Begins Thursday, October 8, 2026

Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Thursdays, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET

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Instructor Bio

Instructor Lily Arnell is a writer from New York. She received her BA and MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, where she focused on experimental fiction and hybrid prose. Described as having "a relentless cadence unlike anything on the contemporary literary scene," her work has been featured in The Believer, Hobart Pulp, Muumuu House, The Rumpus, and Thought Catalog, among other notable journals and literary forums. In 2017, she founded an experimental literary zine, in which she published authors including Rick Moody, Marisa Acocella, Tao Lin, and Todd Hasak-Lowy. Her work has also been recognized by the Giancarlo DiTrapano Foundation for Literature and the Arts, where she was named a semifinalist for its artist residency. Lily has lectured on writing at The New School, taught fiction at Sarah Lawrence's Writing Institute, and returned multiple times as a guest creative writing instructor at Saint Saviour High School in Brooklyn, NY.

Who is this class for?

This online writing workshop is for the writer drawn to the off-beat, the experimental, the fragmented, and the abstract. Open to all levels, the class is designed both to validate and nurture those instincts and to illuminate the technical and creative machinery that makes such pieces work. Whether you write fiction, nonfiction, or something in between, you'll find a home here for formal risk-taking.

What to expect:

While the conventional novel stands out for its developmental richness and immersive breadth, short bursts of prose can succeed as fully contained, resolute narratives in their own right. In fragmented and hybrid longform work, those small bursts accumulate and build, illustrating more elaborate stories and cultivating a lush narrative texture. Over four weeks, this creative writing workshop asks the questions of craft that make these forms tick: How does a narrative exist wholly within a single paragraph, or even a single sentence? What happens to a story told in disparate pieces rather than one continuous stream? How do these forms handle emotion, character, and plot?

To guide us, we'll read some of literature's most compelling experimental pieces — work by Lydia Davis, Donald Barthelme, David Markson, Italo Calvino, David Foster Wallace, Anne Carson, and Maggie Nelson, among many others — dissecting their structure and discerning what makes them work. This is not a course about perfection or "publishability." It's about pushing ourselves to discover something new on the page, approaching our own writing with a fresh flexibility and willingness to experiment.

Each week is a true workshop: every writer submits new work — as much as a page, as little as a sentence — tied to the week's readings, and receives written feedback from the instructor. In a supportive cohort capped at fifteen writers, you'll develop both a sharper critical eye for experimental prose and a bolder, more adventurous approach to your own.

What are the writing goals?

In this course, students will produce 3–4 short pieces, each workshopped in class. You'll submit one piece each week — correlated to that week's readings — and receive written feedback from the instructor within 48 hours. By the end of the four weeks, you'll walk away with a small body of finished (or near-finished) experimental work and a working toolkit for micro-fiction, flash fiction, and fragmented narrative.

Readings

Readings may include excerpts from: Varieties of Disturbance by Lydia Davis; Nox by Anne Carson; "Sticks" by George Saunders; "The School" by Donald Barthelme; and The Collected Works of Billy the Kid by Michael Ondaatje. Additional readings will include work by Ernest Hemingway, Victor Pelevin, Joyce Carol Oates, Jamaica Kincaid, David Foster Wallace, David Markson, Maggie Nelson, Kate Zambreno, Raymond Queneau, Jorge Luis Borges, John Barth, Thomas Bernhard, and Nicholson Baker.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: The Story as Sentence — Introduction to Micro-Fiction An introduction to the compressed architecture of micro-fiction through the study of one-sentence stories. Together we'll examine what distinguishes a conventional sentence from a complete, emotionally resonant narrative contained within a single line. Through close reading and discussion, students explore how structure, implication, rhythm, and omission operate within extremely brief prose. Readings include works by Lydia Davis, Ernest Hemingway, Victor Pelevin, and Joyce Carol Oates. An in-class exercise challenges students to create original one-sentence stories within a set of formal constraints.

Week 2: The World on a Page — Flash Fiction This week focuses on the craft and mechanics of flash fiction, with particular attention to how brevity reshapes structure, pacing, characterization, and emotional impact. Students consider the unique possibilities and limitations of compressed forms and discuss how short narratives generate depth, tension, and resonance through suggestion and precision. Readings include works by George Saunders, Jamaica Kincaid, Lydia Davis, David Foster Wallace, and Donald Barthelme. Students complete an in-class exercise composing one-paragraph stories from formal constraints, followed by a workshop of the previous week's writing.

Week 3: The Fragmented Novel — The Art of Ambiguity This week explores fragmented and hybrid narrative forms, focusing on works that construct cohesion from seemingly disparate parts. Students examine how fragmentation, juxtaposition, and ambiguity generate layered structures and emotional continuity without relying on traditional linear storytelling, and how white space, interruption, and discontinuity can function as narrative strategies. Readings include selections from David Markson, Maggie Nelson, Anne Carson, and Michael Ondaatje. Students complete an in-class exercise creating fragmented stories assembled from three mixed-media source materials, followed by a workshop of the previous week's work.

Week 4: Experiments in Fiction — Embodying the "Let's Try It" Mentality The final week centers on experimentation as both a creative method and a literary philosophy. Through readings that challenge conventional expectations of voice, structure, narration, and form, students explore the expansive possibilities of contemporary experimental fiction and consider how formal risk-taking opens new narrative pathways. Discussions focus on conceptual conceits, unconventional frameworks, and the role of play in literary practice. Readings include works by Kate Zambreno, Raymond Queneau, Jorge Luis Borges, John Barth, Thomas Bernhard, and Nicholson Baker. Students begin drafting their own "anything goes" experimental projects in class and participate in a workshop of the previous week's pieces.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• Craft 3–4 short experimental pieces, each workshopped in class
• Master the techniques of micro-fiction, flash fiction, and the fractured or hybrid novel
• Understand how fragmentation, juxtaposition, and white space function as narrative strategy
• Read experimental masters — Davis, Barthelme, Carson, Nelson, and more — as a working writer
• Receive written instructor feedback within 48 hours on each weekly submission
• Develop a flexible, fearless approach to your own creative work

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $330 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: Lily Arnell
• Begins Thursday, October 8, 2026
• Class will meet weekly via Zoom on Thursdays, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET
• Tuition is $330 USD.