In this weeklong dive into the popular novel, participants will develop and enhance a novel project by better understanding specific writing features, elements, and approaches such as plots, subplots, and plot points; characters and dialogue; learning to layer for clarity and depth; and spirit, nature, and experience. Through discussions and strategies aimed at these elements of the popular novel, participants will receive motivation and direction to build their novels and expand their writing skills. Participants will generate new writing through various exercises as well as read each other’s work and offer feedback. You will leave the workshop with a clear vision of how to move forward. The class is appropriate for writers in their early stages, but more seasoned writers can also benefit. In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; offer feedback/first impressions on writing you produce in our week.

Legal thrillers, medical mysteries, and corporate dystopias: Some of the best fiction and creative nonfiction is written about office culture and professionals in fields such as law, medicine, and business. This weeklong course is designed to bring together professionals who wish to write creatively. We will discuss how to adapt characters and experiences from professional life into fiction and creative nonfiction, integrate insider knowledge in a way that increases audience understanding and engagement, and develop themes relevant to non-experts. We will analyze critically acclaimed short stories and personal essays, such as “Exhortation” by George Saunders, “The Accountant” by Ethan Canin, and “My Last Day as a Surgeon” by Paul Kalanithi, and we will critique each other’s writing in a workshop format. Participants will have the opportunity to workshop with the group at least one short story, personal essay, or excerpt from a memoir or novel in progress (you will bring this writing from home). The writing up for discussion each day will lead us into craft lessons on topics such as structure, pacing, character development, point of view, language, and syntax. Along the way, we will consider why writing about jobs is important, and the ways that what people do for work illuminates or obscures who they are. In this workshop, we will workshop writing you bring from home.

Congratulations! You’ve finished the first draft (or second, or third, or seventy-ninth) of your story, novel, or memoir! You know your manuscript still needs work, but you aren’t sure how to go about revising it. Should you change the plot? (How?) Do something with the character? (What?) Work on every sentence again and again until they’re perfect? (Maybe you’re making them worse?) Welcome to Revision Bootcamp! In this weeklong course, we’ll discuss how to revise your manuscript now and in the future, and we’ll workshop some important elements of your novel, memoir, or story, all with an eye toward publication (if that’s your goal). Three important levels of revision are the Developmental Edit (looking at the “Big Picture,” which includes structure, plot, character development, etc.), the Scene Edit (checking to make sure there is a good balance of description, exposition, and dialogue, so that the scene comes alive for the reader); and the Line Edit (polishing every sentence to make sure the language flows well). In this weeklong workshop, we’ll be looking at all three levels, and workshopping the Big Picture and the Scene Edit. The class will consist of a combination of discussion, lecture, exercises, and workshop. We will end the class with a “Revision Checklist,” going over everything writers might want to make sure they achieve in their projects after the class is over. Workshop mates will provide verbal comments on all work; Kelly will provide verbal comments on all work, and written comments on your one-page synopsis. Course Objectives: To learn about, study, and discuss important elements of revision for self-editing. To provide and receive valuable feedback, from fellow writers and the instructor, which we can use to help us improve our manuscripts. To leave the class with an understanding of what makes a cohesive work of fiction or memoir, what makes a scene clear to a reader, and how to make your own manuscript clearer and more cohesive. To be part of a supportive and stimulating writing community of authors who have written a draft of a manuscript. This class is best suited for advanced writers. Our primary focus will be on revising work you bring from home, although we might also generate some new material. This will be a fun and rewarding class in which you are sure to receive actionable feedback on your writing and feel like you are a valued part of a writing community. If you are taking this course, then you have already accomplished something incredible: you’ve written a draft of a novel, memoir, or story. Be proud of yourself, and then dig in, because now the real tortuous delight and fun begin—revision! In this workshop, the focus will be on revising writing you bring from home.

Many of us are drawn to writing about the unique narratives in our family history that have shaped who we are. Whether these are stories of relatives from many generations past or more recent ones about our parents and ourselves, writing narrative nonfiction based on the historical events of our families presents a number of unique issues. How do we approach the research of our own families? How do we convert that research into compelling and artful narrative prose? How do we navigate potential problems with resistant family members or their conflicting accounts of the past? And how do we mine these family histories for meaningful inquiry of broader themes? In this workshop for writers at all levels, we will delve into these questions and more. We’ll do exercises, look at examples, and generate new material to share and critique in class. Expect to leave the workshop with a plan of action for your project, new perspectives, and seeds to further develop at home. In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; offer feedback/first impressions on writing you produce in our week.

How do you give voice to the body, expressing the gap between “what I feel” and “what I feel I am allowed to say,” a gap that can widen and deepen in culture? How do you write about physical and mental suffering without it becoming melodramatic, full of self-pity and romantic sadness? How do you write about pain, the blunt fact of it, but also the thorny anguish of its memory? How do you describe psychic distress, the invisible rift that no one else can see? How do you negotiate the difference between illness and disease, between “what happens to my body” and “what happens to my life”? How do you write about the body of the other: the partner, the parent, the lover, the neighbor, the glimpsed, the imagined? How do you write about the intimacy and wonder of the body, the active pleasures of being a self in the world? In this class we will consider these questions and others; read essays by such writers as Leslie Jamison, Virginia Woolf, Barry Lopez, Yiyun Li, and Jo Ann Beard; and do exercises (both in and outside of class), acting as witnesses to the body’s concerns, both its mayhem and delight. Each of you will present one narrative (at least 5 pages) to be workshopped in class and will meet in conference with me about a second essay you’ve begun. In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; offer feedback/first impressions on writing you produce in our week.

The scene is the building block of the whole screenwriting industry, and yet it is often overlooked. This class will teach writers the foundations of a good scene. Lecture topics will include writing visually, using character action rather than situations to drive plot, how to operate on both a textual and subtextual level inside a scene, the ins and outs of great dialogue, the conundrum of exposition, and the importance of psychological specificity. We’ll supplement these discussions by viewing short examples of both good and bad scenes from film and TV. We’ll also read out loud examples of both good and bad scenes from existing scripts to understand how scripts translate onto the screen. Students will also practice the techniques in each class through writing exercises and group discussion on their generated material. The goal of the course is for participants to develop a working knowledge of this most basic of screenwriting skills—how to write a good scene—that can be applied to both feature-length scripts and television pilots. Beyond writing for film and TV, participants will discover that the topics of this course apply to all storytelling as well. In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; offer feedback/first impressions on writing you produce in our week.

Maybe you’re feeling stuck. Maybe you’re wanting to (finally!) get started. Or to get started again. This workshop focuses on inspiration, insight, and project development. It welcomes writers from across genres, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and more, with projects at any stage. Come with your novel. Or with your goal to establish a weekly writing practice. Or with your ideas for a new kind of writing to try. We’ll consider how creativity works at different points of the writing process and in our own lives, from initial planning to preparing for publication, as well as the obstacles that writers need to navigate. We’ll give close feedback on your work and focus on strategies that can help each participant stay motivated and make progress. The workshop will include generative writing activities, discussion, and chances to share new and older work. That might include outlines, drafts, sketches, plans, notes, lists of potential projects, and more. We’ll take inspiration from practices that have helped other writers, as well as from the visual and performing arts, psychology, creativity studies, design thinking, and other fields. Participants should gain new insights into how inspiration and creativity work for them and many ideas for practices that can keep them going into the pages ahead, while also making concrete progress on their writing—all in a supportive group that is responsive to each writer’s background, interests, and goals. Come join us, and let’s get inspired! In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; offer feedback/first impressions on writing you produce in our week; workshop writing you bring from home.

Join us for a weeklong fiction workshop tailored for writers eager to elevate their storytelling by honing clarity and communication with an awareness of their audience. This course is designed specifically for those with ongoing projects—whether short stories or novels—and invites participants to share their work (up to 20 pages) in a constructive and supportive environment. In this immersive workshop, we will explore why understanding who our readers are can be helpful in crafting a narrative that resonates. Participants will experience engaging discussions that emphasize empathy and connection in writing, considering the emotional responses one might aim to evoke and how our stories can create connections that engage and inspire our readers. We will analyze effective storytelling techniques that prioritize clarity of voice, tone, structure, and emotional depth. We will also focus on creating compelling openings that grab readers’ attention and maintain their interest through dynamic pacing and well-structured plots. Throughout the week, participants will engage in thoughtful peer feedback sessions where they will have the opportunity to give and receive constructive criticism focused on enhancing clarity and audience engagement. It is my hope that this collaborative atmosphere will foster a sense of community, allowing participants to connect with fellow writers and gain fresh perspectives on their work. After each workshop, each writer will have a one-on-one conference with the instructor to discuss individual challenges, audience considerations, and future writing goals. Join us for this week to develop your storytelling skills, gain confidence in speaking to an audience, and emerge as a storyteller who connects meaningfully with readers, all while experiencing personal growth and creative inspiration in a supportive environment. By the end of this workshop, you will leave not only with a refined narrative style but also a deeper understanding of how to truly take care of your audience. In this workshop, we will workshop writing you bring from home.

Much of fiction and nonfiction concerns itself with inner and outer belonging. In an age of fast and slow travel, authenticity within diversity, the exercise of coming home—to a place, to the self—emerges as a mission statement of our creative work. In this workshop, we tackle that mission together. From the haunted house story to memoirs of a life spent in exile, whether writing a domestic drama, opinion pieces, or travelogues, we will bring narrative strategy and focus to writing that faces, inhabits, or complicates the idea of home, locale, and (impossible?) returns. This course is designed for writers of all levels, whether you have work in mind or in progress or prefer to generate new ideas and writing in class. We’ll read and discuss successful essays and stories that bravely approach site and situation, including works by Isaac Babel, Noviolet Bulawayo, and Harry Crews. Expect an exploration of setting, exteriority, momentum, pacing, and arc, and the chance to brainstorm, examine, and improve prose written from your very own social location. This course will include a 20-minute conference with each participant. Our sessions will be comprised of reading discussions, lectures, an in-class writing practice, as well as sharing opportunities. All readings will be provided. In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; workshop writing you bring from home.

Calling all lovers! Do you wish to explore the yearning, burning, desire of romance? The grief of heartbreak? The loneliness of unrequited love? The complex betrayal of lost familial and/or platonic love? In this workshop we will seek to understand the challenges and joys of writing about love. The course is open to writers of any genre (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction/essay, hybrid forms) who want to generate new material or add to preexisting material or works in progress. Throughout the week, each class will focus on a specific category of love: romance, heartbreak, unrequited love, and familial/platonic love. We will engage in short reading assignments of poetry, fiction, essay, and hybrid forms to study how writers capture love, with special attention given to craft elements such as language, the line and sentence, mood and atmosphere, tension, scene, character, and more. We will use the texts as inspiration for our own work, and we will generate new writing (in the genre of your choice) through exercises, experiments, rituals, and prompts. We will also offer first impressions and in-class feedback on the writing you produce in our week together. In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; offer feedback/first impressions on writing you produce in our week.