Short Story Workshop: The Art of Intimacy
taught through Stanford Continuing Studies
April 1 – June 7 (10 weeks)
For more information and to register, visit Stanford Continuing Studies

One Scene a Week: Commitment and Continuity
taught through Creative Writing School
April 1 – June 7 (10 weeks)
Course description here.

The Creative Writing School serves dedicated, heart-centered writers in deepening craft and connecting with a supportive writing community.

Spring 2024

One Scene a Week: Commitment and Continuity

Summer 2024

TBA

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Rachel regularly teaches courses for Stanford Continuing Studies and is an instructor for the Online Certificate Program in Novel Writing

Spring 2024

Short Story Workshop: The Art of Intimacy

Literature is the most intimate of the arts: it brings readers into contact with the depths of another’s heart, soul, and mind. The short story—that feat of mystical compression—can succeed or fail on the strength of its close encounters and interior moments. Each week, we will dissect a story, focusing on one particular scene, from the unexpected charge of pleasure a boy experiences putting in eye drops for his family’s “houseboy” in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Apollo,” to the small, mounting indignities confronting a female academic of color in Caille Millner’s “The Politics of the Quotidian.” In the first weeks of the course, you will invent an intimate situation in which to place your protagonist—as obvious as sex or as subtle as being in possession of a secret—and from there, you will craft a seven-to-10-page story, applying the lessons of our scene analysis to your own fiction. We will pay special attention to how the published stories use “intimacy” in all its forms to propel story, plot, and action and to give the work a sense of heft or power. You will have the opportunity to workshop your draft with the full class, and you will leave the course with the skills to craft deeply authentic, meaningful scenes that get to the heart of your characters.

Summer 2024

Short Story Workshop: Crafting Unforgettable Short Fiction

June 21 – August 30 (10 weeks)

“Leave out all the parts readers skip,” says Elmore Leonard. “Hold the reader’s attention,” says Margaret Atwood. But how do we refine our instincts for what will engage a reader? In this course, we will consider what distinguishes stories that captivate their readers, and you will practice enacting those features in your own writing. We will ask and answer these and other questions: How do we keep the writing interesting while also getting the story to cohere as a whole? Are we to exile from our stores of material anything that is not obviously suspenseful or exciting? How are we to know whether to cut a part of a story that isn’t working or to try to make it better? We also will read a variety of short stories, some with high action—blazing house fires, sudden death, drug-addled midnight joyrides—and some with quiet, unassuming renderings of day-to-day life. At these poles and in between, we will investigate what makes the writing interesting. At the same time, we will work on writing and revision exercises designed to make our writing more vibrant and engaging. Each student will complete a short story and have it workshopped. Whether you’re an experienced fiction writer or are just starting to try your hand at stories, you will finish the course with a sharpened sense of what makes readers want to turn the page.

Fall 2024

The Writing Life: Form and Theory of the Novel

September 23 – December 6 (10 weeks; no class the week of Thanksgiving)

This course is only open to students starting the Online Certificate Program in Novel Writing through Stanford Continuing Studies

The main goals of this course are twofold. First, you’re going to develop a writing habit. That means learning about yourself: How often and how long do you need to write to accomplish your pages? What makes the work fulfilling and joyful? What motivates you to stay with it when it’s hard? We’ll also address aspects of process, like how to balance creative dreaming with planning your novel’s shape and structure. Second, through reading weekly lectures, a craft book, and two novels, you’ll gain a foundational sense of how a novel is shaped or structured. We’ll consider the novels we read in terms of their structural choices and craft techniques, and also in simply in terms of what excites and delights us. Over our ten weeks together you’ll explore your novel idea, clarify a premise and possible shape, and generate material to draw on as you move forward into Novel One and through the program. You’ll contribute to and be supported by a vibrant writing community as you gain experience giving other students constructive feedback and receiving feedback on your own creative work. In the second half of the quarter you’ll meet with me one-on-one to discuss your novel progress and create a plan for moving forward into Novel One.