Begins Thursday, October 15, 2026

This is a one-time live seminar via Zoom on Thursday, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET

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Instructor Evan Fleischer is a writer, editor, and teacher. He has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Republic, Slate, The Washington Post, Vice, and numerous other publications and holds an MFA from Emerson College.

Who is this class for?

This generative fiction seminar is for writers of all levels who want to break out of familiar forms and find unexpected structural and emotional possibilities in their work. Whether you're a seasoned fiction writer or a curious beginner, you'll leave with the start of a short piece in a genre of your own invention—and a case for why that genre should exist.

What to expect:

Broken Genres is a high-energy, one-night fiction seminar built around impossible genre collisions—Sci-Fi Bluegrass, Fast Food Opera, Clown Noir—and the surprising craft problems they produce. Instead of teaching genre as a convention to master, this online writing class breaks genre open and asks what happens in the aftermath. The session opens with a literal wheel spin that hands you a broken genre to write within, removing the paralysis of choice and replacing it with the productive pressure of a form that doesn't exist yet.

From there, the seminar moves fast: from pure generation toward development, and finally toward argument. You'll interrogate the genre you've been dealt—what it demands, what it can do, what it owes the reader—and push your writing past novelty toward something that does real structural and emotional work. By the end of the night, you won't just be writing in a broken genre; you'll be making the case for why it should exist.

This is a fiction workshop for writers who love a constraint, a fast draft, and a good argument about craft. Expect live discussion, generative exercises, and a room full of writers building forms nobody has tried before.

What are the writing goals?

In this seminar, students will generate the opening of a short fiction piece written inside a self-invented "broken" genre, and draft the seed of a genre manifesto—a short argument for why that genre should exist, what it can do that no established genre can, and what its rules are. Because this is a single live session, the focus is on generation and idea-development rather than a polished final draft: you'll leave with raw material, a clear creative direction, and a roadmap for expanding the work on your own.

Readings may include excerpts from Robert Coover, "Why Write?" (essay); Robert Coover, "Cartoon" and "You Must Remember This" from A Night at the Movies; George Saunders, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline; Seth Grahame-Smith, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; and Jennifer Cover, The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games.

COURSE OUTLINE

Part One: The Wheel Spins — Introduction to broken genres as a craft concept and a quick look at genre collisions that became real (Space Western, Suburban Gothic). The wheel spin assigns each writer an impossible genre, followed by a first timed generative burst inside that form.

Part Two: What Are the Rules? — Writers interrogate the genre they've been handed: what does it demand, what is its emotional register, what are its obligations to the reader? A second generative push moves the piece past novelty toward genuine structural and emotional work.

Part Three: The Manifesto — Writers shape a short argument for why their broken genre should exist and what it can do that no established genre can, then share work and arguments in a closing discussion on what makes a broken genre eventually become a real one.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• The opening of a short fiction piece, generated live inside a genre of your own invention
• A working "genre manifesto"—your argument for why that broken genre should exist
• Hands-on practice using genre collision as a generative craft tool
• A repeatable method for using formal constraint to break creative paralysis
• A clear roadmap for developing your seminar material into a longer, finished piece

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $99 USD. You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:

• Instructor: Evan Fleischer
• Begins Thursday, October 15, 2026
• This is a one-time live seminar via Zoom on Thursday, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET
• Tuition is $99 USD.