Stein Visiting Writers

Each year, the Creative Writing Program welcomes distinguished writers to teach a Stanford writing seminar to undergraduates. These unique classes are kept small--limited to no more than 15 students--and they focus on a subject of the writer’s expertise and choosing. The writers also hold a public reading and discussion.

For dates, times, and locations of their scheduled readings, visit our Events page.

The Management of Time - Spring 2021

Beneath every story, there exists a steady pulse of time. Time is not simply the metronome of narrative. It’s the medium, the blueprint, or the subject matter of many great works. It is also mysterious. For many writers, it’s a confounding and exhilarating struggle to fashion stories in a way that is faithful to our personal experience of time. In this class, we will look closely at one collection of short stories and four short novels with the aim of noticing the management of time in each. We’ll explore various techniques that can be used to create a sense of time in motion on the page. We’ll also look at narrative time management on a practical level: How can we reveal the unfathomable, multi-dimensional human experience through time in a text that reads from left to right? Is it a contradiction to try to organize a nonlinear narrative? How can we use stories set in separate times to form a larger question? The final project of the course will be a full-length story.

Enrollment in the Spring Quarter course is through the Course Preference Form. These seminars are made possible with the generous support of Isaac and Madeline Stein.