Schedule

Date	Discussion Topics	Recommended Reading
Week 1	Memory Controlling the Information that Reaches the Reader. What does the protagonist know? How? How Soon
Day 1 Monday	Writing Science Fiction Point of View
Day 2 Wednesday	Plunging Into the Past Memory and Investigation Memory, Action, and Plot	Bradbury – “Kaleidoscope” Bradbury – “The Other Foot” Dick – “If There Were No Benny Cemoli” Tiptree – “The Women Men Don’t See”
Day 3 Friday	Introducing the Magic Hard and Soft SF	Vonnegut – Mother Night
Week 2	Consciousness What does it mean to think? What is the source of consciousness? To what degree is identity dependent upon physical form?
Day 4 Monday	Stephen Hawking and Posthuman Writers Writing and Workshopping Plot	Lem – Solaris
Open Day Wednesday	Special Topics: Learning to Write Ray Bradbury on Writing Persistently What Rosetta Stone Tells Us About Writing  The Neurology of Training the Hands	Tiptree – “The Screwfly Solution” Tiptree – “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” Bradbury – “The City” Bradbury – “The Exiles”
Day 5 Friday	Short Story Workshop	Please read and comment on the works posted by your fellow classmates.
Week 3	Narrative Telling the Story: How much of the plot depends upon the protagonist’s action? How much upon external conflict?
Day 6 Monday	Writing the Coherent Narrative	Le Guin – The Left Hand of Darkness
Day 7 Wednesday	Bringing It All Together: Character, Narrative, and Plotting	Dick – “The Minority Report Dick – “What the Dead Men Say” Bradbury – “The Last Night of the World” Bradbury – “Marionettes, Inc.”
Day 8 Friday	Keep the Writing Going: Creativity Exercises	Short Story Workshop 2