Writing Workshops & Online Classes
*ONLINE WORKSHOPS happen live, via video conference. All you need is a laptop, computer, or phone with functioning audio and a webcam. Those who RSVP receive directions and a link to "join" the session. All online instructors will log on to the video conference 20 minutes before the start of the session, to help anyone with technical issues. We'll do everything in our power to help you get comfortable with this new format, though when the session begins, we unfortunately will not be able to assist with technical difficulties.
*ONE-DAY CLASSES run two or three hours and focus on particular writing-related craft, process, or practical topics. They often emphasize the development and honing of particular skills, often through craft instruction, analysis of of short example texts, discussion, and in-class writing. Unless stated, they DO NOT entail outside reading or the opportunity to receive feedback on your work. Groups are limited to 10, 16, 20, and 25 writers, depending on specific class.
*MULTI-WEEK WORKSHOPS meet weekly for the stated number of weeks and usually offer the opportunity to receive feedback on your work from the instructor and workshop group (unless description emphasizes generative writing, revision, or something else). They often include weekly deadlines, reading and/or writing assignments, and craft instruction. Limited to 10 writers.
*SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS: We try to meet the needs of all of our students at PVWW, so please let us know if there are any special accommodations you may need (for example: if you struggle with email, typing, computer use, mobility, etc.) You can talk to your instructor on the first day of class, though we encourage you to let us know in advance, as it's easier to accommodate your requests that way. Feel free to email Joy or leave us a note when you register/RSVP for a class.
*FINANCIAL AID/SCHOLARSHIPS: We have limited resources, but we try to offer some assistance to those in extreme need. If this is the only way you can attend a workshop, please fill out our Financial Aid Application, let us know what workshop you're applying for, and include a short writing sample. We are usually unable to give more than a 50% cost reduction. For those who are able to pay in full, we thank you, as it allows us to give some assistance to those otherwise unable to attend.
*DONATIONS TO PVWW: We are a small, writer-run organization committed to making our workshops available to all writers, yet we do not have outside resources or grants to draw upon. Because of this, we greatly appreciate any and all donations. If you've recently attended a $5 session or Community Writing and have the means to do so, a $10 - $20 donation would greatly help us sustain these free and low-cost offerings at PVWW. Thank you to all our donors! Learn more & donate to PVWW here.
*LOCATION: All in-person workshops are held in our classroom in Williamsburg MA and are limited to 10 participants. Online workshops are held via Zoom video conference; online class size varies depending on the goals and nature of the class.*
ONLINE WRITING WORKSHOPS
IN THE TIME OF COVID-19
with PVWW Instructors & Authors
Dear Writing Community:
We know that many of you are experiencing financial difficulties right now, as we battle COVID-19; others are cut off completely from community. To address these unprecedented times, Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop will be offering a weekly series of $5 online writing sessions over the next few months, on a range of topics from publishing to novel-writing to flash fiction to Scrivener. Other online workshops will be discounted as well.We are happy we can continue to offer opportunities for literary community and connection throughout these difficult times, and we hope you'll join us in our virtual meeting space. If you are able to and would like to donate to PVWW to help us sustain these low-cost workshops during this time, we are very grateful for all assistance. All of these events will take place ONLINE via video conference, and all those who sign up will receive directions and a link (via email) that will allow them to access the class. We hope to see you in our virtual classroom soon!
Joy Baglio
Founder/Director
Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop
We know that many of you are experiencing financial difficulties right now, as we battle COVID-19; others are cut off completely from community. To address these unprecedented times, Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop will be offering a weekly series of $5 online writing sessions over the next few months, on a range of topics from publishing to novel-writing to flash fiction to Scrivener. Other online workshops will be discounted as well.We are happy we can continue to offer opportunities for literary community and connection throughout these difficult times, and we hope you'll join us in our virtual meeting space. If you are able to and would like to donate to PVWW to help us sustain these low-cost workshops during this time, we are very grateful for all assistance. All of these events will take place ONLINE via video conference, and all those who sign up will receive directions and a link (via email) that will allow them to access the class. We hope to see you in our virtual classroom soon!
Joy Baglio
Founder/Director
Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop
ONLINE • FREE & OPEN TO ALL
Community Writing
Fridays: April 17, May 1, May 15, June 5, June 19, July 3, July 17 (6 - 8pm EST)
with PVWW Founder-Director Joy Baglio
This FREE, gathering for writers of all levels and genres happens every FIRST and THIRD FRIDAY of the month and is a great way to get back into the flow of your work in the supportive presence of other writers. We'll warm up with a number of engaging prompts, followed by sustained writing time, then (optional) sharing and discussion in smaller groups, or one large group (depending on the size of the gathering). Note: Community Writing is NOT a traditional workshop where writers receive feedback on their work - it's a place to write alongside others, respond to prompts, and connect and share with other writers. If you join the session late, no worries - just remember to mute yourself when you log on! Open to all. Young adult and teen writers welcome! Group size: No limit.
RSVP Directions: Please RSVP just ONCE, even if you plan to attend more than one session, as we will add you to the Community Writing mailing list and email you the link to all sessions the day before.
Donations: This is a free community event that happens twice a month, and there is no expectation to donate. However, if you are able to and would like to contribute, all donations are greatly appreciated and will directly help us continue offering free and low-cost writing programs like Community Writing. Learn more & donate to PVWW here!
RSVP Directions: Please RSVP just ONCE, even if you plan to attend more than one session, as we will add you to the Community Writing mailing list and email you the link to all sessions the day before.
Donations: This is a free community event that happens twice a month, and there is no expectation to donate. However, if you are able to and would like to contribute, all donations are greatly appreciated and will directly help us continue offering free and low-cost writing programs like Community Writing. Learn more & donate to PVWW here!
ONLINE - 2 spots left!
Creating Compelling Characters
3 Hours: Saturday, May 30th (1 - 4pm EST) • $50
Creating great fiction requires creating compelling, three-dimensional characters who break through clichés and stereotypes. In this class, we’ll explore questions like: What are the internal states and motivations of our characters? How does that connect to their external behaviors—how do they think, feel, and act in different situations and environments, from the mundane to the profound? What are their personal, social, and cultural histories, and how much of that should we reveal? We'll use a variety of in-class explorations and guided discussions to get at these core issues, and we’ll bring our characters to life by workshopping them with the group! Class size: 12 participants.
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CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is the author of the novels In a Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse and A Child Is Being Killed. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared widely, in such publications as The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, West Branch, Huffington Post, and others. She holds an MFA from Naropa University and is currently an English professor. |
ONLINE • FULL
Turning Real Life Into Compelling Fiction
2 Hours: Sunday, May 31 (3 - 5 EST)
We all take inspiration from our own lives when we're writing, but sometimes our experiences are the hardest things to write successfully as fiction. We'll explore why our terrible dates, or uncomfortable cab rides, or job losses, or trips to Antarctica often don't make a great short stories, and how they could. Class size: 16 spots.
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Ben Jackson holds an MFA in fiction from Boston University and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge. His nonfiction writing has appeared in The London Review of Books, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Awl, and The Guardian, among others, and his short fiction has appeared in West Branch. He's received grants from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Banff Center, and is working on his first novel. |
ONLINE • FULL
Advanced Fiction Workshop
8 Weeks: Thursdays, June 4 - July 23 (6-8pm EST) • $275
This course is designed to give experienced fiction writers who are already familiar with workshops the opportunity to give and receive feedback on work in progress. It's a great place to get an "almost there" story to a place where it's polished and ready for submission/publication. In addition to workshopping, we will read and discuss published work, do occasional generative writing exercises, and discuss craft as it relates to the pieces scheduled for discussion. Class size: 10 spots.
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KATE SENECAL is the Assistant Director of PVWW and former fiction editor of Storychord. She has received an honorable mention in Glimmer Train’s 2019 Short Fiction Contest, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2016. Kate’s fiction has been published in The Laurel Review, The Foundling Review, and in Storychord.com. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and, in addition to PVWW, teaches at Grub Street in Boston and UMass Amherst. |
ONLINE • SPECIAL $5 RATE
An Evening of Lyric and Narrative Poetry
2 Hours: Saturday, June 6 (6 - 8pm EST)
Join us for an evening of exploring and writing lyric and narrative poetry. We'll start with an introduction to what "lyric" and "narrative" can mean, and some ways these concepts can be approached on the page. This will be followed by time spent generating our own lyric and narrative poetry in class. You may feel free to come with a totally blank page, or with projects you're already working on that you'd like to refine or continue. This is a great workshop for beginner and experienced poets alike! Class size: 20 spots.
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CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is the author of the novels In a Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2016) and A Child Is Being Killed (Aqueous Books, 2013.) Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared widely, in such publications as The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, West Branch, PANK, Dusie, Huffington Post, and Everyday Feminism. She holds an MFA from Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is currently an English professor. Find her online at www.carolynzaikowski.com.
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ONLINE - 1 spot left!
The Propulsive Plot:
Strategies for Building Suspense in the Novel
3 Hours: Sunday, June 7th (1 - 4pm EST) • $50
Every novel should be, in some sense, a thriller. Through readings, lecture, and discussions, we’ll identify the essential components of suspense and gain an understanding of how to hook readers fast and build a mystery that keeps them engaged. Together, we'll learn some simple, foolproof tricks for cranking up the momentum in any type of work. Class size: 12 spots.
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DEBRA JO IMMERGUT is the author of You Again, forthcoming from Ecco/Harper Collins in July 2020, and The Captives, a 2019 Edgar Award finalist for Best Debut Novel by an American Author, published in the US by Ecco and in over a dozen other countries. She has also published a collection of short fiction, Private Property (Random House). Her work has appeared in American Short Fiction, Narrative, the Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe, among others. She is a winner of Michener and McCloy fellowships and has an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
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ONLINE • SPECIAL $5 RATE
Writing Three-Dimensional Settings
2 Hours: Sunday, June 14th (6 - 8pm EST)
A powerful setting in fiction can encompass myriad elements, from the geographical to the man-made, to considerations regarding time period, to the physical and sensory, to implied psychological atmospheres. Settings can also interact in powerful ways with plot and character--and can sometimes even become characters of their own. In this workshop, we'll discuss how to making settings unique and three-dimensional. We'll then engage in some fun brainstorming exercises to help us develop a deeper relationship to this important element of fiction. Class size: 16 spots.
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CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is the author of the novels In a Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2016) and A Child Is Being Killed (Aqueous Books, 2013.) Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared widely, in such publications as The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, West Branch, PANK, Dusie, Huffington Post, and Everyday Feminism. She holds an MFA from Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is currently an English professor. Find her online at www.carolynzaikowski.com.
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ONLINE
8-week Short Fiction Intensive
8 Weeks: Thursdays, June 18 - August 6 (6-8pm EST) • $300
In this generative workshop, you’ll create at least seven short story drafts using prompts on specific elements like narrative structure, voice, character, setting, and epistolary fiction. We'll read examples from masters like Flannery O'Connor, Kathleen Collins, Ottessa Moshfegh, and more. In addition to producing drafts and honing craft skills, this is a chance to challenge yourself on deadlines, daily writing goals, and sharing your work. This workshop is appropriate for fiction writers of all levels looking for a fun, boot-camp style experience, though familiarity with the basic elements of fiction will be helpful. Participants should be willing to do approximately 2-5 hours of reading and writing at home between meetings. Class size: 10 writers.
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CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is the author of the novels In a Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2016) and A Child Is Being Killed (Aqueous Books, 2013.) Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared widely, in such publications as The Washington Post, Denver Quarterly, The Rumpus, West Branch, PANK, Dusie, Huffington Post, and Everyday Feminism. She holds an MFA from Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is currently an English professor. Find her online at www.carolynzaikowski.com.
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ONLINE
Tales from the Memory Palace: 6-100 Word Memoirs
4 Weeks: Begins Sunday, July 5 • $175
In this four-week ONLINE memoir writing adventure, you’ll learn to scope out, swoop down and snatch up important memories from your life then speed write them into miniature masterpieces. Write precise but powerful flashes of insight into the human experience! Six words, 25 words, 50 words and 100 words. Weekly readings, online discussions and assignments will correspond with those lengths. You will be provided with resources that support writing the short but powerful memoir as well as places to submit for publication. Open to writers of all levels. Writers will interact with instructor and each other through discussion boards. Feedback is deep, thoughtful, and frequent. NO LIVE VIRTUAL MEETINGS.
ONLINE - 5 spots left!
Creating Tiny Universes: 4-Week Flash Fiction Intensive
4 Weeks: Saturdays, August 8 - 29 (6 - 8pm EST) • $200
Have you ever told a story to a group of people and had the whole room silent, waiting to see how it would end? You might be a natural at flash fiction, super-short fiction that has no time or patience for the long-windedness of other forms, that distills story down to its essence, and taps into our instincts as natural - and brief - storytellers. Flash takes everything we love about compelling stories - the complexity, nuance, characters, themes, tension, stakes - and delivers it all in an impossibly short high-wire act that leaves us deeply affected and that resonates long after. But how do we go about writing, crafting, and cutting our stories into these sparkling fictional (or memoiristic) gems? Each week, we will highlight a different key element in the creation of flash fiction, and through short craft talks, example texts, discussion, and generative exercises, we'll explore the flash form in all its versatility: what it is, how it differs from longer fiction, and how we can become savvy practitioners of the form. Limited to 12 writers. Class format: Online, via live Zoom conference + opportunity to share work and receive feedback.
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JOY BAGLIO founded Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop in 2016. She's a former associate fiction editor at West Branch, and her fiction has appeared in Tin House, The Iowa Review, TriQuarterly, American Short Fiction, New Ohio Review, Gulf Coast, SmokeLong Quarterly, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from The New School and has received fellowships from Yaddo, Vermont Studio Center, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Speculative Literature Foundation, and MVICW. Her short fiction has been recognized by numerous contests and awards, including Wigleaf's Top 50 (Very) Short Fictions and Ploughshare's Emerging Writer's Contest.
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ONLINE
Revision Strategies for Prose Writers
8 Weeks: Thursdays, August 13 - October 1 (6-8pm EST) • $300
This 8-week workshop is for writers who have finished a draft of a full length manuscript, short story, or essay and are looking for ways to see their projects in a new way and take them to the next level. The course frames revision as a process of inquiry, and promises to help make the revision experience tangible and specified to each project's individual needs. Each class meeting will offer a set of revision exercises geared toward a specific craft element. We'll discuss how to revise with an eye on character development, narrative voice and point of view, structure, conflict development, narrative tension, scene and summary balance, sentence structure, dialogue and more. The workshop is interactive, exercise-based, but writers will not get feedback on their work. There will be ample opportunity to problem solve as a group, discuss our experiences experimenting with revision exercises, and build community. Limited to 10 writers. Class format: Online, via Zoom Video Conference
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KATE SENECAL is the Assistant Director of PVWW and former fiction editor of Storychord. She has received an honorable mention in Glimmer Train’s 2019 Short Fiction Contest, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2016. Kate’s fiction has been published in The Laurel Review, The Foundling Review, and in Storychord.com. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and, in addition to PVWW, teaches at Grub Street in Boston and UMass Amherst. |
ONLINE • 50% DISCOUNT
Submitting & Publishing Short Fiction
2 Hours: Sunday, August 16th (3 - 5pm EST) • $30
This informational session with former West Branch associate editor and PVWW Founder-Director Joy Baglio will cover topics related to getting your short stories and flash fiction out in the world. We'll talk about the submissions process (including the different kinds of literary magazines out there), what editors care most about, getting your work to stand out in the slush pile, dealing with rejection, and what happens after an acceptance. We'll also discuss our goals, as well as the different paths open to short fiction writers. Come with any and all questions related to these topics. Open to all short fiction writers interested in learning how to get their work out there, including those already published. Informational, lecture-based, with Q&A time. Class size: 30 spots.
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JOY BAGLIO founded Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop in 2016. She's a former associate fiction editor at West Branch, and her fiction has appeared in Tin House, The Iowa Review, TriQuarterly, American Short Fiction, New Ohio Review, Gulf Coast, SmokeLong Quarterly, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from The New School and has received fellowships from Yaddo, Vermont Studio Center, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Speculative Literature Foundation, and MVICW. Her short fiction has been recognized by numerous contests and awards, including Wigleaf's Top 50 (Very) Short Fictions and Ploughshare's Emerging Writer's Contest.
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ONLINE
Sentences That Sing: Intensive for Prose Writers
4 Weeks: Sundays, September 6 - 27 (6-8pm EST) • $200
In my years as a literary magazine editor and manuscript consultant, I have seen prose manuscripts fail and succeed for countless reasons, but one thing remains clear: If the sentence-level writing is not absolutely solid, the most brilliant ideas and stories will topple under this faulty foundation, and ultimately fail to hook readers. In order to captivate readers, your sentences MUST not only be clear, specific, and wield the power of figurative language to their advantage, but they must achieve a level of flow, rhythm, and ease that invites readers into the experience and pulls them along effortlessly. The good news is that solid sentence-level writing is one of the more mechanical and easily-learned aspects of writing, and it's easy to practice too! This course will cover every major issue I normally see in many of my one-on-one work with writers. Every week we'll cover one major topic in sentence-level writing, and we'll practice with quick in-class exercises. There will be light homework in between classes, no more than a paragraph or two, and a chance to receive line-edits from the instructor. Limited to 10 writers. Class format: Online, via live Zoom conference.
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JOY BAGLIO founded Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop in 2016. She's a former associate fiction editor at West Branch, and her fiction has appeared in Tin House, The Iowa Review, TriQuarterly, American Short Fiction, New Ohio Review, Gulf Coast, SmokeLong Quarterly, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from The New School and has received fellowships from Yaddo, Vermont Studio Center, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Speculative Literature Foundation, and MVICW. Her short fiction has been recognized by numerous contests and awards, including Wigleaf's Top 50 (Very) Short Fictions and Ploughshare's Emerging Writer's Contest.
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Fall 2020 Workshops & Classes
NOTE: All in-person workshops are held in our classroom in Williamsburg MA and will go forward only if it is safe and advisable to do so. We will let all registered participants know if that happens. If workshops are rescheduled, canceled, or moved online, we will let you know as far in advance as possible and will refund those who request it.
IN-PERSON
Tales of the Memory Palace: 6 - 100-Word Memoirs
3 Hours: Saturday, September 5th (1 - 4pm) • $60
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In a fast forward, sound-bite world driven by tweets, texts and titles, short is the new writing “it” girl. Seriously, who has the time to read, let alone write the 80,000 word literary rambles of yesteryear? If you want to be an in-demand storyteller, you need to get in, get out and get going. In this “short” memoir writing adventure, you’ll learn to scope out, swoop down and snatch up important memories from your life then speed write them into miniature masterpieces. Write precise but powerful flashes of insight into the human experience! You will be provided with resources that support writing the short but powerful memoir as well as places to submit for publication.Ready to sprint with us?
GIULIETTA NARDONE has been leading writing programs on-line and in person since 2008. Her personal essays and short memoirs have been published in well-respected newspapers, magazines, books and broadcast on public radio. Her non-fiction book will be released in the spring.
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IN-PERSON
How to Think Like a Playwright
3 Weeks: Wednesdays, September 9 - 23 (6 - 8pm) • $175
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In this discussion-based playwriting workshop, we’ll take a big, ole, deep dive into what makes a captivating play. We start off with in-class writing exercises, and a look at the works of legendary playwrights Sam Shepard and Tina Howe. From there, the stage is all yours. For the majority of the course, we focus the spotlight on students bringing in 1-3 scenes to be read aloud, then receiving dramaturgical feedback.
ROSE MARTULA was selected as one of "50 Playwrights To Watch" by the Dramatists Guild Magazine and is a former winner of the NYC Young Playwrights Festival. A recipient of two Audrey Skirball Playwriting Awards, she was nominated for the LARK Pony Fellowship in its inaugural year, and was a semi-finalist at PlayLabs at The Playwrights Center in MN, the Princess Grace Awards & The Chesterfield Film Project. Martula co-wrote with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Lanford Wilson, an adaptation of his play, Balm And Gilead, the year before his passing.
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IN-PERSON - 3 spots left!
Writing Prose Poems That Sing
3 Hours: Saturday, September 12th (1 - 4pm) • $60
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Prose poems are being published by more journals and presses than ever, but what makes this boundary crossing form stand out? In this workshop we’ll discuss examples of prose poems that vary in tone and subject. We’ll discover what happens when a poem, free of line breaks, uses elements of both poetry and prose to create something new and adventurous. Hands-on exercises will provide opportunities to shake up your writing and have fun with this form
GAIL THOMAS is the author of four books of poetry, including Odd Mercy, which won the Charlotte Mew Prize of Headmistress Press, and Waving Back, which was named a Must Read by the Massachusetts Center for the Book, and Honorable Mention by the New England Book Festival. Her work has appeared in many journals and anthologies including The Beloit Poetry Journal, Calyx, The North American Review, Italian Americana, among others. Individual poems have won national prizes, and she has been a fellow at The McDowell Colony and Ucross.
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IN-PERSON
The Importance of Grammar
3 Hours: Saturday, September 12th (1 - 4pm) • $60
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In this workshop, we will learn to reinforce the structure of our sentences; clean up the chaos of messy clauses, conjunctions, commas, etc.; and thus, master the dichotomy of writing: What we say vs. How we say it. All participants of this one-day session will be asked to bring 500 words of their writing they are willing to play with and receive feedback on. With this, you will be challenged to strengthen your grasp of how your own prose can work at the highest potential for the purposes of a story worth telling.
MEG GRANGER holds an MFA from Western New England University and has taught at her alma mater as an Adjunct Professor of English Composition while also working for BusinessWest Magazine in Springfield, MA. She's completed a readership for The Master’s Review and is the current managing editor for Common Ground Review. Her poetry has appeared in the Merrimack Review and her short fiction in Crack the Spine.
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IN-PERSON
A Try at the Truth: Intro to Memoir Workshop
6 Weeks: Mondays, September 14 - October 19 (6 - 8pm) • $250
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Patricia Hampl says “Memoir is not what happened (if we’re lucky, that’s the best journalism). It is what has happened over time, in the mind as it attends to these tantalizing, dismaying, broken bits of life history. Such personal writing is, as the essay is, ‘an attempt.’ It is a try at the truth. The truth of a self in the world.” In this six-week workshop, we will generate new writing, examine masters of the craft, confront the challenges of writing ‘the truth of the self’ and work together in a supportive environment to write and revise a short essay or chapter of a memoir.
CELIA JEFFRIES holds an MA from Brandeis and an MFA from Lesley University. Her work has appeared in numerous newspapers and literary magazines including Westview, Solsticelitmag, and Puerto del Sol, as well as the anthology Beyond the Yellow Wallpaper. She has received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and was named a Massachusetts Humanity Scholar. She recently completed a novel and is currently at work on a memoir.
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ONLINE
Hooked From the First Line: The Art of the Opening
2 Hours: Saturday, September 19 (3 - 5pm EST) • $30
The best writers establish authority immediately. It's that feeling you have as a reader when you know you're in capable, experienced hands. The result? You, the reader, are hooked! But how does a writer establish authority? What do successful beginnings have in common? In what different ways can a reader be hooked? In this online session, we'll look at a range of different openings with an eye towards how they establish authority from the first line. In addition to discussing the many different strategies for successful beginnings, we'll try our hands at writing a few opening lines of our own. Class size: 16 spots.
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JOY BAGLIO founded Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop in 2016. She's a former associate fiction editor at West Branch, and her fiction has appeared in Tin House, The Iowa Review, American Short Fiction, New Ohio Review, PANK, SmokeLong Quarterly, and in the spring 2020 issue of Gulf Coast. She holds an MFA from The New School and has received fellowships and grants from Yaddo, Vermont Studio Center, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Speculative Literature Foundation, and MVICW. Her short fiction has been recognized by numerous contests and awards, including Wigleaf's Top 50 (Very) Short Fictions and Ploughshare's Emerging Writer's Contest.
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IN-PERSON
Writing Without Fear:
How to Raise Your Own Stakes As A Storyteller
3 Hours: Saturday, September 26th (1 - 4pm) • $60
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Fear can wreak havoc on writers. It can thwart publication dreams at any bend in the literary road, from authors not placing their fiction or non-fiction narrators in enough emotional danger to procrastination and complete stall out on a book project. These writing dead-ends often happen because the storyteller lives in a state of fear. Fear of rejection, failure, inadequacy or even success. In this fun, interactive workshop, participants will do a series of exercises to get in touch with their fears not only about writing but also about life.
GIULIETTA NARDONE has been leading writing programs on-line and in person since 2008. Her personal essays and short memoirs have been published in well-respected newspapers, magazines, books and broadcast on public radio. Her non-fiction book will be released in the spring. |
IN-PERSON
Publishing Your Poems
3 Hours: Saturday, October 3rd (1 - 4pm) • $60
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Whether you want to submit individual poems to journals or publish a chapbook or full-length manuscript, this workshop offers practical advice for presenting your best work. We'll explore how to find journals and presses that best fit your writing style, specifics of formatting, titles and cover letters as well as poetry contests and the option of self-publishing. Publication involves risk-taking, so we'll also talk about dealing with rejection. For intermediate and advanced writers who are ready to send out a body of work.
GAIL THOMAS is the author of four books of poetry, including Odd Mercy and Waving Back, which was named a Must Read by the Massachusetts Center for the Book, and Honorable Mention by the New England Book Festival. Her work has appeared in many journals and anthologies including The Beloit Poetry Journal, Calyx and The North American Review. Individual poems have won national prizes, and she has been a fellow at The McDowell Colony and Ucross.
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IN-PERSON
Revision Is Risky Business
3 Hours: Saturday, October 3rd ( 1 - 4pm) • $60
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What separates talented writers from truly accomplished ones is revision—the risky business of questioning all that has been done. How does a writer move from a first draft to the final one where the truth of the writing sparkles and shines? Bring that piece you’ve been struggling with, that piece that feels complete but hasn’t gotten published yet, that story you can’t leave alone. Join us in exploring and writing into the heart of your story—take the risk.
CELIA JEFFRIES holds an MA from Brandeis and an MFA from Lesley University. Her work has appeared in numerous newspapers and literary magazines including Westview, Solsticelitmag, and Puerto del Sol, as well as the anthology Beyond the Yellow Wallpaper. She has received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and was named a Massachusetts Humanity Scholar. She recently completed a novel and is currently at work on a memoir.
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IN-PERSON - 3 spots left!
Talking to Strangers:
Dialogue That Makes Characters Real
3 Hours: Saturday, October 10th (1 - 4pm) • $60
By the time we ask ourselves, how do we make our characters sound like real people, we’ve already formed habits: our dialogue happens as easily as we type. How can we give dialogue back to the characters we’ve created so that they sound like people, talking? Can we write dialogue that surprises us, that runs all our narrative errands while deepening our characters in ways we never intended? This class will be all about new paths into dialogue, new exercises, new approaches. By the end of this class you’ll have written freestanding conversations that will surprise you.
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DREW JOHNSON's stories have appeared in Harper's, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Literary Review, The Cupboard, Gulf Coast, New England Review, and elsewhere. Reviews, essays, and interviews have appeared or are forthcoming at Literary Hub, Guernica, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Paris Review Daily, and elsewhere. He received his MFA from the University of Virginia. |
IN-PERSON
Hybrid Forms: Writing Between Genres
3 Hours: Saturday, October 10th (1 - 4pm) • $60
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Hybrid writing often denotes a combination of disparate genres, a style of writing that inhabits the “in-between.” But what if we consider hybridity as a genre all its own? In this course, we will read writing that refuses to classify itself within the traditional distinctions of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama; we will discuss the merits of classification, and of working outside these systems of naming; finally, we will form our own definitions of hybrid writing and practice them ourselves. Students will leave the class with an expanded notion of genre and a toolbox of possibilities for experimentation in style and form.
DENNIS JAMES SWEENEY's fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in Crazyhorse, Five Points, Ninth Letter, The New York Times, and The Southern Review, among others. He is a Small Press Editor of Entropy, the recipient of an MFA from Oregon State University, and a former Fulbright fellow in Malta. He's the author of Ghost/Home: A Beginner’s Guide to Being Haunted.
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IN-PERSON
In Our Own Words: Generative Translation
3 Hours: Sunday, November 8th (1 - 4pm) • $60
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All writers translate. We translate inchoate, ephemeral thoughts and images into words, and then, when we’re lucky, onto the page. Literary translation is at its heart an act of close reading, with attunement to word choice, tone, subtext and cultural context – familiar and essential concerns for any creative writer. In this class, we’ll play with words, via short exercises and prompts that will illuminate the process of literary translation and the ways in which it can be both a generative experiment and a tool for revising one’s own work.
LIZ BEDELL's recently completed novel, The Space Between, was shortlisted in the 2019 William Faulkner William Wisdom Competition, Novel-in-Progress category. She is a co-editor of Embody, a weekly feature column at The Maine Review. She holds an MFA in Fiction and Translation from Vermont College of Fine Arts. |
• Class and Workshop Policies •
Past One-Day Workshops
Pull At Your Reader's Heartstrings: Writing Emotion
with Cindy Littlefield
The key to crafting truly sympathetic characters (be they heroes or villains) is to make their emotions so palpable on the page that the reader actually feels them too. Ironically, the trick is to never identify those sentiments by name. In this one-day class, we will study passages from contemporary fiction (and film) that exemplify how effectively the masters use subtext to communicate love, grief, anger, sadness, elation, etc. in their prose. Next, we’ll try our hand at employing language, perception, and other elements of craft to deftly convey our own characters’ state of mind. Prompts will be provided for the writing exercise, but participants may choose to work on revising an excerpt from a work in progress if they prefer.
Debunking the "Show, Don't Tell" Myth
with Kate Senecal
If you even took one writing class in high school or college you've heard the phrase "show, don't tell." In this workshop, we'll explore the many ways that "telling" is useful, and how good prose is actually made up of a rich combination of BOTH showing and telling. Participants will learn strategies around the best way to reveal information in their short stories depending on the context and the desired effect through analyzing published work, class discussion, and in class writing exercises. Students will be provided with the option of sharing their work in class and obtaining verbal feedback, but this is at the participants' discretion.
Point of View and Narrative Distance
with Seth Harwood
First person, third person… second person? Close third person, distant third… omniscient? If you’ve pondered these concepts before and wondered either which would fit best for a given story you’re working on, or even which designation you’re writing in, this is the course for you. Together, we'll unpack and demystify point of view and the all important but oft-misunderstood metric of narrative distance. Understanding these important craft tools can make all the difference in keeping readers interested, grounded, and plugged in.
Put Your Story In Its Place: Making the Most of Setting
with Cindy Littlefield
It’s hard to overemphasize how compelling setting can be in creative writing. It’s not just that it lends significant context by grounding a story in a physical place and time. Done well, it also has the ability to illustrate and steer the narrative’s emotional undercurrents in dramatic and amazing ways. Think of how influential setting is in shaping such great novels as Water for Elephants, A Thousand Acres, The Shipping News, and The Things They Carried, to name a few. Not to mention the mesmerizing storylines of series such as West Wing, Nurse Jackie, and the Sopranos. This one-day class will delve into the significant role locale, weather, era, culture, and geography play in so many of the captivating narratives we all love. We’ll discuss how to choose and incorporate compelling setting descriptions and details that do the job without being effusive, then work through a series of inspiring prompts to establish a powerful sense of place in our own writing.
Writing the Scary Story: How to Hook and Frighten Your Reader
with Eleanor Lane
Do you aspire to write tales that terrify your readers? Join us in investigating how to create a tense and unnerving story through setting, characterization, and structure. How do we draw readers in and cultivate frightening atmospheres? How do we create menacing settings and monsters that haunt the reader long after they are done reading? We will examine some short and flash fiction pieces, and discuss the elements the authors use to draw readers in and set them on edge. Open to beginner and intermediate writers.
Path to Publishing Your Fiction
with Joy Baglio
This informational workshop will cover two important topics related to getting your work out in the world:
Publishing Your Poems
with Gail Thomas
Whether you want to submit individual poems to journals or publish a complete manuscript, this workshop will give practical advice for presenting your best work. We'll explore how to find journals and presses that best fit your writing style, the importance of formatting, titles, and cover letters, poetry contests and the option of self-publishing. Publication involves risk-taking, so we'll also talk about dealing with rejection. *Please bring five poems for the hands-on demonstration of how these might work as a manuscript. Recommended for intermediate and advanced writers who have a body of work.
Cultivating a Regular Writing Practice: A Bridge Between the Head & Heart
with Kate Senecal
This all-day workshop seeks to investigate the moving parts of a successful writing practice, and leave students with a solid plan regarding how to create momentum in their writing lives. We'll discuss finding balance between conquering writer's block, performance anxiety, allowing your intuition to steer the ship and developing concrete craft knowledge and revision strategies. Class include writing exercises, in-class readings, lively discussion, and active project planning. We will not be critiquing each other's work.
A Little Time for Poetry
with Carolyn Zaikowski
Life is busy. We don’t get the chance to steep in our poetry practice as often as we'd like, and we find ourselves getting more disconnected from our writing life—sometimes for months or years. The purpose of this class is to give us a quiet, supportive, and structured space to simply be poets for a few hours. This class is perfect for those who want to do some self-care and reconnect with their inner poet, as well as for those who simply crave a block of time to write and think about poetry.
We will:
Mastering the Power of Verbs
with Seth Harwood
Verbs: they’re the strongest tool in your arsenal of words, the sharpest arrow in the quiver. Yet we often choose weak links, connector verbs instead of the strong, stunning verbs that can knock, kick, twirl, or break a character, even build, develop, or create a full story. Why? What choices are we making that we don’t even realize? Join Seth Harwood to look at the various types of verbs at our disposal, see how the right verbs can transform your writing, and develop a powerful new revision technique along the way.
Fun With Writer's Block
with Carolyn Zaikowski
So you have writer’s block? Great work—that means you’re a writer! Many of us get down on ourselves when we can’t get those words to come out. But, as Samuel Beckett famously wrote, "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better." Writer’s block is a nothing other than a normal step in the writing process, and there are all kinds of methods we can use to overcome it. In this workshop, participants will explore multiple ways of blasting themselves out of writer’s block, from classic methods like freewriting, to innovative mental and emotional prompts, to somatic and sensory writing warm-ups…and hopefully, some fun will be had! This workshop is for writers of all levels and genres who are looking to light a fire under themselves and get the words flowing. You'll leave with a range of interesting and creative writer’s block strategies to use in real life, far beyond the workshop setting. *Participants are asked to arrive with one to three ideas or unfinished pieces of any length to work with that they are currently stuck on.
Exploring Grief Through Experimental Writing
with Nikki Sambitsky
Have you ever wondered what form grief can take in writing? In this workshop, we'll look at experimental and hybrid forms as well as the lyric essay as both vehicles that provide an access point to emotional depth as well as a way to give voice to the unspeakable. What does hybrid writing offer us that traditional creative nonfiction sometimes cannot?
In the first half of this all-day seminar, we'll look at and discuss how grief disrupts, enhances, and shows up for writers like Kate Zambreno, Lia Purpura, Maggie Nelson, Eula Biss, Stephen Kuusisto, and Roland Barthes. We'll discuss some of the techniques and hallmarks of experimental writing, such as wordplay, meaningful and purposeful use of whitespace, unusual forms, the relationship between form and content, punctuation, style, sound, metaphor, and simile, among others. We'll also examine an excerpt from Cheryl Strayed’s memoir, Wild, to illuminate the striking differences between grief in memoir versus grief in the lyric essay. During the second half of the seminar, we'll do some writing in response to several exercises based on our own personal grief-filled or difficult experiences. Open to writers of all levels and genres.
Five-Year Creative Planning
with Francine Puckly
In this hands-on workshop, writers, illustrators, and artists of all types have the opportunity to turn their long-term creative hopes into concrete goals over a five-year period. Participants begin the workshop by defining five-year visions for their careers. But just as the idea for a novel doesn’t turn into a book without a plot and outline, our careers must have detailed roadmaps delineating the work that must be done, at what pace, and in what order. Five-year visions are turned into annual goals, and those annual plans give way to quarterly, monthly and weekly tasks. Participants will leave the workshop with concrete plans that incorporate all aspects of projects, including (but not limited to): topic research, number of drafts required, editor/agent research, submission goals and tracking, skill acquisition (conferences, workshops, writing retreats), and social media strategies/website development needs. Open to writers and artists of all levels and genres.
Mastering Dialogue
with Sara Rauch
Have you ever...
...gotten the sneaking suspicion when reading that characters are talking at you?
...muddled through a conversation on the page that feels stiff, false, speechy, or preachy?
...wondered if a writer lifted a conversation verbatim from a real-life scenario?
...puzzled over why some dialogue livens a story while other dialogue bores?
...struggled with how to get more than two characters talking without confusion?
...wanted to use dialogue to convey important details and illuminate plot but don’t know where to begin?
If "yes" to any of these, this workshop is for you!
In this class, we’ll discuss how dialogue functions in writing and why some dialogue feels natural and other dialogue stiff. We’ll look at some examples and discuss what's successful and what isn’t. We’ll spend some time talking about the art of listening, which is intimately related to writing effective dialogue. Finally, we'll try our hands at some fun exercises to get your he said, she said juices flowing. Open to writers of all levels, genres, and experiences.
Creating Characters
with Carolyn Zaikowski
Writing great fiction requires creating compelling, three-dimensional characters who break through clichés and stereotypes. In this class we'll explore questions like: What are the internal states and motivations of our characters? How does that connect to their external behaviors—how do they think, feel, and act in different situations and environments, from the mundane to the profound? What are their personal, social, and cultural histories, and how much of that should we reveal? What should we take into account when writing characters who come from different social or cultural groups than we do? We'll use a variety of in-class explorations and guided discussions to get at these core issues, and we’ll bring our characters to life with some group workshopping activities. *Participants should come prepared with a basic sense of a character or characters they’d either like to create or have already been working on.*
Mastering Beginnings & Endings
with Kate Senecal
Ann Hood once wrote that Beginnings "put into motion the events that will drive the story to its resolution. And the resolution is often the inverse of the opening." In this class, we'll investigate the connection between the beginnings and endings of short stories and novels and discuss how to write opening and closing lines that draw the reader in and leave them satisfied. We'll look at a wide variety of beginnings and endings with an eye toward finding connections and identifying how the language anchors the story.
*Participants will be asked to read "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried" (10 pages) by Amy Hempel in advance of the class.
Reading Like a Writer
with Sara Rauch
Behind every good writer is a good reader. But what makes a good reader? A healthy curiosity, and a willingness to examine what is working (and what isn’t) in any given text. In this class, we’ll focus our attention on close reading: how to hone the skills necessary to really delve into a piece of prose and find what makes it tick, and then how to apply what you learn to your own work. In this class, we’ll scrutinize two different pieces of prose from the word and sentence level outward to character traits and motivations, plot, and narrative structure; we’ll talk about what works and what doesn’t on a craft level, how to discern between quality and personal taste, and how to make the leap from reading to actually writing. We’ll also talk about the role imitation can (and does) play in first drafts, and why reading broadly is so important to every writer at every stage of their career. Lastly, we’ll spend some time talking about ways to make reading like a writer an enjoyable experience.
Narrative Recycling: Retelling Familiar Stories
with Eleanor Lane
For as long as stories have been told, certain narratives have been retold throughout the ages in different styles, forms, and voices, often finding their way to us in the forms of folklore, fairytales, and myths. In this workshop, we'll look at how to use elements of mythology and folklore in our own writing and how to balance retelling with inventing. We'll consider how allusions function, the different possible ways of structuring a retelling, as well as which aspects of the original story often change in the retelling.We will examine stories by Carmen Maria Machado, Margaret Atwood, and Angela Carter, then discuss how these authors use familiar narratives to tell their own, new stories. Come prepared to engage with your favorite myths and fairytales! Participants will have an opportunity to practice using mythology and folklore in their own writing in response to several in-class writing exercises. *Participants will be asked to read several short stories in advance of the class. The texts will be emailed to everyone.
Revision Strategies for Fiction Writers
with Kate Senecal
Some writers think of revision as the drudge work of writing, yet when approached with the right tools and perspective, revision can be a playful and often enlightening exploration. This workshop will show you how fine-tuning and looking at your own work with fresh eyes can transform a first draft from something raw and not-quite-there into an eloquent and compelling piece of prose. We'll focus on specific revision strategies that will help you identify the parts of your story that aren't working and, in the supportive company of others, figure out solutions to the problem areas of your narrative. Participants will use a story of their own that is currently mid-process, and together we'll experiment with different revision tactics and leave the workshop with a concrete plan on how to move from close-but-no-cigar to publishable story.
Other Peoples' Stories: How to Tell, When to Tell, and When Not To Tell
with David Wanczyk
As memoirists and journalists, the stories we tell are not just our own. Whether we’re writing about our family, our colleagues, or even the subjects of a profile who know they’re being covered, we will face difficulties—questions of discretion, of truth-in-characterization. We might even have phobias about representation in general, knowing as we do how important it is for people—especially people who are marginalized—to have control of their own narratives. This workshop will explore strategies for writing nonfiction that is straightforward, but also respectful of boundaries. Author and New Ohio Review Editor David Wanczyk will share what he's learned from his experience researching and writing his nonfiction book, Beep, about blind people and the sport they play. The class will include time to share and discuss participants' projects as well.
Narrative Nonfiction & History Writing
with Ken Mondschein, Ph.D.
This casual, discussion-based nonfiction class will pick up where the first session left off, although all new participants are more than welcome to join in! Among other things, we will revisit choosing an angle that will appeal to readers, finding the story therein, grabbing the reader's attention with sharp prose, dealing with controversies in interpretation, and organizing your information in a clear, engaging narrative style, although the class will mostly focus on sources and places for doing research, such as academic library access, journals, databases, archives, and books. If there's time, Ken will discuss how to identify an academic book's argument and how to take a new approach on the same topic. Whether you intend to write a small-scale piece such as a blog on family history or an article on the barns of colonial New England, or intend to spend the next few years crafting a multi-volume on World War II or the fall of the Roman Empire, Ken will teach you to think like a historian and tell your audience what you have to say in a way that will keep them reading.
Tell the Truth, But Tell It Slant: A Memoir Workshop
with Celia Jeffries
Like a novel, a memoir is a dramatic work. This 3-hour workshop will be a short introduction to the process of writing memoir, with a focus on how to dramatize, or ‘tell it slant.’ We will do exercises to generate new work, examine the ways memory functions in writing, and discuss a variety of ways to structure a memoir.
Adventures in Poetry
with Adam Grabowski
This generative poetry workshop will be broken up into two parts: First, we’ll examine how Jack Kerouac’s “Belief & Technique for Modern Prose” can be beneficial to poets as an inspirational, fun way to get past your “inner editor” and (re)discover the joys of pure expression. We will quite purposefully dodge any of Jack’s poetry, but expect to take a look at some Ginsberg or Whitman to see how this approach can successfully shake us out of complacency. Finally, we’ll put into action everything we've discussed. Attendees can expect a series of prompts with the goal of making sense out of the chaos and leaving with every poet’s favorite thing—new work.
Radical Revision Poetry
with Adam Grabowski
Do you have a poem that you just can’t get right? Well, bring the beast here and let’s see what we can do about it. Sometimes the best way to get past a creative block is to throw caution to the wind and destroy what you’ve built. In this class we’ll look at various forms of radical revision, how it can liberate you, provide new perspective on your work, and show you that in the end, poetry is a silly, silly business. This workshop will consist of writing exercises, group dialogue, Sylvia Plath, and creative critique. Bring in a poem that’s giving you trouble and let’s see if we can’t have you walking out the door with more answers than questions.
*Poets are asked to arrive with five double-spaced copies of their poem, a magic marker, and an open mind.
Sound Devices & Meter in Poetry
with Eleanor Lane
In this 4-hour generative workshop, we'll spend some time examining and practicing two important elements of poetry: sound devices and meter. In the first half of the class, we'll focus on sound devices (alliteration, assonance, consonance, repetition, rhyme) and how they can be used in poetry to convey meaning, create tension, and/or evoke a particular atmosphere. We'll look at some examples of poems that employ these devices, then we'll try our hands at using them in our own poetry. In the second half of the class, we'll turn our focus to meter: What is it, and how can we take advantage of it in our own verses? We'll practice recognizing different meters, look at some formal and free verse poems that make use of it, then discuss and practice how to use meter to convey meaning in our own poetry. Students will leave with a thorough understanding of these elements and a familiarity with their use, as well as several new poems Open to writers of all levels.
Lyric-Writing for Songwriters
with Kelly Vogel
In this 3-hour workshop for songwriters, we will focus on what it is that makes great lyrics! In a supportive and lively environment, we will do exercises to spark your creativity and craft those creative ideas into vivid lyrics for your own songs. We will explore ways to find the best words to express your own unique ideas, and organize rhythms and rhymes into compelling verses, choruses, and bridges. Most importantly, we’ll dig into what makes your writing voice uniquely yours – and what can, in turn, help make your lyrics and songs all your own. This workshop is for all levels of musicians interested in exploring their lyric-writing voice. No lyric-writing experience necessary; experience playing an instrument is helpful but not necessary. Open to all ages - young songwriters encouraged to sign up as well!
Intro to Creative Nonfiction
with Emily Butler
Creative Nonfiction writers take true stories and use them to create written narratives using many of the same literary techniques as fiction writers. In this workshop, we'll discuss several forms of Creative Nonfiction, such as the personal essay and the profile essay, as well as related sub-genres including travel writing and memoir. We'll also discuss and practice the literary techniques used to craft these stories, i.e., a balance of scene and summary, rich characterization, believable dialogue, and an effective frame or arc. Participants will be offered several prompts and opportunities to write and share their work. Whether you are an avid writer of Creative Nonfiction wishing to practice and discuss the genre with other writers, or you would like to explore a new genre, you are welcome in this class. No experience necessary.
The Art and Business of Audiobooks
with Steven Jay Cohen
Audiobook sales are booming, growing over 20% since 2016 (according to the Audio Publishers Association). Wondering how you can grow your audience, reaching listeners as well as readers? Steven Jay Cohen, Audiobook Producer at Spoken Realms, will walk you through the process from working with audio rights, to production, to publication, to distribution, to marketing, explaining all of the options now available. Open to writers and authors of all levels, traditionally published and independent authors with existing or soon-to-be-published books.
Poetic Forms: Sonnet, Haiku, and Ghazal
with Eleanor Lane
Are you curious about how to incorporate elements of traditional forms into your poetry? In this workshop, we'll examine three poetic forms: the sonnet, the haiku, and the ghazal. We'll read some traditional and non-traditional examples, discuss how to use the elements of each form in our own writing and the advantages that each offers, and lastly we'll do some exercises that allow us to practice these forms. We'll also touch on the history of each form, traditional subject matter, meter, line length, rhyme scheme, and repetition. Open to writers of all levels.
Starting Your Memoir: One-Day Nonfiction Workshop
with Lynn Magovern
Memoir satisfies our innate curiosity, allowing us to peer into someone else’s unique world. Writing a memoir, however, taps into something deeper: the desire to be heard and understood. One reason the memoir form is so popular is because it offers a creative outlet for this desire, giving us a compelling, artful way to share our stories with others while also helping us define who we are.
If you’ve experienced the desire to tell stories about your life but aren't sure where to start, this course is for you! In this two-hour session, you'll take the first steps in getting your stories down on the page. We'll begin with freewriting, respond to prompts, and move through basic technical concepts. The session will culminate with work on a short descriptive scene. With these concrete practices and tools in mind, you will leave with a clear foundation from which to continue your memoir-writing. Open to writers of all levels.
Details, Details: Striking a Balance Between the Forest and the Trees
with Sara Rauch
Details are the bricks with which a writer builds a story or poem. Without them, a piece of writing will lack immediacy, clarity, and that je ne sais quoi. But you can have too much of a good thing—overload your work with unimportant details and it will topple under the weight of them, obscuring the larger picture. How does one balance the necessity of detail with the overall arc and structure of a piece of writing? What, exactly, comprises a perfect detail? In this workshop, we’ll look at a variety of examples and discuss how, where, and why details work, or don’t. We’ll discuss what’s too much and what’s not enough, how “good” and “bad” details usually depend on context, and how to decide if a detail is pertinent to a piece or not. We’ll spend some time discussing how detail influences the reader’s perception of the work as a whole, and how to make sure the details you choose inform your work in the best way possible. Finally, we’ll create some of our own details, either based on a current work in progress or with the intention of building a new piece upon them. Open to writers of all levels.
The No-Nonsense Guide to Submitting to Literary Magazines
with Sara Rauch
Have you been writing for a while and want to get your work out there but aren’t sure where to begin? Have you been submitting for a while and have only a pile of rejections to show for your effort? Are you overwhelmed by the variety of different guidelines?
This workshop is for anyone looking to get their work out into the world via literary magazines. We’ll talk about what editors love (and don’t), the necessity of cover letters, how to approach the different genres, when to follow up, decoding guidelines, various submission platforms and services (Submittable, Duotrope, etc.), submission fees, contests, the pros and cons of print vs online publications, and more. You’ll leave with a packet full of concrete advice and even a few suggestions for where to start submitting your particular work. Open to writers of all levels and genres.
Place: Intro to World-Building
with Joy Baglio
What is place, exactly? Is it a quick backdrop to your story, or is it something more? According to Dorothy Allison, "Place is often something you don't see because you're so familiar with it that you devalue it or dismiss it or ignore it. But in fact it is the information your reader most wants to know." In this class, we'll discuss the fundamental role of place in our writing and its importance for the development of both our characters and for the overall shape of our stories. We’ll look at examples from a range of writers, including Paul Bowles, Hemingway, Angela Carter, Karen Russell, Flannery O’Connor, and Dorothy Allison. We’ll respond to several in-class writing exercises, and we’ll leave with a more inspired view of the importance of place in our own writing as well as some concrete direction on creating more vivid worlds. Participants in this class will be asked to complete a one-page writing assignment in advance of the class. Open to writers of all levels and genres.
Secrets of Magical Realism: How to Write Reality-Bending Fiction that Works
with Joy Baglio
Flannery O'Connor has said of fiction that imagines outside of reality, “The truth is not distorted here, but rather a distortion is used to get at truth." In this class, we'll explore types of fabulist distortions and the real-world truths they allow us to access. We’ll begin by discussing the various labels that have arisen to describe an overlapping pool of work: What's the difference between slipstream, fabulism, magical realism, and speculative fiction? Where do we fall in the mix, and how can we create reality-bending stories that feel grounded and relevant, or as Flannery O'Connor wrote, "imaginary gardens with real toadstools"? We'll look at examples from the works of master fabulists Franz Kafka, Aimee Bender, Karen Russell, Kelly Link, Karen Joy Fowler, Helen Philips, and Ted Chiang, among others, and we’ll discuss what technical choices each author makes and the resulting effects. We’ll end with twenty minutes of in-class writing in response to a given prompt. Participants in this class will be asked to bring with them a one-page sample of a current writing project. Open to writers of all levels.
Hooked From the First Line: The Art of the Opening
with Joy Baglio
The best writers establish authority immediately. It's that feeling you have as a reader when you know you're in capable, experienced hands. The result? You, the reader, are hooked! But how does a writer establish authority? What do successful beginnings have in common? In what different ways can a reader be hooked? In this class, we'll study a range of different openings with an eye towards how they establish authority from the first line. In addition to discussing the many different strategies for successful beginnings, we'll try our hands at writing a few opening lines of our own. Open to writers of all levels.
Secrets of Writing Dialogue
with Joy Baglio
Good dialogue is a real art form in itself. Some writers really pull it off, and others we see right through. We've all probably heard writers discuss it almost as a separate skill: "He's so good at dialogue" or "Her dialogue wasn't believable." So what are the expert dialogue writers really doing when they craft their brilliant and witty banter? In this class, we'll look at some successful examples of dialogue in the works of Wells Tower, Flannery O’Connor, Hemingway, and others. We'll discuss when and how to use dialogue most effectively, and we’ll try our hands at several fun dialogue-writing exercises. Participants will be asked to complete a dialogue-writing exercise in advance of the class. Open to writers of all levels.
Plot and Structure Bootcamp
with Joy Baglio
Where should the story begin? Where should it end? How do I move the story forward in a way that's most compelling? We'll attempt to answer these questions and more in this class. Structure and plot are the bones of any story, and without these aspects firmly in place, even the most imaginative work can feel limp and lifeless. In this class, we'll parse out the nuts and bolts of what creates sound structure in short fiction. We’ll discuss different narrative and structural strategies and the reasons that might lead authors to choose one over the other. In addition, we'll discuss the issues, problems, and difficulties we face when plotting and structuring our fiction. We'll try our hands at a short plot-creation exercise that we'll share with the group. Participants will read two short stories in advance of the class. Open to writers of all levels.
All About Character: Details, Development, Motivation
with Joy Baglio
Perhaps you’re wondering how to make your characters more believable? Are they driven by fierce, urgent desires, or is what motivates them vague and confusing? What are some ways to create more empathy for your characters, even the obviously flawed ones? In this class, we'll focus on all-things character-related: From descriptive details and minor characters to protagonist development, motivation, and character arcs. We’ll look at examples from Tim O’Brien, Aimee Bender, Flannery O’Connor, and Nabokov, among others, and we’ll discuss the specific choices that each author makes in the creation of vibrant characters that readers have a hard time forgetting. Participants will leave with several character sketches based on in-class writing exercises, as well as a clearer understanding of what goes into creating compelling characters. Bring any questions you have regarding character-creation in a recent project. Open to writers of all levels.
with Cindy Littlefield
The key to crafting truly sympathetic characters (be they heroes or villains) is to make their emotions so palpable on the page that the reader actually feels them too. Ironically, the trick is to never identify those sentiments by name. In this one-day class, we will study passages from contemporary fiction (and film) that exemplify how effectively the masters use subtext to communicate love, grief, anger, sadness, elation, etc. in their prose. Next, we’ll try our hand at employing language, perception, and other elements of craft to deftly convey our own characters’ state of mind. Prompts will be provided for the writing exercise, but participants may choose to work on revising an excerpt from a work in progress if they prefer.
Debunking the "Show, Don't Tell" Myth
with Kate Senecal
If you even took one writing class in high school or college you've heard the phrase "show, don't tell." In this workshop, we'll explore the many ways that "telling" is useful, and how good prose is actually made up of a rich combination of BOTH showing and telling. Participants will learn strategies around the best way to reveal information in their short stories depending on the context and the desired effect through analyzing published work, class discussion, and in class writing exercises. Students will be provided with the option of sharing their work in class and obtaining verbal feedback, but this is at the participants' discretion.
Point of View and Narrative Distance
with Seth Harwood
First person, third person… second person? Close third person, distant third… omniscient? If you’ve pondered these concepts before and wondered either which would fit best for a given story you’re working on, or even which designation you’re writing in, this is the course for you. Together, we'll unpack and demystify point of view and the all important but oft-misunderstood metric of narrative distance. Understanding these important craft tools can make all the difference in keeping readers interested, grounded, and plugged in.
Put Your Story In Its Place: Making the Most of Setting
with Cindy Littlefield
It’s hard to overemphasize how compelling setting can be in creative writing. It’s not just that it lends significant context by grounding a story in a physical place and time. Done well, it also has the ability to illustrate and steer the narrative’s emotional undercurrents in dramatic and amazing ways. Think of how influential setting is in shaping such great novels as Water for Elephants, A Thousand Acres, The Shipping News, and The Things They Carried, to name a few. Not to mention the mesmerizing storylines of series such as West Wing, Nurse Jackie, and the Sopranos. This one-day class will delve into the significant role locale, weather, era, culture, and geography play in so many of the captivating narratives we all love. We’ll discuss how to choose and incorporate compelling setting descriptions and details that do the job without being effusive, then work through a series of inspiring prompts to establish a powerful sense of place in our own writing.
Writing the Scary Story: How to Hook and Frighten Your Reader
with Eleanor Lane
Do you aspire to write tales that terrify your readers? Join us in investigating how to create a tense and unnerving story through setting, characterization, and structure. How do we draw readers in and cultivate frightening atmospheres? How do we create menacing settings and monsters that haunt the reader long after they are done reading? We will examine some short and flash fiction pieces, and discuss the elements the authors use to draw readers in and set them on edge. Open to beginner and intermediate writers.
Path to Publishing Your Fiction
with Joy Baglio
This informational workshop will cover two important topics related to getting your work out in the world:
- The submissions process, which includes researching the market, submitting to literary journals, querying agents, writing cover letters, dealing with rejection, getting your work to stand out in the slush pile, and what happens after an acceptance. We'll also look at sample query letters and cover letters.
- Other opportunities that can lead to career breakthroughs, including sources of funding for your writing, developing a platform for yourself as a writer, conferences and workshops, and growing your network.
Publishing Your Poems
with Gail Thomas
Whether you want to submit individual poems to journals or publish a complete manuscript, this workshop will give practical advice for presenting your best work. We'll explore how to find journals and presses that best fit your writing style, the importance of formatting, titles, and cover letters, poetry contests and the option of self-publishing. Publication involves risk-taking, so we'll also talk about dealing with rejection. *Please bring five poems for the hands-on demonstration of how these might work as a manuscript. Recommended for intermediate and advanced writers who have a body of work.
Cultivating a Regular Writing Practice: A Bridge Between the Head & Heart
with Kate Senecal
This all-day workshop seeks to investigate the moving parts of a successful writing practice, and leave students with a solid plan regarding how to create momentum in their writing lives. We'll discuss finding balance between conquering writer's block, performance anxiety, allowing your intuition to steer the ship and developing concrete craft knowledge and revision strategies. Class include writing exercises, in-class readings, lively discussion, and active project planning. We will not be critiquing each other's work.
A Little Time for Poetry
with Carolyn Zaikowski
Life is busy. We don’t get the chance to steep in our poetry practice as often as we'd like, and we find ourselves getting more disconnected from our writing life—sometimes for months or years. The purpose of this class is to give us a quiet, supportive, and structured space to simply be poets for a few hours. This class is perfect for those who want to do some self-care and reconnect with their inner poet, as well as for those who simply crave a block of time to write and think about poetry.
We will:
- Reflect on our individual poetry interests/goals to get them conscious and activated again.
- Brainstorm ways to incorporate a poetry practice into our lives.
- Do several sessions of in-class writing; interesting prompts will be offered for those who don’t have current poems or projects to bring.
- Engage in supportive, guided sharing and feedback sessions.
- Explore basic resources for publishing, networking, and building community.
Mastering the Power of Verbs
with Seth Harwood
Verbs: they’re the strongest tool in your arsenal of words, the sharpest arrow in the quiver. Yet we often choose weak links, connector verbs instead of the strong, stunning verbs that can knock, kick, twirl, or break a character, even build, develop, or create a full story. Why? What choices are we making that we don’t even realize? Join Seth Harwood to look at the various types of verbs at our disposal, see how the right verbs can transform your writing, and develop a powerful new revision technique along the way.
Fun With Writer's Block
with Carolyn Zaikowski
So you have writer’s block? Great work—that means you’re a writer! Many of us get down on ourselves when we can’t get those words to come out. But, as Samuel Beckett famously wrote, "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better." Writer’s block is a nothing other than a normal step in the writing process, and there are all kinds of methods we can use to overcome it. In this workshop, participants will explore multiple ways of blasting themselves out of writer’s block, from classic methods like freewriting, to innovative mental and emotional prompts, to somatic and sensory writing warm-ups…and hopefully, some fun will be had! This workshop is for writers of all levels and genres who are looking to light a fire under themselves and get the words flowing. You'll leave with a range of interesting and creative writer’s block strategies to use in real life, far beyond the workshop setting. *Participants are asked to arrive with one to three ideas or unfinished pieces of any length to work with that they are currently stuck on.
Exploring Grief Through Experimental Writing
with Nikki Sambitsky
Have you ever wondered what form grief can take in writing? In this workshop, we'll look at experimental and hybrid forms as well as the lyric essay as both vehicles that provide an access point to emotional depth as well as a way to give voice to the unspeakable. What does hybrid writing offer us that traditional creative nonfiction sometimes cannot?
In the first half of this all-day seminar, we'll look at and discuss how grief disrupts, enhances, and shows up for writers like Kate Zambreno, Lia Purpura, Maggie Nelson, Eula Biss, Stephen Kuusisto, and Roland Barthes. We'll discuss some of the techniques and hallmarks of experimental writing, such as wordplay, meaningful and purposeful use of whitespace, unusual forms, the relationship between form and content, punctuation, style, sound, metaphor, and simile, among others. We'll also examine an excerpt from Cheryl Strayed’s memoir, Wild, to illuminate the striking differences between grief in memoir versus grief in the lyric essay. During the second half of the seminar, we'll do some writing in response to several exercises based on our own personal grief-filled or difficult experiences. Open to writers of all levels and genres.
Five-Year Creative Planning
with Francine Puckly
In this hands-on workshop, writers, illustrators, and artists of all types have the opportunity to turn their long-term creative hopes into concrete goals over a five-year period. Participants begin the workshop by defining five-year visions for their careers. But just as the idea for a novel doesn’t turn into a book without a plot and outline, our careers must have detailed roadmaps delineating the work that must be done, at what pace, and in what order. Five-year visions are turned into annual goals, and those annual plans give way to quarterly, monthly and weekly tasks. Participants will leave the workshop with concrete plans that incorporate all aspects of projects, including (but not limited to): topic research, number of drafts required, editor/agent research, submission goals and tracking, skill acquisition (conferences, workshops, writing retreats), and social media strategies/website development needs. Open to writers and artists of all levels and genres.
Mastering Dialogue
with Sara Rauch
Have you ever...
...gotten the sneaking suspicion when reading that characters are talking at you?
...muddled through a conversation on the page that feels stiff, false, speechy, or preachy?
...wondered if a writer lifted a conversation verbatim from a real-life scenario?
...puzzled over why some dialogue livens a story while other dialogue bores?
...struggled with how to get more than two characters talking without confusion?
...wanted to use dialogue to convey important details and illuminate plot but don’t know where to begin?
If "yes" to any of these, this workshop is for you!
In this class, we’ll discuss how dialogue functions in writing and why some dialogue feels natural and other dialogue stiff. We’ll look at some examples and discuss what's successful and what isn’t. We’ll spend some time talking about the art of listening, which is intimately related to writing effective dialogue. Finally, we'll try our hands at some fun exercises to get your he said, she said juices flowing. Open to writers of all levels, genres, and experiences.
Creating Characters
with Carolyn Zaikowski
Writing great fiction requires creating compelling, three-dimensional characters who break through clichés and stereotypes. In this class we'll explore questions like: What are the internal states and motivations of our characters? How does that connect to their external behaviors—how do they think, feel, and act in different situations and environments, from the mundane to the profound? What are their personal, social, and cultural histories, and how much of that should we reveal? What should we take into account when writing characters who come from different social or cultural groups than we do? We'll use a variety of in-class explorations and guided discussions to get at these core issues, and we’ll bring our characters to life with some group workshopping activities. *Participants should come prepared with a basic sense of a character or characters they’d either like to create or have already been working on.*
Mastering Beginnings & Endings
with Kate Senecal
Ann Hood once wrote that Beginnings "put into motion the events that will drive the story to its resolution. And the resolution is often the inverse of the opening." In this class, we'll investigate the connection between the beginnings and endings of short stories and novels and discuss how to write opening and closing lines that draw the reader in and leave them satisfied. We'll look at a wide variety of beginnings and endings with an eye toward finding connections and identifying how the language anchors the story.
*Participants will be asked to read "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried" (10 pages) by Amy Hempel in advance of the class.
Reading Like a Writer
with Sara Rauch
Behind every good writer is a good reader. But what makes a good reader? A healthy curiosity, and a willingness to examine what is working (and what isn’t) in any given text. In this class, we’ll focus our attention on close reading: how to hone the skills necessary to really delve into a piece of prose and find what makes it tick, and then how to apply what you learn to your own work. In this class, we’ll scrutinize two different pieces of prose from the word and sentence level outward to character traits and motivations, plot, and narrative structure; we’ll talk about what works and what doesn’t on a craft level, how to discern between quality and personal taste, and how to make the leap from reading to actually writing. We’ll also talk about the role imitation can (and does) play in first drafts, and why reading broadly is so important to every writer at every stage of their career. Lastly, we’ll spend some time talking about ways to make reading like a writer an enjoyable experience.
Narrative Recycling: Retelling Familiar Stories
with Eleanor Lane
For as long as stories have been told, certain narratives have been retold throughout the ages in different styles, forms, and voices, often finding their way to us in the forms of folklore, fairytales, and myths. In this workshop, we'll look at how to use elements of mythology and folklore in our own writing and how to balance retelling with inventing. We'll consider how allusions function, the different possible ways of structuring a retelling, as well as which aspects of the original story often change in the retelling.We will examine stories by Carmen Maria Machado, Margaret Atwood, and Angela Carter, then discuss how these authors use familiar narratives to tell their own, new stories. Come prepared to engage with your favorite myths and fairytales! Participants will have an opportunity to practice using mythology and folklore in their own writing in response to several in-class writing exercises. *Participants will be asked to read several short stories in advance of the class. The texts will be emailed to everyone.
Revision Strategies for Fiction Writers
with Kate Senecal
Some writers think of revision as the drudge work of writing, yet when approached with the right tools and perspective, revision can be a playful and often enlightening exploration. This workshop will show you how fine-tuning and looking at your own work with fresh eyes can transform a first draft from something raw and not-quite-there into an eloquent and compelling piece of prose. We'll focus on specific revision strategies that will help you identify the parts of your story that aren't working and, in the supportive company of others, figure out solutions to the problem areas of your narrative. Participants will use a story of their own that is currently mid-process, and together we'll experiment with different revision tactics and leave the workshop with a concrete plan on how to move from close-but-no-cigar to publishable story.
Other Peoples' Stories: How to Tell, When to Tell, and When Not To Tell
with David Wanczyk
As memoirists and journalists, the stories we tell are not just our own. Whether we’re writing about our family, our colleagues, or even the subjects of a profile who know they’re being covered, we will face difficulties—questions of discretion, of truth-in-characterization. We might even have phobias about representation in general, knowing as we do how important it is for people—especially people who are marginalized—to have control of their own narratives. This workshop will explore strategies for writing nonfiction that is straightforward, but also respectful of boundaries. Author and New Ohio Review Editor David Wanczyk will share what he's learned from his experience researching and writing his nonfiction book, Beep, about blind people and the sport they play. The class will include time to share and discuss participants' projects as well.
Narrative Nonfiction & History Writing
with Ken Mondschein, Ph.D.
This casual, discussion-based nonfiction class will pick up where the first session left off, although all new participants are more than welcome to join in! Among other things, we will revisit choosing an angle that will appeal to readers, finding the story therein, grabbing the reader's attention with sharp prose, dealing with controversies in interpretation, and organizing your information in a clear, engaging narrative style, although the class will mostly focus on sources and places for doing research, such as academic library access, journals, databases, archives, and books. If there's time, Ken will discuss how to identify an academic book's argument and how to take a new approach on the same topic. Whether you intend to write a small-scale piece such as a blog on family history or an article on the barns of colonial New England, or intend to spend the next few years crafting a multi-volume on World War II or the fall of the Roman Empire, Ken will teach you to think like a historian and tell your audience what you have to say in a way that will keep them reading.
Tell the Truth, But Tell It Slant: A Memoir Workshop
with Celia Jeffries
Like a novel, a memoir is a dramatic work. This 3-hour workshop will be a short introduction to the process of writing memoir, with a focus on how to dramatize, or ‘tell it slant.’ We will do exercises to generate new work, examine the ways memory functions in writing, and discuss a variety of ways to structure a memoir.
Adventures in Poetry
with Adam Grabowski
This generative poetry workshop will be broken up into two parts: First, we’ll examine how Jack Kerouac’s “Belief & Technique for Modern Prose” can be beneficial to poets as an inspirational, fun way to get past your “inner editor” and (re)discover the joys of pure expression. We will quite purposefully dodge any of Jack’s poetry, but expect to take a look at some Ginsberg or Whitman to see how this approach can successfully shake us out of complacency. Finally, we’ll put into action everything we've discussed. Attendees can expect a series of prompts with the goal of making sense out of the chaos and leaving with every poet’s favorite thing—new work.
Radical Revision Poetry
with Adam Grabowski
Do you have a poem that you just can’t get right? Well, bring the beast here and let’s see what we can do about it. Sometimes the best way to get past a creative block is to throw caution to the wind and destroy what you’ve built. In this class we’ll look at various forms of radical revision, how it can liberate you, provide new perspective on your work, and show you that in the end, poetry is a silly, silly business. This workshop will consist of writing exercises, group dialogue, Sylvia Plath, and creative critique. Bring in a poem that’s giving you trouble and let’s see if we can’t have you walking out the door with more answers than questions.
*Poets are asked to arrive with five double-spaced copies of their poem, a magic marker, and an open mind.
Sound Devices & Meter in Poetry
with Eleanor Lane
In this 4-hour generative workshop, we'll spend some time examining and practicing two important elements of poetry: sound devices and meter. In the first half of the class, we'll focus on sound devices (alliteration, assonance, consonance, repetition, rhyme) and how they can be used in poetry to convey meaning, create tension, and/or evoke a particular atmosphere. We'll look at some examples of poems that employ these devices, then we'll try our hands at using them in our own poetry. In the second half of the class, we'll turn our focus to meter: What is it, and how can we take advantage of it in our own verses? We'll practice recognizing different meters, look at some formal and free verse poems that make use of it, then discuss and practice how to use meter to convey meaning in our own poetry. Students will leave with a thorough understanding of these elements and a familiarity with their use, as well as several new poems Open to writers of all levels.
Lyric-Writing for Songwriters
with Kelly Vogel
In this 3-hour workshop for songwriters, we will focus on what it is that makes great lyrics! In a supportive and lively environment, we will do exercises to spark your creativity and craft those creative ideas into vivid lyrics for your own songs. We will explore ways to find the best words to express your own unique ideas, and organize rhythms and rhymes into compelling verses, choruses, and bridges. Most importantly, we’ll dig into what makes your writing voice uniquely yours – and what can, in turn, help make your lyrics and songs all your own. This workshop is for all levels of musicians interested in exploring their lyric-writing voice. No lyric-writing experience necessary; experience playing an instrument is helpful but not necessary. Open to all ages - young songwriters encouraged to sign up as well!
Intro to Creative Nonfiction
with Emily Butler
Creative Nonfiction writers take true stories and use them to create written narratives using many of the same literary techniques as fiction writers. In this workshop, we'll discuss several forms of Creative Nonfiction, such as the personal essay and the profile essay, as well as related sub-genres including travel writing and memoir. We'll also discuss and practice the literary techniques used to craft these stories, i.e., a balance of scene and summary, rich characterization, believable dialogue, and an effective frame or arc. Participants will be offered several prompts and opportunities to write and share their work. Whether you are an avid writer of Creative Nonfiction wishing to practice and discuss the genre with other writers, or you would like to explore a new genre, you are welcome in this class. No experience necessary.
The Art and Business of Audiobooks
with Steven Jay Cohen
Audiobook sales are booming, growing over 20% since 2016 (according to the Audio Publishers Association). Wondering how you can grow your audience, reaching listeners as well as readers? Steven Jay Cohen, Audiobook Producer at Spoken Realms, will walk you through the process from working with audio rights, to production, to publication, to distribution, to marketing, explaining all of the options now available. Open to writers and authors of all levels, traditionally published and independent authors with existing or soon-to-be-published books.
Poetic Forms: Sonnet, Haiku, and Ghazal
with Eleanor Lane
Are you curious about how to incorporate elements of traditional forms into your poetry? In this workshop, we'll examine three poetic forms: the sonnet, the haiku, and the ghazal. We'll read some traditional and non-traditional examples, discuss how to use the elements of each form in our own writing and the advantages that each offers, and lastly we'll do some exercises that allow us to practice these forms. We'll also touch on the history of each form, traditional subject matter, meter, line length, rhyme scheme, and repetition. Open to writers of all levels.
Starting Your Memoir: One-Day Nonfiction Workshop
with Lynn Magovern
Memoir satisfies our innate curiosity, allowing us to peer into someone else’s unique world. Writing a memoir, however, taps into something deeper: the desire to be heard and understood. One reason the memoir form is so popular is because it offers a creative outlet for this desire, giving us a compelling, artful way to share our stories with others while also helping us define who we are.
If you’ve experienced the desire to tell stories about your life but aren't sure where to start, this course is for you! In this two-hour session, you'll take the first steps in getting your stories down on the page. We'll begin with freewriting, respond to prompts, and move through basic technical concepts. The session will culminate with work on a short descriptive scene. With these concrete practices and tools in mind, you will leave with a clear foundation from which to continue your memoir-writing. Open to writers of all levels.
Details, Details: Striking a Balance Between the Forest and the Trees
with Sara Rauch
Details are the bricks with which a writer builds a story or poem. Without them, a piece of writing will lack immediacy, clarity, and that je ne sais quoi. But you can have too much of a good thing—overload your work with unimportant details and it will topple under the weight of them, obscuring the larger picture. How does one balance the necessity of detail with the overall arc and structure of a piece of writing? What, exactly, comprises a perfect detail? In this workshop, we’ll look at a variety of examples and discuss how, where, and why details work, or don’t. We’ll discuss what’s too much and what’s not enough, how “good” and “bad” details usually depend on context, and how to decide if a detail is pertinent to a piece or not. We’ll spend some time discussing how detail influences the reader’s perception of the work as a whole, and how to make sure the details you choose inform your work in the best way possible. Finally, we’ll create some of our own details, either based on a current work in progress or with the intention of building a new piece upon them. Open to writers of all levels.
The No-Nonsense Guide to Submitting to Literary Magazines
with Sara Rauch
Have you been writing for a while and want to get your work out there but aren’t sure where to begin? Have you been submitting for a while and have only a pile of rejections to show for your effort? Are you overwhelmed by the variety of different guidelines?
This workshop is for anyone looking to get their work out into the world via literary magazines. We’ll talk about what editors love (and don’t), the necessity of cover letters, how to approach the different genres, when to follow up, decoding guidelines, various submission platforms and services (Submittable, Duotrope, etc.), submission fees, contests, the pros and cons of print vs online publications, and more. You’ll leave with a packet full of concrete advice and even a few suggestions for where to start submitting your particular work. Open to writers of all levels and genres.
Place: Intro to World-Building
with Joy Baglio
What is place, exactly? Is it a quick backdrop to your story, or is it something more? According to Dorothy Allison, "Place is often something you don't see because you're so familiar with it that you devalue it or dismiss it or ignore it. But in fact it is the information your reader most wants to know." In this class, we'll discuss the fundamental role of place in our writing and its importance for the development of both our characters and for the overall shape of our stories. We’ll look at examples from a range of writers, including Paul Bowles, Hemingway, Angela Carter, Karen Russell, Flannery O’Connor, and Dorothy Allison. We’ll respond to several in-class writing exercises, and we’ll leave with a more inspired view of the importance of place in our own writing as well as some concrete direction on creating more vivid worlds. Participants in this class will be asked to complete a one-page writing assignment in advance of the class. Open to writers of all levels and genres.
Secrets of Magical Realism: How to Write Reality-Bending Fiction that Works
with Joy Baglio
Flannery O'Connor has said of fiction that imagines outside of reality, “The truth is not distorted here, but rather a distortion is used to get at truth." In this class, we'll explore types of fabulist distortions and the real-world truths they allow us to access. We’ll begin by discussing the various labels that have arisen to describe an overlapping pool of work: What's the difference between slipstream, fabulism, magical realism, and speculative fiction? Where do we fall in the mix, and how can we create reality-bending stories that feel grounded and relevant, or as Flannery O'Connor wrote, "imaginary gardens with real toadstools"? We'll look at examples from the works of master fabulists Franz Kafka, Aimee Bender, Karen Russell, Kelly Link, Karen Joy Fowler, Helen Philips, and Ted Chiang, among others, and we’ll discuss what technical choices each author makes and the resulting effects. We’ll end with twenty minutes of in-class writing in response to a given prompt. Participants in this class will be asked to bring with them a one-page sample of a current writing project. Open to writers of all levels.
Hooked From the First Line: The Art of the Opening
with Joy Baglio
The best writers establish authority immediately. It's that feeling you have as a reader when you know you're in capable, experienced hands. The result? You, the reader, are hooked! But how does a writer establish authority? What do successful beginnings have in common? In what different ways can a reader be hooked? In this class, we'll study a range of different openings with an eye towards how they establish authority from the first line. In addition to discussing the many different strategies for successful beginnings, we'll try our hands at writing a few opening lines of our own. Open to writers of all levels.
Secrets of Writing Dialogue
with Joy Baglio
Good dialogue is a real art form in itself. Some writers really pull it off, and others we see right through. We've all probably heard writers discuss it almost as a separate skill: "He's so good at dialogue" or "Her dialogue wasn't believable." So what are the expert dialogue writers really doing when they craft their brilliant and witty banter? In this class, we'll look at some successful examples of dialogue in the works of Wells Tower, Flannery O’Connor, Hemingway, and others. We'll discuss when and how to use dialogue most effectively, and we’ll try our hands at several fun dialogue-writing exercises. Participants will be asked to complete a dialogue-writing exercise in advance of the class. Open to writers of all levels.
Plot and Structure Bootcamp
with Joy Baglio
Where should the story begin? Where should it end? How do I move the story forward in a way that's most compelling? We'll attempt to answer these questions and more in this class. Structure and plot are the bones of any story, and without these aspects firmly in place, even the most imaginative work can feel limp and lifeless. In this class, we'll parse out the nuts and bolts of what creates sound structure in short fiction. We’ll discuss different narrative and structural strategies and the reasons that might lead authors to choose one over the other. In addition, we'll discuss the issues, problems, and difficulties we face when plotting and structuring our fiction. We'll try our hands at a short plot-creation exercise that we'll share with the group. Participants will read two short stories in advance of the class. Open to writers of all levels.
All About Character: Details, Development, Motivation
with Joy Baglio
Perhaps you’re wondering how to make your characters more believable? Are they driven by fierce, urgent desires, or is what motivates them vague and confusing? What are some ways to create more empathy for your characters, even the obviously flawed ones? In this class, we'll focus on all-things character-related: From descriptive details and minor characters to protagonist development, motivation, and character arcs. We’ll look at examples from Tim O’Brien, Aimee Bender, Flannery O’Connor, and Nabokov, among others, and we’ll discuss the specific choices that each author makes in the creation of vibrant characters that readers have a hard time forgetting. Participants will leave with several character sketches based on in-class writing exercises, as well as a clearer understanding of what goes into creating compelling characters. Bring any questions you have regarding character-creation in a recent project. Open to writers of all levels.