“[W]riting is hard and scary at times. Like any fear, you have to face it down in order to overcome it.” —Chaitali Sen
On Saturday, October 18, Chaitali Sen will teach “Short Fiction Craft Essentials.” In this class, students will learn the fundamental elements of a short story and read from master short fiction writers. By the end, students will leave with at least one outline of a short story.
Chaitali Sen is the author of the novel The Pathless Sky and the story collection A New Race of Men from Heaven. Her work has appeared in Boulevard, Colorado Review, Copper Nickel, Ecotone, New England Review, and many other journals. She holds an MFA from Hunter College and is currently a PhD candidate in Creative Writing and Literature at the University of Houston.
Here’s what Chaitali Sen had to share with us:
Who are your earliest influences? What people and books made you a writer?
Chaitali Sen: My father used to tell me bedtime stories about a family of lions, and my mother used to read to me from a Bengali children’s book, so they both gave me an appreciation for story and language. My older sister was an avid reader so I started reading more just to be like her. But in terms of books and authors, once I discovered Louisa May Alcott, writing was pretty much all I thought about, and I started reading with one eye toward the craft of the story.
What writing challenges have you faced? What have these challenges taught you about your process?
CS: My biggest challenge is not giving myself permission or time to write. That’s because writing is hard and scary at times. Like any fear, you have to face it down in order to overcome it.
From your perspective, what’s the most rewarding part about being a writer?
CS: Turning something intangible and formless into something that can be held, shared, and experienced by others.
Who do you write for?
CS: That’s a tough question. Mostly for myself, but there is always the hope that someone out there wants to read what I’m writing. I don’t have any kind of ideal reader in mind.
What do you hope writers will learn from your course?
CS: I hope they will learn some fundamental ideas about short stories that will help them experiment with the short story form and write many short stories.
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Thanks, Chaitali!
Click here to learn more about Chaitali’s upcoming class.
