It’s almost fall, y’all! Hugo House is delighted to introduce our wonderful new instructors joining us this season. Kicking off our autumnal teacher features, we chatted with Greta Kline, a.k.a. Frankie Cosmos, who’s co-teaching The Writer vs. The Performer, alongside seasoned Hugo teacher, Molly Schaeffer.
Q&A with Greta Kline
How would you describe yourself as a writing instructor? Alternatively, what type of instructor do you inspire to be?
I’m interested in helping students find new ways to access their writing process. I hope to provide encouragement, as well as tools, exercises, and inspiration they can bring with them to their own practices after the class is over.
What excites you about teaching at Hugo House?
I’m excited about bringing a new perspective (as a songwriter) to students who work in all different forms of writing, and helping maintain a supportive space together. I’m a strong believer in creative exploration, and I hope I can convince some students to try their hand at forms of writing and performance that they maybe haven’t considered before.
Who is your class best suited for? What would you like your students to take away from the class?
Writers who perform, performers who write, and people that want to branch out or learn more about the possibilities for those practices. People who are willing to play, experiment, push themselves, be silly. People who are interested in transforming their relationships to error, mistakes, misunderstandings, and how to use these instances to their creative benefit. I’d love for students to take away a newfound confidence in sharing work as well as creating it. I hope they will feel creatively inspired and excited to work on something new, or reimagine something they’ve been working on.
What advice do you have for writers working through a creative block?
Make something bad! Draw or write with your non-dominant hand. Go outside and write down what you see. Write something you will never show anyone. Just unlock the part of you that is judging your work, and make something for the sake of unblocking yourself.
Where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere! I live in New York City, and leaving the house can often mean being overcome by external stimuli. Often I’m inspired by tuning in to small moments happening in my surroundings – a piece of cute trash on the ground, a human talking to their dog, kids playing ball. I’m also generally inspired by human interactions, conversation, and questioning reality.
What does your creative practice look like? Any writing rituals?
One of my common creative rituals is to sit down with a collection of scraps and organize them. Small pieces of writing, scribbles, and voice memos. Then I draw connections and piece stuff together from there.
What are you reading now? How do you approach reading as a writer?
Right now I’m reading The Book Thief. I’m a songwriter, so reading a book doesn’t feel totally related to my practice, but it still inspires me. I find that reading novels makes me think about different ways of relaying stories, and helps bolster my vocabulary.
Greta Kline is a professional musician known as Frankie Cosmos. She has spent the majority of the past decade playing music all over the world, as well as writing and recording.
Register now for her upcoming class on Oct. 19, The Writer vs. The Performer »
Learn more about Greta Kline:
Website: www.frankiecosmosband.com
Instagram: @frankiecombos
