ENGL 387 develops speculative fiction (SF) writing skills through a combination of strategic study and writing activity. Students learn key definitions, important history, traditions of the field, essential features of SF, and principles and standards of fiction writing in general. Strategic reading throughout the course, along with analysis of professional working methods, contributes and reinforces insights. Students will learn to perform expert critiques and write informed revisions. Above all, they will write and revise short SF with increasing skill and confidence.
Outline
Introduction
Unit 1: What Is Speculative Fiction?
Unit 2: Preparing to Excel at Speculative Fiction
Unit 3: Elements of Story and Special Problems of Character
Unit 4: Worlds and Wonders
Unit 5: Themes and Tropes of Speculative Fiction
Unit 6: Critique
Unit 7: Final Draft
Evaluation
To receive credit for ENGL 387, you must achieve a minimum grade of 50 percent on each assignment and a composite grade of at least D (50 percent). There is no final examination. The weighting of the assignments is as follows:
Activity
Weight
Analysis: 400–500 words
10%
Short Story and Reflections: 2000–2500 words
15%
Short Story: 1000–1250 words
20%
Short Paper on Self-Editing: 250–300 words plus markup
10%
Short Story Introduction: 600–800 word
10%
Story Revision: 250 words, plus revision
10%
New Short Story Final Draft: 3000 word max, and 250 words of reflection
25%
Total
100%
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
This course either does not have a course package or the textbooks are open-source material and available to students at no cost. This course has a Course Administration and Technology Fee, but students are not charged the Course Materials Fee.
Delaney, Samuel R. About Writing: 7 Essays, 4 Letters & 5 Interviews. Wesleyan University Press, 2005. (eBook)
Wilhelm, Kate. Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop. Small Beer Press, 2005. (eBook)
Other Materials
All other materials are available online. They include an extensive study guide, short stories, and resources on writing.
Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized study counterparts.