understanding of causality, time, the self, the mind, and the cosmos…or that just barely cracks the surface of the familiar, allowing the weird to seep through. At its best, speculative fiction uses imagination and metaphor to explore ideas and facets of the human experience that would otherwise remain unexpressed. In this course, we will read short stories and novels by mostly contemporary speculative-fiction authors, with a writerly eye for technique. We will also workshop fiction by students; discuss process and goals; and form a supportive, constructive community where even the wildest visions can flourish.

Speculative fiction is a blanket term for writing that speculates on a world unlike our own. Sci-fi, fantasy, and horror are a few of the best-known categories, but speculative fiction also encompasses the uncategorizable—work that challenges our understanding of causality, time, the self, the mind, and the cosmos…or that just barely cracks the surface of the familiar, allowing the weird to seep through. At its best, speculative fiction uses imagination and metaphor to explore ideas and facets of the human experience that would otherwise remain unexpressed. In this course, we will read short stories and novels by mostly contemporary speculative fiction authors with a writerly eye for technique. We will also workshop fiction by students, discuss process and goals, and form a supportive, constructive community where even the wildest visions can flourish.