Tuesdays 6-8PM, 2/8, 2/15, 2/22, 3/1, 3/8, 3/15, 3/22, 3/29 (Makeup Class: 4/5)

Cost: $400, with financial aid very available to residents of Greater Philadelphia (Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties).

It's thrilling to start a new story. The characters crackle. The plot feels like it's never been thought of before. The blank page doesn't intimidate, it beckons. But what about all those stories that once thrilled you? The ones labeled in your Documents folder that haven't been opened in months...or is it years? Rereading and revising might not give us the same thrill but those skills are often as, if not more, vital to the writing life than the ability to generate new work.

In this course, participants will hone those skills by re-engaging with the same work multiple times. Using just three contemporary short stories, we will read and reread each story to dissect its plot and theme, structure, character development, and language. Craft essay readings will amplify the in-class discussions. Participants will also write and rewrite their own work, workshopping two versions of the same story. At the end of the class, the goal is for participants to leave with a deepened understanding of their own work and a greater knowledge of the ways in which they can reimagine the stories they write. Participants should come to the first class prepared to submit a full draft of a story no more than 15 pages that they would like to revise.

Camille Acker was raised in Washington, DC. She is the author of the short story collection, Training School for Negro Girls, published in October 2018 by The Feminist Press. She holds a B.A. in English from Howard University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from New Mexico State University. Her work has received support from the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Millay Colony for the Arts, Voices of Our Nations Arts (VONA), the Norman Mailer Writers Colony, and Callaloo Writers Workshop. She co-edited Dismantle: An Anthology from the VONA/Voices Workshop. She has taught at New Mexico State University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago Writers Studio, Blue Stoop in Philadelphia, and Tin House. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Electric Literature, Publishers Weekly, LitHub, VICE, and DAME Magazine, among others.