Ayn Rand. Ernest Hemingway. Alice Walker. Jack Kerouac. All rejected—multiple times. If you’re reading this, you’re likely a member of this not-too-exclusive club yourself. Bentley & Son once asked Herman Melville, “Does it have to be a whale?” Shel Silverstein was told The Giving Tree was too sad for children and too simple for adults.
This class is designed for writers who have a short story or long fiction piece that hasn’t found a home—at least, not yet. Together, we’ll focus specifically on how literary journals evaluate submissions and what editors see when they read a piece for the first time. Each participant will submit one previously rejected story or excerpt to go through a simulated “behind-the-scenes” slush-pile reading process. You’ll also step into the editor’s role, serving as a reader or publisher for your classmates’ work. By learning to read like a journal’s staff, you’ll gain a clearer understanding of your own writing and how to position it for your next round of submissions.
Our goal will be to help you see your unpublished work in the most favorable light we can. Imagine a world without Moby Dick (yes, it does have to be a whale!), Atlas Shrugged, or that piece of yours that only needs, perhaps, a few sets of eyes to get it over the top!
• In-Class Writing Lift: Medium
• Homework: Required
• Workshopping Drafts: None
Ernie Reynolds holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Florida State University, an MFA from the University of Tampa and MAT from Belmont University. He currently serves on faculty in Middle Tennessee State University's English Department. His short fiction has been read on NPR and published in Vanderbilt’s Nashville Review, Hamline University's Waterstone Review, UNC's Smoky Blue Literary Arts Magazine, and elsewhere. Dr. Reynolds is a certified arborist, horticulturalist and former NCAA coach, as well. He splits time between Franklin and Monteagle, Tennessee.
"Dr. Reynolds is extremely passionate about fiction writing and it felt contagious in the classroom. He encouraged questions that would turn into conversations in the class about a specific aspect of writing."
"Dr. Reynolds provided an excellent class that helped me to draw out the knowledge I already had while challenging me to grow as a writer thinking about nature. Through creative prompts, he gave us lots of opportunities to practice our writing skills and work on describing scenes in nature that focus on the senses. I thoroughly enjoyed the class and will certainly look out for any that he teaches in the future!"
"Dr. Reynolds cares about his students and their work in a way that focuses on their development as readers and writers."
