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Parables of Place: Fiction Writing Workshop

Quarters
Summer Open
Location
Olympia
Class Standing
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Miranda Mellis

This remote fiction class offers an opportunity to develop your powers as a writer, with a focus on setting. Each participant will develop a short story or several short-short stories over the course. We'll read two novels, studying dreamlike bureaucracy in Robert Walser's Jacob von Gunten and place-making in Nova ScotiaHouse by Charlie Porter, as well as several short stories and other literary critical readings.

Creative writing exercises will support participants in generating writing that is vividly descriptive and conveys strong senses of place and character. Open to all levels, the program is particularly well suited to students interested in imaginative, original fiction writing. The program is remote, balancing solitude and community. The class has built in, dedicated, asynchronous writing and reading time for focused, autonomous creative writing and revision informed by recurring workshops in which you will receive encouraging feedback. Online classes meet Mondays and Thursdays for craft talks, story seminars, creative writing studio (in-class writing exercises and skill building), and student-centered fiction workshops (opportunities to give and receive feedback on your work) from 11AM-2:30PM. Individualized, alternating tutorial meetings with faculty take place from 2:30-5PM M/TH. Students are welcome to bring in and develop works-in-progress to this class.

Anticipated Credit Equivalencies:

4 - Literature: Setting & Place in Fiction

4 - Creative Writing: Independent Studies & Projects in Fiction

Registration

Course Reference Numbers
First Session (8): 40096

Academic Details

writing, literature, humanities

8
25
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior

Schedule

Summer
2026
Open
Remote (Su)

See definition of Hybrid, Remote, and In-Person instruction

Day
Schedule Details
Remote/Online
Olympia

Revisions

Date Revision
2026-06-02 Class subtitle changed, instructional mode changed to completely online (aka remote) and class description revised extensively
2026-04-23 Class corrected to First Session and 8 credits; anticipated credit equivalencies adjusted accordingly.