Robert O'Connor

Robert O'Connor was born in 1959 in New York City and raised in Eastchester, NY. He graduated from the State University of New York, College at Oswego, and received an MA in English from Syracuse University, where he studied under Raymond Carver and Tobias Wolff. In 1996, Granta magazine named him one of "The Best of Young American Writers." Buffalo Soldiers was published by Alfred A. Knopf, and released in paperback by Vintage Contemporaries. A movie based on the novel premiered in 2003, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Anna Paquin, Ed Harris, and Scott Glenn.

Classes taught

CRW 301 Screenwriting: Intermediate - This course will focus on writing the first half of a feature-length screenplay. This process will be facilitated by lectures, in-class assignments, and small and large group workshops. You will pitch your ideas, break your story, create a beat sheet, and learn the sequence structure of a feature-length script. Character development and writing dialogue will also be emphasized. CRW 201 is a prerequisite.

CRW 306 Fiction Writing: Intermediate - This course is an intensive workshop in fiction writing in which you will examine student stories as well as stories from The Best American Short Stories. Students will develop and discuss their aesthetic principles. Requirements: 3 stories or sections of a novel, story responses, self-assessment paper, and use of Angel. Prerequisite: CRW 206.

CRW 406 Fiction Writing:: Advanced - CRW 406 is a course in learning how to structure a novel. Students will bring in an idea and from that idea use a variety of structuring techniques to plot out a full novel. The structuring methods will be workshopped, as well as an original chapter. In addition to the workshops, there will be readings, responses, and an oral presentation.