Rising action. Mounting stakes. Reversals. Unmaskings. When a novel or a story doesn’t arrive or reach a powerful (and in some measure satisfying) conclusion, the fault is nearly always in the middle. In this workshop, we will consider one novella and three short stories to consider the all-important middle of a narrative. We’ll develop a […]
In this generative workshop, we'll explore the power of images in contemporary writing. Guided by discussions of craft and examples from notable poems and essays, writers in this workshop will gain tools to sharpen sensory details in their writing. Rage Hezekiah is a Cave Canem, Ragdale, and MacDowell Fellow who earned her MFA from Emerson […]
For years I avoided Nikolai Gogol's 1842 novel Dead Souls because, knowing nothing but the title, I assumed it would be depressing and grim. To Flannery O'Connor, though, Gogol was "necessary along with the light." Why? Nabokov called him "the strangest prose-poet Russia ever produced." Finally I dipped in and was astonished to find something […]
Bring your rough (or polished!) draft in any genre to a free-flowing discussion inspired by James Whorton's master class on Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls. Writing prompts to consider as you create: Write a quick scene in which an animal, human or nonhuman eats something it should not have eaten. Write it fast! (I am thinking of […]
Have you struggled with traditional writing advice? Do you hate feedback and revision of any kind? Do you find it difficult to call yourself a writer because of these things? I have some good news: there’s nothing wrong with you, and you’re more of a writer than you’ve been led to believe. How do I […]
Nadia Owusu’s Whiting Award-winning debut memoir, Aftershocks, serves as the foundation for understanding the rich array of tools memoirists have to create complex narratives. We’ll explore such tools as metaphor, symbolism, and structure as we navigate the seismic upheavals of a life lived across several countries. Most recently chosen as one of Barack Obama’s favorite […]
Bring your rough (or polished!) draft in any genre to a free-flowing discussion inspired by Angelique Stevens’s master class on Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu. Writing prompts to consider as you create: Writing prompts Owusu structures the “Liminal” chapter using the Blue Chair as the inciting incident and notes the time away from it; one day […]
What contributes to a writer’s voice? How is it different from a character’s voice? How does one create characters’ voices that are as real as one’s own? Photographer and writer Wright Morris said, “Voice is the presence of what is most personal to the writer. Through voice, the writer is invisibly omnipresent.” This workshop will […]
