Writing the Tough Stuff [Sonya Lea]

Learn how to approach tough topics in your own writing, including sorrow, anger, loss, and secrets. This class is for anyone who wants to become effective in plumbing a story from life. You’ll learn craft exercises that explore tone, setting, character, dialogue, and theme. Writers will connect their personal experiences to larger themes, and will explore how different writers apply distinct approaches to similar subjects. We’ll consider ways to tell our stories without self-pity or melodrama. We will use models of writers who take emotional risks with clarity. Participants can choose to work on sections of a memoir, or on personal essays in a variety of styles: letter, prose poem, manifesto, vignette, list, abecedarian, Wikipedia entry.