Matthew Klam - Moving Past Doubt - A Workshop for Creative Writers (fiction/nonfiction)
Doris Lessing said, “Whatever you're meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always
impossible.”
The right workshop will help you start, and persevere, and reignite the spark when
you’ve lost your way. A good workshop is affirming and stimulating. For five days
we’ll gather together to write and read and discuss essays, chapters of memoirs, long
and short fiction, and whatever else inspires us. We’ll explore writing that is confessional,
disruptive, funny, intimate, and intense. We’ll spend the rest of our time carefully
reading and examining your writing in a helpful, constructive manner. Your creative
side demands time and energy to develop a story, and that creative part is somewhat
mysterious and powerful, and in our discussions we’ll debunk some of the mystery,
as we engage the part that creates, that fills the page with words, that doesn't look
back or edit or second guess.
Lincoln Michel - Speculative Fiction
"There’s nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns." — Octavia Butler. This
speculative workshop will be a home for those strange stories that grow outside the
manicured gardens of the real. We will interpret “speculative” broadly, welcoming
stories of science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism, surrealism, and anything
in between. We will also set aside some class time for discussions of speculative
craft techniques and corresponding generative in-class exercises.
Frederic Tuten - The Short Story
I love fiction of all kinds. I have no belief in the hierarchy of fiction. For me,
there is only good or poor writing, interesting or uninteresting work. Every writer
has, because they want to be writers, a genuine spark. The point is how to bring that
spark into a flame I will read and edit your work carefully and as constructively
as possible and try to bring to fruition the intent of your writing. I expect you
to treat your fellow-writers’ work with the same consideration. Of course, I know
that we will have lively, passionate and helpful discussions and that we will all
come out the better writers for it. So much for procedure, the rest is the unknown,
mysterious chemistry of the workshop. In particular, our workshop will concentrate
on short stories—flash or long exposure. I shall be sending you a reading list of
a variety of stories, some of which we shall consider in class. But the focus is,
finally, and always your work.
Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi - Confronting taboo (novels)
Confronting taboo is a fundamental aspect of powerful storytelling and an invitation
to write our bravest, most honest work; but doing so requires us to engage those parts
of ourselves and our characters that make us uneasy, restless, and fearful. In this
week long craft workshop, you will be guided through readings, exercises, and small
group discussions designed to help you navigate the discomfort that taboo elicits
when you are sitting before the page. The goal of the seminar is to expand the limits
of your thinking and your craft and to develop the courage to ask: Who am I? And,
What do I truly want to say? PDFs of readings will be provided in advance.
