UPCOMING CLASSES
September 2018
Putting the Pen to the Page: Drafting Your Novel in One Year
Instructor: Kristen-Paige Madonia $1,399* Members | $1,399* Nonmembers Select Tuesdays, 9/11/18 - 5/21/19** | 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM *Payment plans of $335 per quarter will be available to students accepted into this program. Overview: Putting the Pen to the Page is an opportunity for writers to study the craft of creative writing, share and workshop portions of their novel manuscript, provide and receive constructive criticism, and work with a published author at an MFA-level of instruction as they write…
Find out more »Evening Poetry: The Collagist
Instructor: John Most $189 Members | $210 Nonmembers Tuesdays, 9/18/18 - 11/6/18 | 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM In this class, which is open to all poets, we will spend most of our time writing and workshopping new poems. In addition to writing new poems, each week we will read example poems that, in the broadest sense of the word, collage words, forms, sources, genres, styles, allusions. . . Collage is powered by surprise, so our guiding question will be:…
Find out more »Evening Creative Nonfiction
Instructor: Jay Kauffmann $189 Members | $210 Nonmembers Tuesdays, 9/18/18 - 11/6/18 | 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM This workshop will explore the essential elements of creative nonfiction, such as sensory imagery, metaphoric language, distinctive voice, dramatic arc, and focused theme. Participants will discuss essays and memoir pieces submitted to the group. In addition, there will be readings and in-class exercises that address pertinent craft issues. There will also be opportunities to consider non-craft issues associated with this genre, such…
Find out more »Advanced Poetry: Packing a Punch in Your Poetic Endgame
Instructor: Mirabella Mitchell $189 Members | $210 Nonmembers Wednesdays, 9/19/18 - 11/7/18 | 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM Prerequisite: Students must have taken at least two poetry classes. Renowned poet Gregory Orr argues that there are six very different kinds of endings for poems. In this class, we’ll read, explore, and discuss an array of poems ranging from the 16th to 21st centuries, and we’ll use these six diverse “species” of endings as our path into them. However, our topics…
Find out more »Novel Launch Pad: The First 50 Pages
Instructor: Jody Hesler $189 Members | $210 Nonmembers Wednesdays, 9/19/18 - 11/7/18 | 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM Students in this class should have made significant strides on the beginning of a novel. We will workshop the first 50 pages, in 25-page increments. Through close reading of each other’s work, and of some literary texts, students will gain insights to help them zero in where the beating heart of their budding novels is strongest, identify which craft issues need the…
Find out more »Novel 101: Premise, Story, Character
Instructor: Bruce Holsinger $94.50 Members | $105 Nonmembers Wednesdays, 9/19/18 - 10/10/18 | 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM This series of four evening workshops will be devoted to the conception and development of participants’ novels in progress. Whether you’ve sketched out a few pages of a fantasy epic or completed a work of historical fiction, this class is intended to help you begin shaping (or reshaping) your novel into a manuscript responsive to the conventions and expectations of the contemporary…
Find out more »Advanced Fiction: Voice and Character
Instructor: Kristie Smeltzer $189 Members | $210 Nonmembers Thursdays, 9/20/18 - 11/8/18 | 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM This workshop-heavy class will provide writers at least three opportunities to have a full class workshop. Students will have one-on-one feedback sessions with both instructor and classmates. Participants are required to have fiction work ready to workshop at the outset of class or be able to produce material week-to-week. Students will be asked to write, read, and provide feedback to peers, both…
Find out more »Pathways to Picture Book Publishing
Instructor: Hannah Barnaby $189 Members | $210 Nonmembers Fridays, 9/21/18 - 11/9/18 | 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM What makes picture books so magical? The alchemy of text and art creates a unique medium for a story, turning it into something more than just the combination of works and pictures. It might seem like a mystery, but writing picture books is far from impossible — it just takes a special set of skills and a peek behind the curtain. Hannah…
Find out more »Plot. Stakes. Tension
Instructor: Crystal Hana Kim $60 Members | $65 Nonmembers Saturday, 9/22/18 | 9:30 AM - 1:30 PM These three terms are often used interchangeably when we talk about the craft of writing. How are these three terms different and how do they work together to keep the reader interested? In this seminar, we will discuss how to effectively create and maintain dramatic tension in fiction by closely reading a short story together. We will then examine our own characters to…
Find out more »The Eight-Week Play Is the Thing
Instructor: Ariel Stess $189 Members | $210 Nonmembers **NEW DATE Saturday, 9/22/18 - 11/10/18 | 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM Think you can't write a play in eight weeks? Think again! This intensive course will lead students through generating material, beginning a play, writing the middle, and finally arriving at the end of the play. A class for writers of all genres to hone skills in developing character, dialogue, setting, and conflict in order to complete a powerful narrative. The class…
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