Using Chance to Foster Creativity
8 Weeks • with Yago Colás • All Levels
Class Description
This class is for writers of any level and genre looking for playful yet rigorous and, above all, generative strategies for breaking through creative blocks. We will learn to use chance operations to release our creative capacities from the demons that can arrest the writing process. Chance operations match a randomizing technique (such as consulting the I Ching) to writing parameters (such as topics or word count). Brief reading outside of class meetings may be suggested, but not required. Meetings will introduce various chance operations and emphasize experimenting with them as exercises, to develop new projects, or to move existing projects forward. Each meeting will also include prompts and generative in-class writing; and an opportunity to share work aloud and discuss the experience of using chance. The course will remain flexible so as to respond to the needs of the group and the unforeseeable surprises that chance brings. Most of all, the course invites us to rediscover writing as play and the joy of exercising our creativity. INSTRUCTOR YAGO COLÁS is a former professor of literature and writing. Today he lives in Easthampton, where he drives part-time for Uber and Lyft. He has authored several books of non-fiction, including Crooked Roads, a memoir chronicling the transformative encounters he has had while conversing with the strangers he drives.
Upcoming Sessions
Cancellation Policy
If you withdraw from a workshop TEN DAYS OR MORE before the start of the class: You'll receive credit toward another workshop (minus 10% transaction fee) OR a full refund (minus 10% transaction fee). The transaction fee is non-refundable for PVWW, so this is something we must apply to all refunds and transfers. If you withdraw from a workshop nine days before the start of the class up until 48 hours before: You'll receive a refund minus 20%. If you withdraw from a workshop less than 48 hours before the start of a class or after the class has begun: We cannot offer credit or any refund. If you are absent on the day of your workshop or miss it for any reason, we are unable to offer any kind of refund or credit. If we have to cancel a class you have paid for, you will receive a full refund, without the service charge deducted. For our full listing of policies, visit www.PioneerValleyWriters.Com, Policies page (under Home). To withdraw and receive a partial refund according to the above, please get in touch with us at admin@pioneervalleywriters.com
Contact Details
joy@pioneervalleywriters.org