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Short Fiction

Module description

This module will develop your writing practices by focusing on the short story. The module introduces a range of approaches to the genre from the traditional to the innovative. Published short fiction in English, along with short fiction translated from other languages, will serve as models toward a broad knowledge of the form. Through practical exercises and workshop discussions of your own short fiction, you will develop awareness and understanding of textual forms, content, and style. You will also develop an appreciation of the processes involved in writing short fiction, including drafting, revising, editing, developing ideas, and awareness of audience. On completion of the module, you will have developed an appreciation of a range of short stories and their technical qualities—including narrative structures, voice, character, and the role of conflict.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module aims to:

• Offer analysis, study and practice of the techniques of short fiction
• Short fiction in English and in translation will be used as models to give you a broad knowledge of various components of the form
• Develop your awareness and understanding of textual forms, content, and style
• Develop your appreciation of the processes involved in writing short fiction, including drafting, revising, editing, developing ideas, and awareness of an audience
• The module will function as a prerequisite to the Creative Writing Dissertation

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Appreciate a broad range of English language and translated short stories
• 2. Understand and appreciate the technical qualities of short fiction, including narrative structures, voice, character and the role of conflict
• 3. Write short fiction, in a manner informed by an understanding of the main traditions of the short story

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Appreciate formal techniques and imaginative expression in creative writing
• 5. Produce pieces of creative writing, in agreement with specified forms and genres taught on the module
• 6. Analyse and critically examine, at an advanced level, diverse forms of short story writing
• 7. Present persuasive written and oral arguments concerning their own creative writing and the work of other authors, both peers and published authors
• 8. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of a variety of theoretical positions and articulate a broad range of appropriate critical and professional terminology

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 9. Demonstrate advanced communication skills, and an ability to work both individually and in groups
• 10. Demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, an advanced capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument, advanced skills of creative expression, and a capacity to write clear and correct prose
• 11. Demonstrate advanced proficiency in information retrieval and analysis

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Elements of Creative Writing Craft
• Exposition of Characters
• Plot
• Point of View and Narrative Voice
• Description, Imagery, Language
• Dialogue
• Thematic underpinnings
• Mounting Incidents and Endings 
• Revisions
• Writing for Publication

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Core reading:

• Chekhov, Anton. The Lady with the Little Dog and Other Stories. London: Penguin, 2002.
• Oates, Joyce Carol. (Ed) Telling Stories: An Anthology for Writers. New York: Norton, 1998.
• Pritchett, V.S. (Ed) The Oxford Book of Short Stories. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.
• Wood, James. How Fiction Works. New York: FSG, 2008.

Secondary reading:

• Contemporary short stories in the New Yorker and Granta Calvino, Italo. Adam, One Afternoon. New York: Vintage, 2002.
• Carver, Raymond. Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? New York: Vintage, 2004.
• Fitzgerald, Penelope. The Means of Escape. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.
• Hoffmann, ETA. Tales of Hoffmann. London: Penguin, 1990.  
• Moore, Lorrie. Birds of America. London: Faber and Faber, 1999.  
• Prose, Francine. Reading Like A Writer. London: Union Books, 2012.
• Tolstoy, Leo. Master and Man and Other Stories. London: Penguin Books, 2006.
• Winton, Tim. The Turning. New York: Picador, 2006.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4530

Key words search

Creative writing, short fiction, fiction, short story