It was a creative writing class by another author if I remember the story. He had graduated with a literature degree already and was trying and failing to write super high-minded stuff and get it published. This teacher and he were butting heads because she wanted him to basically do a story that he considered trope-y or cliched. So finally he sat down to prove her wrong and out popped the first part of Dresden files. She sent him home to map out the rest and he misunderstood and mapped out the entire series when she meant the rest of the book.