Class Catalog: Summer General Registration Begins June 4!

Class Title Course Type Instructor
Bringing Your Novel into the World

This is a class for writers who are in the midst of working on a novel. We'll cover various elements of craft and structure, and explore the psychological, emotional, and metaphysical work that a novelist does to bring his or her vision to fruition.

Class starts on Thu, 05/02/2013 - 7:00pm, view full description to see all meeting dates. 		Six Week Class Ryan Boudinot
Character Workshop

We will look at how character evolves through increasing levels of risk, as well as what detail, setting, and dialogue can reveal about character. Class sessions will include lecture/discussion as well as in-class writing from prompts designed to practice aspects of craft. Suggested texts: Story by Robert McKee, The Art of Subtext by Charles Baxter, The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter, and Best American Short Stories 2011. 

Class starts on Sat, 05/04/2013 - 10:00am, view full description to see all meeting dates. 		Six Week Class Scott Driscoll
Crafting the Personal Essay

Ever experienced something and thought, Wow, that’d make a good story? Through readings, workshops, and craft lessons, this class will explore the art of turning an anecdote into personal essay.

Class starts on Thu, 05/02/2013 - 7:00pm, view full description to see all meeting dates. 		Six Week Class Peter Mountford
Creating Memorable Characters

Your story or novel succeeds in large part on characterization: Are your characters interesting? Memorable? Versatile enough to carry the plot? This workshop will include lecture, discussion, and writing exercises aimed at making that fascinating character in your mind equally fascinating on the page.

Class starts on Sat, 06/01/2013 - 1:00pm, view full description to see all meeting dates. 		One Day Class Nancy Kress
Keep it Short: Writing Brief Nonfiction

In this class, we will learn the craft of the short essay through reading, experimentation with form and style, and writing some shorties of our own.

Class starts on Tue, 04/30/2013 - 7:00pm, view full description to see all meeting dates. 		Six Week Class Janet Buttenwieser
Master Class in Memoir

Memoir is a literary form as nuanced as poetry or fiction. Through a combination of workshop, craft lessons, and studying great models, this class will explore the techniques of this literary art. Whether you’re just kicking around an idea for a memoir (or collection of personal essays) or you are on your third draft of a book, this class will help you map a way forward. The final session will focus on the quest for agents/publishers.

Class starts on Tue, 03/26/2013 - 7:00pm, view full description to see all meeting dates. 		Ten Week Master Class Peter Mountford
Poetry: The Practice of Revision

We’ll delve into craft elements including image, music, and the line in order to develop strong, flexible tools for revision. In-class exercises, take-home assignments, and reading will prompt you to dismantle and re-assemble draft poems with gusto and a sense of inquiry.

Class starts on Thu, 05/02/2013 - 7:00pm, view full description to see all meeting dates. 		Six Week Class Elizabeth Austen
Problems in Overwhelm: Writing the Memoir

Your life—everyone’s life—is an unending, overwhelming flow of events and feelings and memories and experiences. In this class we’ll explore strategies for narrowing and selecting our material. Through in-class critique, writing exercises, and studying examples of the form, we’ll also explore building blocks of memoir: scene, character, and dialogue.

Class starts on Mon, 04/29/2013 - 7:00pm, view full description to see all meeting dates. 		Six Week Class Claire Dederer
Short-Short Stories and Vignettes

This workshop will guide students through the stages of drafting original short-short stories and vignettes.

Class starts on Sat, 05/04/2013 - 10:00am, view full description to see all meeting dates. 		Six Week Class Jeff Bender
Sustaining Wonder: the Art of Narrative Poetry

In this workshop designed to generate and share new work, we’ll explore strategies to generate longer narrative poems and to keep them going. We will consider poetic forms, including prose poems, which lend themselves to narrative voices and rhythms: sequence, collage, narrative, reflection, and epic. Whether you're just contemplating a voyage, or you've already set out across the wine-dark sea, this workshop will help you to sustain wonder in your journey.

Class starts on Wed, 05/01/2013 - 7:00pm, view full description to see all meeting dates. 		Six Week Class Carolyne Wright
The Supernatural School of Poetry

Both William Yeats and James Merrill turned to the supernatural as their muse. We’ll look at the oracular nature of their work as well as other poets who have written poems based on trances, clairvoyance, or talking to the dead. At the beginning of each class, we’ll briefly discuss the readings and then turn to workshopping your poems. Perhaps we’ll conduct a Ouija-board session or two. Required texts: Poem packets to be provided.

Class starts on Mon, 04/29/2013 - 7:00pm, view full description to see all meeting dates. 		Six Week Class Emily Warn
When to Show and When to Tell

“Show, don’t tell” is a helpful rule, but it’s often misunderstood and misapplied. In this class, we’ll focus on “telling well” by writing exposition or nonscene elements that are lively, move the narrative along, and feel to the reader like showing. Open to beginners as well as to advanced writers, and to both fiction and nonfiction writers. Required reading: The Art of Times in Fiction: As Long As It Takes by Joan Silber. 

Class starts on Tue, 04/30/2013 - 7:00pm, view full description to see all meeting dates. 		Six Week Class Mary Lane Potter