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The Iowa Summer Writing Festival for 2023, taking place at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA from July 9, 2023 to July 28 2023. Click HERE > to view the complete schedule of Summer workshops on campus by session date.

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.

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.

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.

In this generative poetry-writing workshop, students will learn the fundamentals of the fundamental element of poetry, the line. In what ways does the line stabilize, organize, and make meaning in the poem; in what ways does the line subvert, surprise, and re-make meaning? Can you write a sonnet without lines? How do you write a poem that goes really really fast? How do you slow a line down to a snail’s pace? Is this poem a foreign place, or is it a home // away from home? In 5 days with 5 respective units we will cover: Unit 1: Starting line (the end of the sentence) Unit 2: Lineage of the line (whose line is it anyway?) Unit 3: Alignments (meaningful line arrangements) Unit 4: Timelines (the line break’s time and space discontinuum) Unit 5: Lines of flight (is it possible to write outside the lines?) In each class we will discuss and close-read daily readings for form and technique, we will write in-class generative poetry exercises, and we will share each other’s work. Students will also bring in past work and re-line it in order to re-envision it. Students ultimately will learn not only to reframe their previous works, but to view the creation of poems from a higher, artful, and even more playful level. That said, all levels are welcome.

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...

“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.

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.

This class will focus intensely on the novel-writing process. Come prepared to discuss a novel you’re already working on, even if that novel is only in the planning stages. In a whirlwind week we will work through the major issues of writing a novel -- instigating event, characterization, structure, and suspense. Rather than a workshop, this will be a class where new work is generated (both in and outside of class) and shared with your classmates and me for feedback. Even if you’re fairly far into a draft of a novel, this class is meant to help you rethink it, shake it up, see it anew. You will complete writing assignments to help you develop your plot, bring your characters into focus and explore your setting. We will also discuss a short novel and some novel excerpts for inspiration and craft ideas. You’ll go home with a clearer sense of your novel and renewed trust in yourself and your writing process. In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments; provide feedback on writing assignments you produce during our week.