#  English CFMR. Interiority & Experience: Writing Character-Driven Fiction: Workshop 

 



 Instructor: [Claire Messud](/people/claire-messud)  
Wednesday, 3:00-5:45pm | Location: Barker 269  
*Enrollment: Limited to 12 students*

 This course approaches the writing of fiction with character at its center. If fiction is an exploration of what it’s like to be alive on the planet, character is paramount: we are who we are because of a combination temperament and experience. You can’t write convincingly if you don’t know your characters: plot, voice, detail, dialogue, setting – all these elements of story are interwoven with and dependent upon character. While it will be primarily a workshop of student fiction, we will read and discuss fiction through the lens of character – including works by Gustave Flaubert, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Anton Chekhov, Brandon Taylor, Min Jin Lee, and Tayari Jones.   
  
**Supplemental Application Information:** This course welcomes writers of all levels. Please submit 2-5 pages of creative (ie not academic) prose -- fiction or non-fiction -- along with a substantive letter of introduction. I’d like to know why you’re interested in the course; what experience you’ve had writing; what your goals and ambitions are for this course. Please tell me about some of your favorite narratives – fiction, non-fiction, film, etc: why they move you, and what you learn from them.



 



 

 See also:- [ Creative Writing Workshops ](/course-type/1-creative-writing-workshops)
- [ Spring 2025 ](/term/spring)