When teaching and practising 'writing' in the art school, how specific and precise are we - or are we interested in being? - about the differences between kinds of writing: the claims and demands different kinds of writing make, the possibilities they offer or exclude? And then: how to describe, how to touch at, how to get a real measure of those differences for our students and ourselves?

In an essay titled 'The Medium of Fiction' (1970), William Gass invites us to think of fiction as a specific medium, distinct in important ways from other artistic mediums (such as painting or sculpture) but also distinct, in different but equally important ways, from other mediums of writing (such as philosophy). Kate Briggs will share her thoughts on Gass's essay, and the questions it is currently raising for her teaching and practice before opening out the discussion to others.