I am offering the graduate-level 
Novella Writing Workshop for the very first time this spring. 
Those who’ve had me for writing workshops before should note that this is a very 
different model. We will not be “workshopping” per se, but instead aiming  to 
write an entire 40,000-word (or in that range) novella in the course of one semester. 
Will they be perfect books? I doubt it. But they will give you something to use as a starting point, 
a very rough draft. I can tell you the secret to writing a novel or novella: write a novel/novella. 
This semester you can learn that secret.
 
Students will have weekly word count requirements. If this sounds
a bit like the National Novel Writing Month, that’s no coincidence. It is inspired by both that 
and a graduate course taught at George Mason University.
 
We will spend the first few weeks coming up with a plan/structure for your novel, then we set off while 
reading a series of novellas as both models and inspiration for the journey. 
Sound intriguing? Sign up. I expect this class to fill quickly. 
Many of you may use what you write in it as the basis for your MLA final project.
 
Despite what the schedule says, we will meet week from 6:50 p.m. until about 8:15 p.m. on Mondays. 
You will help each other to stay on track to completing your work.
 
Here’s our reading list, none of which cost more than $10 or so new and much less used:
 
Kaye Gibbons--Ellen Foster 
F. Scott Fitzgerald--The Great Gatsby 
Larry McMurtry--Horseman, Pass By 
Jane Smiley-- Ordinary Love and Good Will (we will read Good Will)
Lan Samantha Chang--Hunger 
Andre Dubus-- We Don't Live Here Anymore: Three Novellas (We will read Adultry)
Chris Baty-- No Plot? No Problem!  
E. M. Forster--Aspects of the Novel