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.