Payson Roundup

Gila Community College this semester will get its first-ever literary magazine, thanks to a new class taught by Payson Roundup News Editor Peter Aleshire

The class will focus on story telling techniques applied to both fiction and non-fiction material. The class, English 236, will meet on Mondays from 5:30 p.m. to 8:20 p.m., starting on Jan. 7. Students will write both fiction and non-fiction, with the best of the stories providing the core content for a literary magazine produced by the end of the semester. The class has two sections — one for fiction and one for non-fiction — both meeting at the same time.

Aleshire taught writing at Arizona State University for 13 years and has written a dozen books. He has written more than 800 articles for regional and national magazines, served as editor of Arizona Highways magazine and worked at the Roundup for the past year.

“We’ll be focusing on how to apply the techniques of a novelist – narrative, plotting, character development, metaphor, tone and setting – to any kind of writing, whether you’re profiling a fire fighter, writing a fantasy novel or writing your own life story,” said Aleshire.

Other classes at the college could contribute to the production of the literary magazine, which may end up as a Web publication. Other English classes will contribute material – as will campus photography classes. Web design classes might take on turning that material into a digital publication. The magazine might also be printed in tabloid form.

Students who sign up will need to go to the Gila Community College administrative offices on Mud Springs Road north of Highway 260 to sign an over ride slip, because the course has been added to the catalog this year.