This workshop is for any writer in any stage of a memoir—planning, just starting, in process, or stuck. It is also ideal for anyone interested in learning the fundamentals of narrative nonfiction. We will explore key ingredients of memoir writing, applicable across all styles and subjects. Topics include structure, framing, shaping, time, tense, points of entry, compression, unity, dialogue, “the messy middle,” and the place of “creativity” in narrative nonfiction. This will not be a revision or manuscript workshop; instead, the emphasis will be on stretching your craft, and thinking through your project. Each meeting will include models, talks, Q&A, and practice pertaining to a key skill or approach to memoir writing. There will also be opportunities to read what you write—though no one will be forced to read. In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments.

Telling a story well requires a sure touch with narration, characterization and dialogue. But how do you find the right balance? This is a nuts-and-bolts craft workshop that welcomes fiction writers of all levels. We’ll look at brief samples from contemporary writers (Zadie Smith, George Saunders, Patricia Lockwood et al.) and consider characterization techniques and the question of empathy. Does your main character have to be “likeable”? What is “likeable” anyway? We’ll also ask questions about dialogue, idiolect and profanity (yes, swearing is an artful activity!). We’ll explore when to give your characters a rest and let your narrator do the talking. The common saying, “Show don’t tell” isn’t always true, but this fact begs the questions: How do I show? When do I tell? (Click title to read more...)

In Exercises in Style, Raymond Queneau re-imagines one brief narrative... in 99 different versions. We won't get that obsessive in our week together, but we will read a number of poets from different "schools" and carefully listen to different modes of expression that might help us re-work our own poems. How might Romantic, Modernist, Confessional, Objectivist, New York School, and Oulipo voices help us to see our subjects and our language differently? Don’t worry if you’re unfamiliar with these various schools of expression—just know that we'll use a playful variety of syntactical, musical, and rhetorical strategies to revise our poems, trusting our eyes and ears to take in and learn from what others have done over time. Lively discussions of individual poems and major poetic movements, along with liberating and exploratory exercises, will inspire us to revisit our own work. When you come to Iowa City, bring three of your own lyric poems that you'd like to re-envision in multiple ways. In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments; provide feedback on writing brought from home as we revise poems in class.

This is a class for those who have done substantive work on a novel and are seeking peer and instructor feedback preparatory to completing a first draft or revision. You will describe and evaluate your novel using instructor templates. Write and share new passages, especially of character interiority. Participants are expected to do substantial work between classes, and are encouraged to work in pairs or small groups. The instructor will read/review written summaries and short passages. A writer beginning a novel from scratch might not be able to keep up, but it is not necessary to have a lot of pages written if you have a strong premise and a basic plot. You will receive intensive feedback on ideas, but we will not workshop manuscripts. Based on the concepts in Scofield, The Last Draft: A Novelist's Guide to Revision. In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments; critique writing you bring from home.

You have all the ingredients for a great novel: a wonderful story to tell, fascinating characters to follow, and a compelling world to explore. Perhaps you’ve already written some pages and watched the sparks fly as your characters come together in all the complicated ways that real people do. The question now is how to make your novel work over hundreds of pages—and keep the reader turning those pages. The answer is structure. Structure includes plot but reaches beyond plot to include basic decisions about which parts of your story to tell in scene and which parts to summarize in exposition—and in what order those elements should come. Structure creates a clearly marked road map for the writer to follow. This weeklong course is designed to help you figure out how to create a structure for your novel. Through a combination of lecture, discussion, and in-class creative exercises you will be invited to share with the group, we will: · Explore the desires that drive your most important characters to act · Understand how the conflict that starts with your protagonist creates your plot · Experience how scene works as a dramatic unit, and how it combines with exposition to cover large spans of time · Make decisions about which parts of your story to tell in scene · Explore the idea of character arc, in which characters struggle and change in response to events Read more...

Later, we’ll sort out the specifics. For now, let’s say the novella is an extended work of fiction: long enough for the reader to get lost in but short enough to be consumed in a single sitting. It doesn’t take up much space. Stow it in your purse or slip it in your back pocket. Read it as you wait in line for coffee. Novellas used to be considered awkward—too long to fit comfortably in the pages of most literary magazines and too short to be published alone. But, in our current culture, the novella is, as Debra Sparks has said, “Goldilocks form, not too much this and not too much that but just right.” Read more...

“The great questions – Who are we? Why are we here? What is our task? – are best answered by telling a story.” Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sachs, British theologian & philosopher It’s true we live our lives in narrative. Everywhere we go, we share a story or hear stories from others. But life stories are more than mere entertainment. Constructing our stories helps us to make sense of the world, so that in time, one story after the next, we get closer to answering some of the great questions! Archiving our most compelling stories leaves a lasting legacy. In a narrative, you describe a significant life experience. Then you share your reactions, feelings and lessons learned. Narratives include other pillars as well. We’ll discuss powerful examples of eight pillars – each a key element of personal narrative, after which I’ll lead you through strategic writing exercises, stepping stones to your working draft. Read more...

We know them when we read them. “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” “I am an invisible man.”** Killer Openings. But how do we write them ourselves? In this weekend workshop, we’ll discuss the importance of not just a killer opening line, but also a strong opening paragraph, a compelling first few pages, and a powerful first chapter that moves our novels or memoirs forward. If we create “killer openings,” then agents will return our emails, editors will buy our manuscripts, readers will keep turning our pages, and pretty soon, we’ll be checking out real estate listings in the south of France. Right? But there’s another good reason for writing a compelling opening. When our first chapter includes all of the elements that will set up our novels or memoirs for success, then our books become that much easier to write, because our first chapter has become a road map. This weekend workshop is for writers of all levels, from beginners who have never written a novel or memoir before, to intermediate authors who are in the process of revision, to advanced authors who are on their third book. Read more...

The fast-paced, social media-dominated society in which we live today, combined with people’s enduring hunger to connect with true stories of others, has made flash prose a popular form of writing for both readers and writers. Generally under 1000 words and more often under 500, flash prose pieces can provide a welcome break from longer book projects while keeping our writing muscles active. Producing complete flash essays in a comparatively short time can also foster a sense of tangible accomplishment. But writing a successful flash essay is not as easy as it looks! In this weekend workshop for writers at all levels, you’ll learn how to craft creative nonfiction flash essays through the use of helpful prompts, exchange light critiques to help you polish your flash essays for potential publication, and read examples of effective flash essays for class discussion about the craft elements that make each of them successful. Expect to produce one or more rough drafts for flash essays in this class that you can further polish at home, and to have a lot of fun! In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments and provide feedback on writing you produce in your weekend.

When the circus shoves a clown onto the high wire it will appear to be a mistake, until we realize it has sent out its best aerialist. Likewise, many great authors (such as Beckett, Faulkner, Gertrude Stein, and more recently George Saunders) favor writing that is clumsy, off-kilter, or ridiculous—“tales told by idiots.” From a training point of view, there may be nothing more helpful to a writer’s development than trafficking in bullshit for a while. Bullshit (loosely defined as obliviousness to truth) can improve our freedom and originality on the page, take us beyond our conscious agendas, and crack the ice of our earnestness (earnestness being the number one writing crime). “The fool would be wise,” someone said, “if he persisted in his folly.” This will be a two-day generative course in the uses of bullshit, and bad writing generally, to forward our skill and imagination. There will be models, craft talks, and lots of practice. It promises to be fun, yet we’re not just clowning around. In this workshop, we will generate new writing through exercises and assignments.