Please note that this is an online workshop conducted via Zoom. Participants will be provided information on how to join the online sessions.
The instructor encourages the participants to get a copy of The Best American Essays 2019 edited by Rebecca Solnit.
In this course we will read and create works of nonfiction. With the materials we examine in class, we will dissect the character the author has created, and we will continually ask ourselves who is speaking. Conversations will center around persona, point of view, and voice.
We will be generating and exchanging work in class, and we will focus on grounding the reader in concrete reality via setting and scene—focusing chiefly on treating the mimicking of “real life” as a fun opportunity. Also, most importantly, we will view revising as a creative and generative act.
The writers in this course will walk away with an improved sense of how to create poignant and realistic scenes, how to harness authentic and unique voices, and how to revise effectively and independently. We will have multiple in-class writing exercises, and we will submit works of creative nonfiction to be constructively criticized in workshop.