(un)Masking: Persona in Creative Nonfiction
(un)Masking
Every day, different personas come out of us depending on many factors, including who we are interacting with and where we are. We should bring many versions of ourselves to the page too.
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All events take place in the central time zone.
Every day, different personas come out of us depending on many factors, including who we are interacting with and where we are. We should bring many versions of ourselves to the page too.
From conception to submission. Let’s make summer sizzle with stories.
Writing a short story doesn’t happen in one session. It takes multiple drafts to get it exactly right, to create characters that come to life for the reader and a world they can’t stop thinking about. In this seven week course we will work on a single short story from conception to submission ready.
Characterization is an essential literary tool of writing a novel or short story and is the foundation of all great literature. Mastering characterization can help you drive the plot forward and develop a world that engrosses the reader. In this 6-Week Zoom Workshop we’ll examine the literary devices used to develop characters--such as narration, dialogue, interaction, and interiority--and also study how to combine indirect and direct characterization to create characters that are interesting and realistic (and not necessarily likeable).
We think our lives are interesting, but do readers? How do you make your true story resonate with an audience in 1,000 words or less? In this workshop led by memoirist and personal essayist Nadine Kenney Johnstone, you will learn why it’s crucial for writers to write their truth and make readers care right away. Whether you are working on a full-length memoir or short essays, the techniques you’ll learn in this class will help elevate your personal essays or short memoir scenes.
In his essay “The Ecstasy of Influence” Jonathem Lethem argues for the eager plundering of earlier art to make new art. The idea is that all writing is recycled, the key is to channel age-old ideas and write pieces that are distinctly our own. Each week we will read and discuss two published stories by authors like Nabokov, Justin Torres, Mary Gaitskill and more, to look deeply at the ways the author constructed their own unique narrative.
In this workshop, we will go over examples of what is canonically understood to constitute a poem, and subsequently apply that logic to less traditional or “non-poetic” forms. Investigating the liminal space between what does and doesn’t count as a poem will breed rich conversations, and will inform the work generated in the free-write and workshopping parts of the session.
If you want to traditionally publish a nonfiction book, a completed manuscript usually isn't enough to land you a book deal. You'll also need a book proposal. A book proposal is essentially a business plan for your book; it convincingly argues why your book is a salable product in today's market.
But is their sex germane to your story? Writing Sex, a one-night workshop will help you discover the answer to that question and more.
From conception to submission. Let’s get this summer started.
Writing a short story doesn’t happen in one session. It takes multiple drafts to get it exactly right, to match the outside story with the inside story. In this seven week session we will work on a single short story from conception to submission ready. The seven week session will include generative brainstorming sessions, short story craft analysis, multiple workshop sessions, and detailed line by line feedback and edits. Plus, we’ll talk about submission venues, cover letters, and when to know if your story is ‘finished.’
Queer is a huge spectrum and with changing language around gender identity and orientation, there are so many avenues to explore when it comes to writing queer characters. In this workshop, queer trans author Finnian Burnett will explore the divide between own voices and inclusive writing.
SoulCollage® is a highly accessible expressive arts activity for exploring and enhancing our creative gifts and the innate wisdom that exists within us. Through the use of images, SoulCollage® helps fire up our creative juices and offers us a uniquely right-brained way to excavate knowledge and ideas that can benefit our writing practice and projects. In this interactive, generative session, you’ll learn the basics of the SoulCollage® method, then jump right in to create cards that we’ll engage with via imaginative writing prompts.
As the late Irish poet Eavan Boland used to advise her students, "The only way out is through." And yet, when we are bogged down in a work of several hundred pages, it can be difficult to see a way through to the end. In this 90 minute session, we will discuss several methods of puzzling our way to the end of our novels-in-progress.
How do you write an ending that sticks with your reader for days to come? One they will think about while brushing their teeth, doing the dishes, driving to work. Ending are—notoriously—one of the hardest parts of the essay and often they get neglected.
What does it take to write a killer story that evokes an emotional response and draws readers into your world? In this workshop, Finnian Burnett will use generative exercises, story analysis, and guided questions to help each participant hone their flash fiction skills. We'll talk about subverting point of view, deep character dives, and revision techniques. Come prepared to write. Sharing your work is encouraged, but not required.
including alternative forms, slanted metaphors, and utilizing different points of view. These strategies are geared toward staying vulnerable and authentic to your experience, but also creating distance when needed.
In this one-day, 90 minute workshop with writer Brittany Ackerman (The Brittanys Vintage), writers will tap into their own well of experiences in order to mine inspiration for their creative work. Whether writers are working toward a novel, a second draft, or are embarking on a journey to find passion in storytelling, this generative class will be a supportive and encouraging space to hold close the truths that occur in our own lives and how we might translate those experiences into art. In Fiction, we are able to pinpoint real life drama and excavate ideas for story in order to create pieces that feel true to existence, stories that we embrace and share in an attempt to connect with each other.
The Enneagram is a system of personality typing that describes patterns in how people interpret the world and manage their emotions. The Enneagram describes nine personality types and maps each of these types on a nine-pointed diagram which helps to illustrate how the types relate to one another.
A hint, you don’t need to have lived a dramatic or wild life to have something to write about. A good personal essay is all about telling a good story, no matter what the subject matter.