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Season 65
65x1
Introduction
Episode overview
Air date
Jul 22, 2019
Meet your new instructor: Joyce Carol Oates, the National Book Award–winning author of 58 novels and thousands of short stories. Joyce welcomes you and discusses the enduring importance of short fiction.
65x2
Principles of Writing Short Fiction
Episode overview
Air date
Jul 22, 2019
You want to write. When and how do you get it done? Joyce explains how to draft, revise, and share your work with others. She also touches on rejection and how to protect your time for writing.
65x3
Journals: Observing the World
Episode overview
Air date
Jul 22, 2019
Journaling is a tried-and-true method for self-expression and discovering your voice. For illustration, Joyce reads from one of Virginia Woolf’s diary entries.
65x4
Ideas: Exploring Taboo and Darkness
Episode overview
Air date
Jul 22, 2019
Joyce discusses how delving into the darker elements of your personality and past can provide compelling, heartfelt fodder for fiction—as well as a means to finding a unique audience.
65x5
Structure and Form
Episode overview
Air date
Jul 22, 2019
Some of Joyce’s experimental approaches to structure include considering the shape of a story on its first page and writing a one-sided dialogue. She reads from her story “Heat.”
65x6
Ideas: Writing the Familiar
Episode overview
Air date
Jul 22, 2019
Your past and your family can be a rich trove of story material. Joyce walks you through examining childhood influences, interviewing family, and remembering physical places that have left a lasting impression on you.
65x7
Form Study: Miniature Narrative
Episode overview
Air date
Jul 22, 2019
Joyce analyzes very brief narratives—ones with no more than a few pages—for the language and structure they require. As an example, she reads from the William Carlos Williams story “The Use of Force.”
65x8
Form Study: Short Monologue
Episode overview
Air date
Jul 22, 2019
Writing a monologue can be a useful stepping-stone to crafting a novel, as well as a good exercise in exploring the perspectives of characters unlike yourself. Joyce’s monologue story “Lethal” serves as an illustration.
65x9
Story Study: “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
Episode overview
Air date
Jul 22, 2019
Joyce reveals what inspired—and how she wrote—her most well-known and reprinted story, including how she chose the main character’s perspective and how adjusting perspective can be helpful for your own story.
65x10
Reading and Studying Writing
Episode overview
Air date
Jul 22, 2019
How do you read with the intention of finding new ideas and learning from writers you admire? Joyce leads a discussion on reading as a writer.
65x11
The Writer’s Workshop: “Indian Camp”
Episode overview
Air date
Jul 22, 2019
Joyce and two of her students—Lindsey Skillen and Corey Arnold—read from Ernest Hemingway’s story “Indian Camp.” They review the work as they would in one of Joyce’s collegiate or graduate classes.
65x12
Revision Workshop: “Labor Day”
Episode overview
Air date
Jul 22, 2019
Joyce holds a workshop of her student Lindsey’s story “Labor Day,” which can be downloaded in advance of the lesson.
65x13
Revision Workshop: “Near Death”
Episode overview
Air date
Jul 22, 2019
This workshop focuses on Corey’s short story “Near Death,” which can also be downloaded in advance.
65x14 Season finale
Closing
Episode overview
Air date
Jul 22, 2019
Joyce shares her parting words, advising how to select a place to write that makes you feel inspired and how to continue finding joy in the writing process.

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