If you’ve taken a writing workshop, you’ve likely encountered that classic bit of feedback: “Put it in the body!” So much of narrative is about thought—memories of the past, ideas about right and wrong, and lived lessons that deliver new kinds of understanding. We can easily forget that our written characters are, like us, bodies. They, like us, are differently abled, and move through shared worlds with their own perceptual practices, physical proclivities, comforts, and pains. Nothing gets more directly to the truth of the human condition like our aging, aching, and above all changing bodies. And thus we chant, “Show! Show! Don’t merely tell!” To that end, let us center the body, so that we might make our prose as evocative as it can be. This weeklong generative writing lab will balance the work of pens and laptops with exercises designed to explore the lived experiences of bodies in the world. In class, we’ll look closely at fiction, essays, and other prose in which the human body is central to meaning making. Out of class assignments will center your and your characters’ real and imagined embodiments as they move through space and time. We’ll write toward new work, revisit work in progress, and, if we choose, share our efforts in a generous and enthusiastic environment. All bodies and all prose writers are welcome, of any ability. The only requirement is that you have lived and aged inside a body. Which, we’ll see, is a most magical bridge between what is written and what a reader feels, thinks, and carries away. 

In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; offer feedback/first impressions on writing you produce in our week. For one-on-one meetings, I will invite students to submit new or old work for discussion.