Nine Weeks, 7-9:30 p.m. (this class is not currently scheduled)
$335 members/$365 others Berkeley
Testimonials for Nick
“We are surrounded by stories,” says Nick Mamatas. “We tell them and we live them. In very real ways our personalities themselves are just stories we tell other people and ourselves. But how can these stories be made interesting on the page? I ask myself this question every time I sit down to write.”
In this class, you too will ask that question, and really begin to think about it. How can your stories be told so that they communicate their truths to other people? Nick will help you do this by guiding you through the basic elements of fiction—character, plot, dialogue, setting, point of view—with an eye toward recognizing and developing your own strengths and preferences as a writer.
Whether you lean toward stories filled with literary observations of contemporary culture and characters, or whether you focus more on whip-smart plotting and pacing, Nick will train you on how to start using the writer’s tools that make fiction worth reading. “We’ll accentuate the skills that each of you bring to class, and shore up those that need improvement,” he says. “The class will be a mix of skill-based lectures, writing both in and out of class, and good ol’ fashioned red-pen workshopping of the work you produce.”
Nick Mamatas is the author of three and a half novels: Under My Roof (Counterpoint), Move Under Ground (Prime Books), Sensation (PM Press), and with Brain Keene The Damned Highway (Dark Horse). With Ellen Datlow he co-edited the fiction anthology Haunted Legends (Tor/MacMillan). He’s also published over seventy short stories in genre magazines, literary journals, and anthologies, and over one hundred essays and articles. His fiction and editorial work has been nominated for the Bram Stoker award four times, the Hugo award twice, the World Fantasy award, the International Horror Guild award, and the Shirley Jackson award. He currently teaches online at Western Connecticut State University, edits novels in translation for VIZ Media, and recently published the writing how-to guide Starve Better (Apex Publications).
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