Virginia Woolf challenged future writers to break the sequence of traditional narrative so it might better convey the true stories of women’s bodies. This challenge has been taken on, not only by women, but by queer writers, writers of color, and writers living in differently abled bodies. Contemporary prose writers use disruption and re-direction through collage and archive to get closer to the rhythms and experiences of their bodies; or they borrow across art forms such as music and visual art, or use everyday formats such as recipes as screens through which to tell hard stories. This class will explore examples of these “unruly” embodied stories from fiction and nonfiction writers and use them as jumping off points for our own generative writing experiments. Our time in the first four sessions will be divided between discussions of example texts, generative writing, optional sharing, and light constructive feedback. Participants will be invited to put a short piece they have generated in the class up for workshop on the fifth day. This class is perfect for fiction or nonfiction writers who are interested in melding content to form, or for writers who are looking for new approaches to telling difficult stories. We will aim to cultivate an environment of exploration, generosity, and respect.

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; offer feedback/first impressions on writing you produce in our week.