Asking the Right Questions: Bring Your “What If?” to Life
An online class with The Loft Literary Center
October 9, 2019–November 20, 2019
Speculative fiction is making waves in the literary world. Just take a look at recent issues of McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction, Tin House, heck even The Paris Review, and you’ll see stories with speculative premises. What if you walked naked until you were wed? (Arimah) What if the reach of governmental control extended into your mind? (Makkai) What if there were a pill that made everyone look like you? (Khong) Now more than ever, we need surreal stories to make sense of our daily lives, to question and critique, to play.
In this six-week class, we’ll turn our best what ifs? into fully realized stories. We’ll use live chats (every other Thursday, 8 p.m. CST) to work out the logistical kinks of our altered worlds, and we’ll study contemporary stories to learn how speculative elements can heighten drama. But mostly we’ll work through a variety of fun writing prompts designed to help you bring your weird idea to life. This class is open to anyone interested in learning more about contemporary speculative fiction and how to write it. The weirder your what if?, the better.
debbie vance 