Sources of Stories

In this workshop we will generate story ideas, using materials drawn from everyday life to spur imagination. Our aim for the week is not to produce finished pieces but to create sketches that can be developed later into complete works of fiction. We will do both in-class and out-of-class writing. So be sure to bring a journal, laptop, or tablet—whatever tools you find most conducive to your work. Also please bring three items: (1) a small object that carries significance for you; (2) a photograph (it could be from a magazine) that intrigues you; and (3) a piece of published fiction that especially appeals to you.

Photo by Jim Krause

Scott Russell Sanders is the author of more than twenty books of fiction and nonfiction, including A Conservationist Manifesto, Hunting for Hope, and A Private History of Awe. His recent books include Earth Works: Selected Essays and The Way of Imagination, forthcoming in 2020 from Counterpoint Press. He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Indiana University and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He and his wife, Ruth, a biochemist, have reared two children in their hometown of Bloomington, in the hardwood hill country of southern Indiana.