Little Tin Gods-- Jincy Willett! Sorry, class has been cancelled

• Tuesdays, August 3rd to 31st (5 sessions)
• 7-9 pm
• The Ink Spot

The writer of fiction is a kind of god—a little tin one. We populate our world. We determine how these people interact: we're the ultimate authority on the behavior, social and psychological, of our own little humans. We're responsible for the natural laws which govern our universe. (This is particularly true with fantasy and science fiction, but it's also true with "realism." If we're not careful—if we don't check our facts—natural phenomena in our world may behave most unnaturally.) And we're responsible for the metaphysical nature of our world: is it the sort of place where things usually work out for the best? Are there as many coincidences in this world as in the real one?
 
Bring fictional work to class—old stuff or stuff you just made up. We'll read from your work and discuss it, placing particular emphasis on the world you're creating. Each class will proceed the same way, with reading and critique. The size of the class will determine how much of each student's work is read per class. Everyone is guaranteed one written critique from me of a short story or novel chapter at (or shortly after) the end of the course.

Born the last day of 1946, Jincy Willett started to write fiction in her late twenties, publishing stories in The Yale Review, The Massachusetts Review, and Playgirl. Her collected stories, Jenny and the Jaws of Life, were published by St. Martin’s Press in 1987 and resurrected in paperback seventeen years later through the generous and repeated praise of David Sedaris. She has written two novels: Winner of the National Book Award (2003) and The Writing Class (2008), both published by St. Martin’s. Her stories have appeared in various anthologies, including Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (2005); uncollected stories have appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, The Lifted Brow, and elsewhere. She is presently working on a non-mystery sequel to The Writing Class.

Ian Sansome, reviewing Jenny for The Guardian in 2004, wrote, “In a better and fairer world, a world of genuine knowledge and righteousness, the name Jincy Willett would be a precious stone...She's a tragedian - which means that she knows how to raise a laugh when she needs to.”

Jincy Willett lives in Escondido, California, and teaches private fiction writing workshops.