All storytellers have a lot to learn from detective fiction. The skills and techniques used by mystery writers are vital to fiction writers in all genres. In mystery fiction, however, the techniques are exaggerated almost to the point of caricature, making them easier to identify and learn from.
No mystery writer from the “Golden Age of Detective Fiction” was any better than Dorothy Sayers, and few had such high literary ambitions. In Writing with Dorothy Sayers, we will learn from this master storyteller and put her techniques and methods into practice in our own writing.
Writing With Dorothy Sayers includes six short recorded lectures, six 60-minute live Zoom discussions, as well as a dedicated online forum for discussion and writing exercises.
Weekly Workload
– Read one short story from Lord Peter (lengths vary, but average 25 pages)
– Watch one lecture (approximately 30 minutes)
– Attend live Zoom discussion (one hour)*
-Writing exercise (300-500 words)
-Exchange feedback with class colleagues
*Recordings of the discussions will also be available for learners who can’t attend the live discussions
Dates:
Tuesdays, September 10-October 15, 2024
Times:
1-2PM Central
Watch the weekly lectures (~30 minutes) at your own convenience
Cost: $97
Intended Audience:
Adults, college-age and up (there will not be a student cohort for this class)
– Using physical evidence to tell a story
– Withholding information, revealing information
– A beginning, a middle and an end (but not in that order)
– Engaging the reader’s judgment
– Manipulating the reader’s attention
– Means, motive, and opportunity
– Literary sleight of hand
– Managing conflicting interpretations
Required Text:
Lord Peter: The Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories (purchase links— Indiebound, Amazon)
Week 1: “The Necklace of Pearls”
Week 2: “The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention”
Week 3: “The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face”
Week 4: “The Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba”
Week 5: “In the Teeth of the Evidence”
Week 6: “Tallboys”
