Creative Writing: The Short Story

About the Course If you're considering taking Creative Writing: The Short Story, there are a few things you should know.

	This class REQUIRES strong skills with MICROSOFT WORD. This means you have to be able to do more than type. You should have the basic skills to do things like change line spacing, handle indents and tabs, set margins, work with headers, and do word counts. You should also have basic computer skills, and know how to turn on a computer, launch Word, and create and save documents. This is a very intense class, and there isn't time to waste, so unfortunately I am unable to lot of time every week doing one-on-one instruction in Word. If you don't have strong skills in Word but signed up for the class anyway, please cancel and wait until next semester; in the meantime, take a basic course on Microsoft Word. It is imperative you have these skills in order to be effective in this class and not hold the class back. Why Word? That's what's on the Bangor High School computers. It's also quite standard, and supports features we'll be using later on during the course. Also, if you have experience with OpenOffice.org, you'll be all set.

	You may bring a LAPTOP. If you have a laptop, you may bring it to class and do your work on it. However, you MUST have either Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org on your laptop, for reasons I will explain in class. A laptop is a great way to write in and outside of class. You're familiar with your laptop, and there's no transferring files around.

	You will need a FLASH DRIVE. If you don't have your own laptop, you will need to bring a flash drive or have a Web email account. Flash drives enable you to work on your writing in class, save your projects to your flash drive, take them home, and work on them there -- and save them and bring them back to class. The other option is to have a Web-based email, such as through GMail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc., to which you can email yourself your work to access later in class or at home. Your work will NOT be safe on the school computers, so it's vital you have a way to save your work.

	This class is about writing SHORT FICTION. I mention this because several students in the past have taken the class and, not having read the description, been confused. This is not about writing memoirs, autobiographies, nonfiction, novels, etc. It's about short-story writing. Much of what you will learn can be applied to other types of writing, but short fiction is the point of this course.

	This is NOT an EASY course. Unlike some other Bangor Adult Education courses, this course is admittedly is very challenging. It is three hours every week, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.; it runs late and can be tiring. You will do intensive writing work in class, and you will have work to do at home during the week before the next class. Once the course is over with, if you are interested in submitting your work to the anthology I will independently publish (see below), there will be even more work, on and off for several months.

	I will PUSH you. I will push you to meet deadlines, to be a better writer, and to plug in to your creativity. This sounds exciting and good, and it is, but it will entail a lot of work. But I am very flexible. I am always available to meet with students outside of class if they feel they need extra help.

	A PUBLISHED STORY is the goal, and possible invitation into an ANTHOLOGY. The course at Bangor High School is six weeks, during which time you'll be working on project stories for an existing publication. You will be encouraged to streamline your stories and submit them to the publication in question. I may invite especially capable writers into a local series of anthologies I'm publishing of student work. The anthology will be available for sale, with some of the profits being donated to Literacy Volunteers of Bangor.

	Please, DON'T SIGN UP if you aren't coming. There are only so many slots, and they fill up quickly. Each semester, people sign up but don't show up for the first class. If you sign up but decide to back out, please notify Bangor Adult Education as soon as you can, so that slot can become available for someone else.