BEGINNINGS, MIDDLES AND ENDINGS IN THE SHORT STORY

with Leon Craig

What will get readers quickly invested? Where should I draw the curtain? What information should I withhold from the reader? With reference to the work of writers including Edgar Allen Poe, Saki and Carmen Maria Machado, this workshop will look at the first lines and conclusions of several well-known stories and consider how writers manage time and perspective within the constraints of short fiction. We will explore different options for creating the narrative build-up to a satisfying or thought-provoking ending when we only have a few thousand words to create a world. What we leave out is as important as what we choose to keep in. To take full advantage of the workshop, participants should have a completed short story draft they would be comfortable experimenting with.

WRITING DISABILITY FROM THE INSIDE OUT

with Allegra Pescatore

This workshop aims to encourage the inclusion of disability and chronic illness in fiction for both disabled and able-bodied authors. We will discuss the place of disability in stories, the powerful catharsis of writing inclusive narratives, and how to avoid the pitfalls that writers sometimes stumble into when writing disabilities and illnesses they don’t have personal experience with. We’ll also examine the role of sensitivity reading, and the tips and tricks for deep POV when exploring a character’s lived experience of illness or injury.

THE JOY OF CREATION

with Tanya Ko Hong

Art is everywhere and you can create a poem or story from just about anything. Have you ever written a poem from a list? Have you ever used your senses in your writing? Have you ever stared at the pictures on the wall and wondered what they meant to you? Have you tried to tell your life story in just a few words? We will reveal the poetry in simple shopping lists; compose poems using our six senses; turn precious memories into poetry, and distill our thoughts into a 45-word poem, even a 6-word poem! Together, we’ll draw inspiration from the creativity within and all around us. The wonder and joy of creation is waiting, all you need is an open mind!

FOUR TEMPERAMENTS AND THE FORMS OF POETRY

with Ben Gucciardi

How do you know when a poem is finished? What makes a poem successful? Astonishing? Timeless? Using Gregory Orr’s landmark essay “Four Temperaments and the Forms of Poetry” as a guiding text, this workshop will offer participants new strategies for editing of their own work, and moving poems towards greater balance, complexity and ultimately, completion.

Temperament comes from the Latin temperamentum ‘correct mixture,’ from temperare ‘mingle.’ Together, we will do a close of reading of poems from Vievee Francis, David Baker and Octavio Paz, looking at the temperaments and techniques the poets are mixing together. Participants will also analyze some of their own poems and the work of a peer in the class to identify which of the temperaments--story, structure, music and imagination-- are most prominently at play, and which could be introduced to strengthen the poem.

Participants will leave with a new framework for looking at their own work, developing new tools for revision while becoming more nuanced readers.

ARCHEOLOGY OF MEMORY: DISCOVERING THE BONES OF YOUR STORY

with Nicole Gulotta

Writers of memoir and personal narrative are tasked with going back in time, digging up the bones of their memories, and excavating the past. While you’ll eventually need to erect the scaffolding of structure and shape a cohesive narrative, memoir begins in the mess. In this practical workshop, we’ll focus on everything that comes first—namely, getting closer to the core of your story, brainstorming the scenes that will light your way, and tapping into rich sensory details that will bring these moments to life on the page for your readers. Whether you’re just inching towards a memoir project or have already begun, these practices will support you on the long journey ahead.