Welcome to 139.761 Writing Contemporary Fiction. This is a graduate creative writing paper focusing on your own fiction and the fiction and essays of pubished authors. Students in this paper can expect to be asked to interrogate the fundamental premises of their own work as well as their assumptions about what makes short fiction and novels successful in general. In addition to composing original fiction, Writing Contemporary Fiction guides students through a year-long series of readings and discussions culminating in a re-envisioned story or novel chapter as well as an essay on craft.

Students wishing to enrol in 139.761 Writing Contemporary Fiction must have either taken both 139.123 Creative Writing and 139.329 Advanded Fiction Writing or submit a sample of original fiction (up to 20 pages) to the paper coordinator. If the paper is intended to be credited toward an advanced degree, acceptance to the graduate programme in the School of English and Media Studies at Massey is also required.

Once you have entered the site, you will be able to join Forum discussions, post stories for review on the Workshop, and post your own reviews of class stories. Writing is always done within in a community; and for the duration of this paper, this site will serve as your primary community. Here you'll have the chance to read the work of your peers, engage in discussions of craft, have your own fiction reviewed, and get and give the personal support all writers sometimes require.

If you're already accepted as a student of 139.761, I welcome you to the site. Before posing any queries, please look up your query on the FAQ link.

I look forward to seeing your thoughts and your work on the website.

Thom Conroy, Ph.D.

Paper Coordinator