The profile, one of the foundations of narrative journalism, is a portrait painted in words. A profile writer serves as the reader’s eyes and ears, enabling the reader to experience the subject as palpably as one can without a direct live encounter. In this course, we’ll learn the interviewing and writing aspects of the profile process: doing background research on a subject, honing interviewing techniques, coming up with secondary interview subjects, and trying on various styles, all in order to most vividly and precisely bring the person to life on the page. We’ll also explore well-known profiles such as Lillian Ross’s “Portrait of Hemingway” and Bob Greene’s “Muhammad Ali is the Most Famous Man in the World.” This course is roughly half seminar (i.e., reading and discussion) and half workshop (executing a few reporting/writing assignments and sharing them with the group). Nothing to submit in advance, as we’ll generate all new work during our time together. Inquisitive wordsmiths at all levels of writing experience are welcome. In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; offer feedback/first impressions on writing you produce in our week.

In an effort to get over ourselves as personal storytellers, we’ll strive in this intensive course to make every sentence, indeed every word, count. What must be there for a reader to get a sense of us? What’s that inciting incident, organizing principle, heat-seeking moment, that could drive our memoirs? We’ll spend Saturday talking about how we all have many memoirs in us, but each needs to be a specific slice—the statue within the block of marble, the sculpture within the lump of clay, the story-within-the-story. What’s this particular memoir about? (“Me” or “My life” aren’t precise enough answers.) We’ll also engage in in-class writing exercises, to see what memories rise to the surface as crucial memoir kernels, and discuss excerpts from published works—by economical personal writers such as Jeannette Walls and Karen Schneider—to energize and inspire us. Overnight, we’ll write our “life stories” in 500 words, allowing the narrower story to start taking shape. Sunday, we’ll share our pieces and workshop them on the spot. Nothing to submit in advance. Open-minded introspectives with a desire to communicate, at all levels of writing experience, are welcome. In this workshop, we will generate new writing through guided exercises and prompts; offer feedback/first impressions on writing you produce in our weekend.