Sample Residency Presentations in  Popular Fiction

Stonecoast offers a uniquely rich residency curriculum of classes, panels, lectures, presentations and discussions, presented by Stonecoast faculty along with selected alumni, current students, and visiting writers. Presentations relate to all aspects of creative writing, from expert publishing advice to detailed explorations of the writing craft. from literary analysis to punctuation, from writing about race and class to balancing writing and family. Some presentations are cross-genre in nature, while others are specific to one genre. Here are some recent presentations focusing on issues in popular fiction.

Genre is not a Four-Letter Word

Nancy Holder, James Patrick Kelly, Kelly Link and Julia Spencer-Fleming   

Stonecoast is one of the few writing programs in the country that awards an MFA in popular fiction.  For the most part, we have defined popular fiction in terms of genre.  But where does genre come from?   Writers?   Readers?  Editors?   Some maintain writing to genre is an aesthetic decision; others claim genre is a creature of the marketing department.  Meanwhile we are entering a golden age of genre blending.  There are calls to tear down the walls that separate genre writing from literary writing.  But did those walls ever exist?   Was Kurt Vonnegut a genre writer?   Can we now make the case for Raymond Chandler as a literary writer?   Four writers closely associated with genre discuss why they write what they write and talk about the benefits and drawbacks of being labeled with the "G" word.   

Suggested Readings:

Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely

Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle

Daniel Chandler, An Introduction to Genre Theory

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre/intgenre.html

Plotting: The Dark Art

Jim Kelly

Although in some circles, plot is regarded as secondary to characterization and perhaps even not all that important, in most of the genres of popular fiction, deft plotting is regarded as a virtue. Various experts have opined that there are only three basic plots. Or seven. Or nine. Or twenty. They are all probably right, but merely knowing the difference between the Rags to Riches plot and the Voyage and Return plot isn’t going to help you get your protagonist out of those tight fixes she seems to wander into with alarming regularity. Plot and character are to story as wave and particle are to the electron; they can’t be separated since they are different aspects of the same thing. But for the dark purposes of this class, we will pretend this isn’t so and take a very mechanistic view of plot. Over the ages, writers have developed schemes and techniques and shortcuts, and yes, tricks of plotting. (What, mistaken identities again, Mr. Shakespeare?) We’ll look at some of the easiest, the best and the most dangerous of these. Only those who feel certain that they can resist succumbing to the dark art of plotting should plan to attend.

Suggested Reading:

Nancy Kress, Beginnings, Middles and Ends

James Scott Bell, Plot and Structure

James Patrick Kelly, “Making Monsters” (http://www.jimkelly.net/pages/plotting.htm)

Tales Calculated to Keep You in ... Suspense

Julia Spencer-Fleming

Suspense is commonly associated with horror, thrillers, and mystery, but it's a literary technique as old as storytelling itself. Suspense is what makes the child ask, "What happens next?" and keeps the adult reader up until long after bedtime.  In this class, we will explore techniques for identifying places of high and low tension in your work, ramping up suspense, and creating "big moment" scene and chapter endings that will force your readers to keep turning those pages.

The readings for this class shed light on some of the many ways to build suspense into the narrative: through the hit-and-cut action of a thriller, the unreliable narrator of a YA novel, and multiple voices and viewpoints of a faux memoir. Come prepared to ask questions, take notes, and engage in a lively discussion.

Required Reading:

Max Brooks, World War Z

Lee Child, Echo Burning

Robin Merrow MacCready, Buried

Residency Reading Response: Students may select one

Max Brooks, World War Z

Lee Child, Echo Burning

Robin Merrow MacCready, Buried

Historical “Accuracy” in Historical Fiction
David Anthony Durham

I'd like to explore issues of accuracy in writing historically-set material for a contemporary audience. One of the major complaints critics raise about historical fiction is the specter of intrusive modernity. Is a character too "twenty-first century?" Is dialogue or description or interior life somehow too present-day? This is especially presented as an issue when the setting is well removed from us in time. How does one recognize such issues in their own writing? And, once recognized, are these issues necessarily weaknesses, or can they be workable strengths in your writing? We are, after all, contemporary writers writing for a contemporary audience. Considering that, how much historical accuracy is ever really possible or necessary?

Required Reading:
Barry Unsworth, The Song of the Kings (Norton paperback).

Harry Potter and What We Can Learn From Him

Kazim Ali, James Patrick Kelly and Elizabeth Searle

Elizabeth Searle, Jim Kelly and Kazim Ali lead a free-wheeling discussion on the Harry Potter phenom and what we as writers can learn from it.  Love him or hate him, Harry Potter is the biggest seller of our time, holding young readers spellbound.  Why Harry? Why do he and Hogwarts School and the Wizarding World speak so powerfully to an entire generation? How does his saga fit in with the traditions of Popular Fiction, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction? How do we assess JK Rowling as author? What, if anything, does all the fuss say about future readers?  Join the fray; bring your unbridled opinions and earn your O.W.L.

Required Reading:

JK Rowling, one or more volumes of the Harry Potter series

The Best Man For His World
Jenny Siler

Raymond Chandler writes in his essay, “The Simple Art of Murder”: "In everything that can be called art, there is a quality of redemption. Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be the best man for his world, and a good enough man for any world." Working against the backdrop of war and impending war, we will explore Chandler 's vision as applied to the spy thriller. Specifically, we will discuss the importance of and difficulties in creating authentic characters in a highly ambiguous world, and the various choices we as writers face in discussing redemption, both personal and public.

Required Reading:
Raymond Chandler, “The Simple Art of Murder”
Chris Hedges, “The Destruction of Culture,” from his book, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning
Tim O'Brien, “How to Tell a True War Story,” from his book, The Things They Carried

Suggested Reading:
Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon
Graham Greene, The Quiet American
John Le Carre, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold
Alan Furst, Dark Star

Return to Popular Fiction Genre Page

Related Links:

About the Popular Fiction Curriculum

Popular Fiction Faculty

Visiting Popular Fiction Writers

Popular Fiction Alumni Profile