Class Description
Genre means more than “a type of story,” each genre comes with a set of unwritten rules that define it.
If you don’t know the rules of your genre, you are bound to repeat them. Our nature as obsessive story consumers is to repeat what we have seen before. The writer that does not understand genre will churn out stories based on stories, rather than truth.
How does a writer identify the rules of the genre and decide what is a convention — something that the audience expects and wants — and what is a cliche? And how does the writer satisfy, defy or subvert these conventions to create new experiences for their audience?
In this three-hour seminar we will learn how to identify the conventions and cliches of your genre — no matter what genre it is — and discuss strategies on how to break them.
We will use the broad definition of genre that story gurus like Robert McKee use, and see all stories as genre stories. We will go down the list of McKee’s unconventional genres: “Monster in the house, Education Plot, Disillusionment Plot, and Rise and Fall story,” and discuss the rules of each.
We will discuss how other writers have mastered genre and rewritten the rules. This seminar is recommended for screenwriters, novelists and short story writers working in any genre.
Writers explored: Stephen King, Gillian Flynn, Stan Lee, Jordan Peele , Chuck Palahniuk, Ursula K. LeGuinn, J.K. Rowling, Haruki Murakami, Joss Whedon, Guillermo Del Toro, Ryan Coogler, Lev Grossman, Grady Hendrix, Chuck Wendig
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. About 15 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin, you'll receive an email from your instructor with a link to join the class meeting!
Zoom Participation:
Students are not required to turn their camera on, but are encouraged to participate any way they feel comfortable through functions such as the live chat, emoji reactions, and unmuting the microphone. Learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
We ask that instructors enable closed captioning and send a transcript of the session after class. You can also enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting. If your instructor forgets to send the transcript, just send ’em an email!