Short Fiction Writing: Making Stories More Vivid

Learn writing techniques that will help your stories linger in readers' minds.

This four-week course explores the mechanics of short fiction, with a focus on why certain stories seem to come alive on the page while others fall flat. You’ll analyze the small but powerful choices you can make as a writer—how to make settings pop, how to sketch characters in a few quick strokes, and how to make dialogue pulse with energy. By exploring the works of legendary authors, you’ll see how they used these techniques to turn simple elements into captivating stories.

The course begins by focusing on setting and how you can describe a location in ways that are not only accurate but compelling. From there, you'll work on characterization techniques, helping you craft characters that are memorable and nuanced, even in a brief appearance. You’ll explore how to create characters with distinct voices and reveal their personalities through subtle actions and details. Finally, the course teaches you approaches to dialogue that elevate your stories, such as using argument, miscommunication, and indirect conversation to heighten tension and reveal character.

Throughout the course, you’ll learn to make better use of the textures of language itself—how the specific words and sentence structures you choose can enhance the emotional and narrative power of your story. By the end of the course, you'll have generated several short pieces and participated in workshopping sessions that help you refine and expand upon your writing.

What you will learn:

✔ Create vivid settings that draw readers in through both straightforward description and defamiliarizing techniques
✔ Create complex, memorable characters with just a few well-chosen details
✔ Craft dynamic, high-energy dialogue that reveals character and builds tension
✔ Use the texture and rhythm of language to elevate your writing and create stories that resonate with readers

Prerequisite Skills

• Completion of Introduction to Creative Writing, or equivalent knowledge and/or experience.