Imagine the modern world before there were ‘creative writing classes’ or ‘workshops,’ when aspiring writers were much more on their own to figure out the art – and to shape their own way into it. Their teachers were the works of writers who’d gone before them and their own powers of observation. We will write four short stories – one micro fiction (150-250 words) flash fiction (250-500 words), one slightly longer short-short (4-6 pages), and one mid-length (6-8/10 pages)* – using great stories as structural models/inspiration and field trips to various sites on campus and around Laramie as content prompts. Texts provided by instructor. Laptops or some means of writing in class required, phone or paper notebook for outings. 3 Credits. Outcome: 4 structurally and otherwise sound pieces of fiction you did not expect to write this summer; a more sound, tangible sense of just how a good short story is put together. (*Number and length of stories may change as instructor adjusts to students’ needs and time limitations.)