Intermediate/Advanced Creative Nonfiction Workshop - 8 weeks (with Carolyn Zaikowski) - ONLINE
This course is designed to give creative nonfiction writers, both those writing short essays and full manuscripts, the opportunity to give and receive feedback on work in progress. Writers may be working in any creative nonfiction genre, including but not limited to personal essay, memoir, travel writing, science and nature writing, political commentary, philosophical or contemplative essays, literary journalism, lyric essay, and hybrid or experimental work. The course offers a model for workshopping in which participants will receive written comments from the group and instructor via Google Docs during the week, before their work is discussed in class. Instead of remaining silent, writers will be an active participant in the conversation about
their work, with a focus on revision. Each participant will get the chance to workshop up to 5,000 words at least twice through the course. Participants will also receive readings and occasional writing exercises via email to supplement craft discussions and teacher lectures. For intermediate and advanced writers with a serious commitment to taking their work to the next level. Limited to 8 writers.
WHEN: 8 Weeks: Mondays, April 10 - May 29 ( 6 - 8pm EST)
WHERE: Online, via Zoom video conference
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
CAROLYN ZAIKOWSKI is the author of the hybrid novel In a Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2016). Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Everyday Feminism, DIAGRAM, West Branch, Dusie, Huffington Post, Denver Quarterly, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University and currently works in Western Massachusetts as an English professor and death doula.
COURSE GOALS
- Workshopping your pages at least twice with peers and the instructor in a focused, intensive, yet encouraging environment
- Brainstorming and clarifying visions for what you’d like your work to become
- Engaging with a sense of deadlines, accountability, and community
- Reviewing, and getting more conscious of, how to best apply core CNF craft concepts
WEEKLY BREAKDOWN
All weeks except the first will involve workshopping for 30-35 minutes for 2-3 students. We will also do an overview of a fundamental creative nonfiction craft topic most weeks, loosely broken down as follows:
WEEK ONE: What is creative nonfiction, really?
WEEK TWO: Constructing narratives in CNF
WEEK THREE: More ways to construct CNF narratives
WEEK FOUR: Exposition and writing about ideas
WEEK FIVE: Writing about ideas, continued
WEEK SIX: The lyric essay
WEEK SEVEN: The art of voice
WEEK EIGHT: Basic revision methods for CNF
RECEIVING THE ZOOM LINK: For one-day workshops, we send out the link to attend the Zoom session 1 - 2 days before the event, via email. For multi-week workshops, you should receive info and the link about 3 - 5 days before. Please mark your calendars when you first register and look for our emails. If you don't see the email in your inbox on the day before the class, please check your spam and junk mail folders (and search all folders) for an email from joy@pioneervalleywriters.org before contacting us. We have found that very often our emails end up in those folders. This is based on your own email settings, and you can prevent this by adding our email as a contact.
ONLINE SESSIONS happen remotely, via Zoom 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 via email (please see above note about receiving the Zoom link). All online instructors will log on to the video conference a few minutes before the start of the session, so please plan to log on early if you'd like assistance! We'll do everything in our power to help you get comfortable with the Zoom format, though we are not able to offer technical assistance beyond basic Zoom orientation.
REFUND & CREDIT POLICIES AT PVWW
Because of non-refundable fees that we, PVWW, must pay for every transaction that happens, we are not able to give full refunds to those who register then withdraw from a workshop or class. If you withdraw from a workshop ten days or more before the start of the class: You'll receive full credit toward another workshop or class of equal value OR a refund minus 10%. If you withdraw from a workshop nine days before the start of the class up until 48 hours before: You'll receive full credit toward another class OR a refund minus 30%. If you withdraw from a workshop less than 48 hours before the start of a class or after the class has begun: We are not able to offer you credit toward another class or a partial refund, unless in the case of a medical emergency. If we have to cancel a class for any reason, you will receive a full refund, or if you choose, a credit in the amount of your payment, to be used for any future PVWW class. Anyone who does not specify whether they would like a refund or a credit for a cancelled class within 3 months will automatically be refunded. Please contact Joy (joy@pioneervalleywriters.org) for all matters concerning credit and refunds.