About this Event
For writers of sci-fi, fabulism, magical realism, horror, dystopian or speculative fiction, introducing readers to the rules of your world while avoiding clumsy exposition can be a daunting challenge.
What can literary greats working outside of realism teach us about making stories in new worlds? What can we uncover about how to execute exposition, character, scene, theme, symbolism, and mystery? How do stories employing unreal, surreal, magical, or sci-fi elements tell us about ourselves?
Each week, students will read short stories or excerpts which illustrate craft concepts across a variety of genres; possible texts by Ted Chiang, Joy Williams, Octavia Butler, Gabriel García Márquez, Carmen Maria Machado, Ling Ma, Mariana Enriquez, Shirley Jackson, Lesley Nneka Arimah, and Karen Russell. We will discuss the readings, have a short craft talk, and explore an in-class writing prompt. There is no formal workshop component, but students will have the opportunity to receive peer feedback on short excerpts of their work. Students should expect to read the texts outside of class and arrive ready to discuss.
The workshop will run every Thursday from 7pm - 8:30pm from March 13th to March 17th.
There are only 5 spaces available, so register soon!
Facilitator Bio:
Emily Johnson is a writer and teacher dividing her time between Brooklyn and Toronto. She has an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University, where she was the Print Fiction Editor of the Columbia Journal, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Columbia’s Undergraduate Creative Writing Program. She has been longlisted for The New Quarterly's Peter Hinchcliffe Fiction Award, and her work can be found in PRISM International Magazine.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Toronto Writers' Centre, 500 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Canada
CAD 182.02
