Francesca Lia Block’s one-week intensive course will show you how to utilize the various elements of fairy tale writing as inspiration for writing short stories, novels and even poetry. During the course you will delve into character, plot, setting, language and theme as you compose contemporary fairy tales for both adults and young adults.

During this one-week intensive I will immerse my students in the elements needed to write a contemporary fairy tale. Each day one of the following will be addressed : Who (Character), What (Plot/conflict), When/Where (Setting), How (Language) and Why (theme). You will post your work daily and it will be read by me and the other students and discussed briefly via blog comments. At the end of the class I’ll write to you individually and more extensively about what I see as your strengths, your challenges and some suggestions to revise or expand your story. Students who apply for this course should have a work-in-progress of fiction or poetry and should be fascinated with fairy or folk tales but it is not necessary that you have written one before. I will have a suggested reading list that I will refer to including the work of Angela Carter and Kelly Link, but it is not required. You will also receive handouts from the work of Anne Sexton, Vladmir Propp, Bruno Bettleheim and by Charles de Lint. The overall emphasis of this course will be on utilizing fairy tales as inspiration for writing the short story, novel or even poem cycle and as a way to better understand the self.