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Welcome to the Harriette Austin Writing Program workshop on Advanced Fiction Topics. For the student who has completed the Begin through the Plot workshops, this Advanced Fiction Topics workshop takes you beyond the basics into a variety of topics and exercises to complete the foundation series of Elements of Fiction workshops.
In addition to rounding out your knowledge of concepts and techniques, this workshop is designed to introduce you to information and resources you will need as a practicing writer. Among the special features of the Advanced Fiction Topics workshop will be guest lectures and talks by practicing agents, editors and other professionals from the publishing industry on topics they deem essential to successful writing, publishing and promotion.
Because we are concerned in this workshop more with the whole than with the parts, you will be using your own writing project more than in previous workshops.
With that in mind, the very first assignment in this workshop is for us to form a kind of contract. I need to know what you want to accomplish in this workshop in terms of your personal writing. I'm not asking for anything binding, nothing that you can change as you go along. But in order for the workshop to work most effectively for you, I need to have an idea of what your needs are so that I can tailor the lessons and the exercises to your best profit. So . . .
Assignment #1: Post a message to the Advanced Fiction Topics discussion list (AdvancedFiction@listserv.uga.edu) giving the students and your old instructor as clear a notion as you can at this point of what you want and expect to get from the Advanced Fiction Topics workshop. Ideally, what do you want it to do for you?
Along with that general statement, submit a short description of the project you plan to work on in this workshop. I won't hold you to it if you decide to change, but I want you to have a focus to your writing efforts.
Looking forward to a great workshop experience,
-Charles Connor
Foundation Topics for New Students
If this is your first time to participate in a Harriette Austin workshop, the following short readings and activities will provide you with an orientation to how the workshops work and the approach we take. Please take a little time and review the four lessons before plunging into the Plot topics.
Welcome and sign-in. Our procedures and expectations. How things work. Navigating the site.
Assignment: Posting your biographical sketch.
The Harriette Austin Writers approach. A general statement of what is to come in the workshop. The Introductory Lesson.
Assignment: Introductory Lesson. Reading assignment. Writing assignment.
Underlying principles and methods used in the Harriette Austin Writers workshops.
Assignment: Introductory Lesson. Reading assignment. Writing assignment.
- The contract between writer and reader
- Character
- Point of View
- Setting
- Scene as the building block
- Plot
Assignment: Writing two scenes. Summarizing two plots: Hamlet and The Lion King.
Click
here 
to access the digests of all messages that have been posted to the Advanced
Fiction email discussion list. These messages can be sorted by topic,
date, author, and a number of other options. Note: The first time
you use the listserv digest you will be asked to establish an access password
for yourself. Just follow the directions that are presented to you.
Click here
to access selected archived student responses and discussion from previous
workshops.
List of Books
Cookie's Fortune
Information about the movie Cookie's Fortune can be found on the Internet Movie Database website at http://indie.imdb.com/Title?0126250