A good plot never gives us the whole story, but depicts only those key moments that build tension and lead to discovery for the character and the reader. How we sequence the events of the plot can persuade a reader to fill in the gaps and to understand why one event follows another.

StoryStudio is thrilled to welcome acclaimed author and teacher, Catherine Brady. In this special single-session class, she’ll discuss how a writer can select those moments in time that will build to a climax and how to structure literal tension so that it suggests a “hidden” story — the subtext a well-structured plot can generate.

There will be examples and in-class exercises to give students the chance to practice useful strategies.

Additional Courses of Interest:

Who Should Attend:

Adults, 18 and over
All writing levels

About the Instructor: Catherine Brady is the author of three short story collections, including Curled in the Bed of Love, winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, and The Mechanics of Falling, winner of the Northern California Book Award for Fiction. Her stories have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Best American Short Stories. She’s also the author of a book on writing craft, Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction, and a biography of a Nobel laureate, Elizabeth Blackburn and the Story of Telomeres: Deciphering the Ends of DNA. She is the academic director of the MFA in Writing Program at the University of San Francisco and is currently at work on a novel.