Campus Fiction-Writing Workshop Open to the Public

Butler University English Professor Dan Barden will lead a 12-week fiction-writing workshop for the public on Wednesdays from 7:15 to 9:45 p.m. beginning Feb. 24.

The workshop, which will held on campus in Jordan Hall, is open to all levels of writers. Cost is $200. To apply, send a letter and a writing sample (15 pages maximum) to dbarden@butler.edu or Dan Barden, Butler University Department of English, 4600 Sunset Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46208-3485.

Applications are due by Jan. 29. The workshop is limited to 15 students.

Barden, an associate professor of creative writing, is the author of John Wayne: A Novel (Doubleday, 1997) andThe Next Right Thing (Dial Press, 2011). He has published personal essays in GQ, Details and Esquire.

He began offering public fiction-writing workshops in 1999. The idea is to create “a community of enthusiastic and committed writers.”

“The biggest thing I hope students will get from the course is a sense that it's possible to be serious about their writing,” Barden said. “We all know that it's lonely and hard to be a writer, particularly when you're starting out. But that's also the most important time to develop a discipline and a seriousness about your work.”

Over the years, students have raved about the workshop – and Barden. Some comments:

"Holy cow, he's committed. Also enthusiastic and incredibly encouraging. I felt like he really wanted more than anything to help us – all of us – succeed.... Dan's amazing."

"Dan is extremely encouraging about the abilities we all have. He has really instilled in me the idea that 'making it' is not about talent; it is about hard work and motivation. I enjoyed being taught by someone who is actively pursuing writing while teaching."

"This was one of the best fiction writing classes I've taken. I would recommend it to anyone who has a serious interest in creative fiction."

The course is conducted like a graduate writing workshop, but “we will also talk about the methods and the means by which one can become a serious writer,” Barden said. “People often come into this course with a sense that their desire to be a writer is like a dream, that it may not be possible, that it is entirely dependent on whether they are ‘talented’ or not. I think this course is really good at showing them they can do this kind of work if they're willing to make a few adjustments in their thinking.”