Weeklong Session July 9 to July 14 2023

Schedule

Wayne Johnson photo

Novel Solutions

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Short Description
You've been working on this thing for... how long? Months? Years? It's supposed to look like a novel, but now that you have it in front of you, it looks more like a six-legged cow or a bus with wings. You've begun to wonder what, exactly, a "novel" is. Maybe you're not writing one. You might be writing a cycle-of-stories-as-novel, or a faux memoir, or a "modular" novel with some unifying structural element. You might be writing a "fusion" novel, or even a "mash-up." In this class, we'll look at ways of structuring novel-length narratives to create a variety of fully-engaging, satisfying works. We'll examine traditional plot structures, as well as a host of others, using examples from contemporary literature. We'll address pacing, psychic distance, aspects of "voice," and more. Participants will not bring novels to class; rather, they will bring an opening chapter, or a middle chapter, or even notes and notions. We'll consider the possibilities. Always, the structural solution for the most compelling rendering of the story will be novel to the writer, will fit his or her narrative impulses.
Robin Hemley photo

Autofiction: Writing the Line Between Autobiography and Fiction

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In 1977, French novelist Serge Doubrovsky came up with the term “autofiction” to describe his novel, Fils.  Exactly what autofiction is has been hotly debated, first in France and later in the U.S. and U.K. ever since.  Autofiction is not simply another name for autobiographical fiction.  Depending on who’s using the term and in what context, autofiction might come close to what some writers term memoir, or it might come closer to the ironic metafictional treatments of Self popularized by such writers in the 1960’s and 70’s as Kurt Vonnegut and John Barth and more recently, Ben Lerner and Michael Chabon.  In this short course, we will sample it all, reading and writing “Fiction of strictly real events or facts” as well as fantastical and allegorical representations of ourselves, using much of our real biographical information, but not much else.  If you like the idea of exploring writing that takes you to an exciting but sometimes uncomfortable spot between real and imagined versions of yourself, then this is the course for you.

In advance of the workshop, I will make available to you several examples of different types of autofiction, but there will be no writing in advance of the workshop.  You can expect to write in class exercises as well as approximately 500 words a day outside of the workshop. 

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments.
Tricia Park photo

Breaking Up with Form: Experimental Essays

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“Creative nonfiction” is an expansive genre of writing that encompasses a range of styles and techniques to tell life stories. Whether you’re telling a story for the first or hundredth time, it can be in this retelling that we are able to rearrange time, reconsider the nuances of memory, and begin to reorganize the turmoil of the past. Beginning with the origins of the word, “essay,”—from the French essayer, or to try—we will explore: How can form help us better tell our stories? How can choosing the right container illuminate our essays’ contents? And how can contemporary forms free up our stories and reflect the complex nature of memory?

In this workshop, we will explore different essay forms, discuss how these forms impact the reader’s experience of the essay, and experiment as we borrow and integrate new techniques in our own writing. The class will offer readings, writing prompts, and feedback on your writing. We welcome both new and experienced writers looking for exploration, accountability, structure, and supportive feedback on their work.

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments; provide feedback on writing you produce in our week.
Suzanne Scanlon photo

Life Writing: Finding Your Way In

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Life writing can be a radical practice of witness and testimony, taking the form of memoir, personal essays, journals, notebooks, letters, and more. This class will jumpstart your writing practice and help you shape your ideas on the page. For many of us, the hardest part of writing is getting started. This will be a generative workshop, full of prompts and short exercises, with plenty of time to share work and receive feedback. We will read wildly, taking inspiration from contemporary writers, finding ways to begin telling the stories of our lives. By the end of the week, students will have pages of material ready to develop into a longer project. This workshop is useful for everyone from true beginners to those with a work in progress.

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments; provide feedback on writing you produce in our week.
Venise Berry photo

Muddy Water: Controlling Plot, Subplots, and Plot Points in Your Novel

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Short Description
How do you create a strong and exciting plot in your novel? How do you connect the plot with various subplots? How do you set up plot points effectively throughout your story?

This class will help you develop or strengthen your novel’s main plot. It will also help you better appreciate the use of subplots and the purpose of plot points. Plot, subplots and plot points create the main sequence of events and move your story from beginning to end. New and revised writing will be the focus in workshops.

You will complete the week with your plot outline in place, including two primary subplots, and a good sense of where plot points should be inserted.

This workshop is designed for new writers who are starting with a simple story idea, or those who have lost control of their story and need to figure out how to restructure it for the greatest impact.

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments; provide feedback on writing you produce in our week; critique writing you bring from home. 
Kate Aspengren photo

Playwrights Workshop

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Short Description
This workshop is for playwrights who have completed (at least) the first draft of a play of any length or who have a play that is nearing completion. Most of our time together will be devoted to reading and responding to the writing of workshop participants. We’ll read excerpts aloud from each play and give thoughtful, specific feedback to the playwright. The goal is to hear what you’ve written and to utilize that for future revision. As time permits, there will also be overnight and in-class writing to help illuminate work-in-progress and/or to generate new writing.

In this workshop, we will provide feedback on work you bring from home.
Ian Stansel photo

Short Story Workshop

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The focus of this workshop will be two-fold: examining your existing drafts through constructive, encouraging dialogue; and generating new work through in-class exercises. We’ll look at a select few essays on craft and a handful of published stories to help illustrate the ideas brought up, and we’ll discuss such issues as character agency, point-of-view choices, scene development and dialogue, and plot construction. We will workshop one full story from each student. By the end of the week, you’ll not only have a solid handle on revision plans for your own work, but you’ll also come away with a deeper understanding of multiple craft elements—an understanding that you will be able to bring to your next projects.

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments; provide feedback on writing you produce in our week; critique writing you bring from home.
Nancy Barry

Start to Finish: One Essay in One Week

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If writers can compose a novel in a month (as they do in National Novel Writing Month), then surely you can compose an essay in a week! Over the course of five days, we will begin, revise and edit a 750-word personal essay.  Writers of all levels are welcome to explore what can be done in this disciplined framework—beginning with a raw idea that turns into sentences and paragraphs and a rough draft ready for a reader. We will talk about how writers make those crucial decisions about what to keep, what to toss, and what to expand or condense.  Each day we will spend in reviewing one another’s drafts, along with specific exercises in revision. By Thursday we will be looking at sentence-level editing, with our last day spent on suggestions for when, where and why you might submit the piece.  In the process of taking an idea from random thought to polished draft, the workshop will provide a user-friendly template of the revision process, along with a clearer understanding of when and how readers can help, and when this short form is best for particular material. 

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments and provide feedback on writing you produce in our week.
June Melby snorkel photo

Summer Camp (For Your Muse)

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Short Description
The last couple of years have been strange, difficult, unpredictable, too predictable, isolating, stressful, and sometimes just plain boring.  Your muse has been stuck in the house along with you.  At this point, you may not on speaking terms. Your muse might be calling in sick.  Or vacationing somewhere else, perhaps a beach in the tropics, while you are still at home hoping it will return. 

This course is designed to be a vacation you and your muse will take together.  Let’s call it a week at summer camp.  There will be fun!  Challenges!  Canoeing and swimming, (metaphorically)!  And the chance to hang out with other writers and their muses.  It will be a week to re-experience the pure joy of creativity, (if you prefer a less anthropomorphic way to look at it).

Each day will consist of a fun, low-pressure mix of creative prompts, mini-lectures, and exercises, all aimed at stimulating your most creative self.  We will study the habits of great authors.  We will explore the rare occurrence of feeling “in the zone,” when words magically seem to flow, then we’ll experiment with ways to get you in the zone more often.  Topics will include writer’s block, starting new work, and how to continue even when your muse is on hiatus. 

Read more...
Jennifer Fawcett photo

What Happens Next: Writing Suspense in Fiction

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Why do some stories make us lean forward? How do some books keep us turning the pages long past when our better judgment has told us to go to bed? The answer is suspense. And it belongs in every kind of story.

Suspense is more than just whodunnit (or whydunnit). Suspense is the necessary ingredient to get a reader invested in your story. Tension is created when we are emotionally invested in the characters but don't know what will happen to them. The stakes are high, the questions are unanswered, and the release awaits us if only we keep reading.

What is the central question of your story? This is a promise you make to the reader, a promise you must fulfill to make reading your work a gratifying experience. In this week-long workshop, we will identify this central question and expand outwards to see how it connects to every scene, character, and setting. Each day will include in-class writing and longer exercises to develop between sessions. We will study examples from other writers, and each participant will be able to workshop some of their writing. By the end of the week, your writing should be well on its way to being "un-put-downable."

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments, and provide feedback on the writing you produce in our week.
Event type
Session
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Event status
Scheduled