Please note that this is an online workshop conducted via Zoom. Participants will be provided information on how to join the online sessions.
Creative nonfiction can encompass a variety of personal essay and memoir styles and sub-genres. In this workshop, we will learn about and experiment with a few select creative nonfiction forms including the flash essay, personal narrative, and the hermit crab essay. We will use writing prompts and discuss craft elements from a variety of online sources including but not limited to, Hippocampus Magazine, Creative Non-Fiction Online, Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Non-Fiction, TedTalk and others. We will read sample texts by marginalized or underrepresented writers and spend time discussing how these writers use different essay forms to grapple with their subject matter. Participants will have the opportunity to explore and discuss a variety of topics including emotional truth vs. factual truth, using research in writing, and cultivating a writing practice. By the end of our time together, participants will have written and received constructive and useful feedback on three essays of their choice.
NOTE: A lot of sensitive personal material will (necessarily) be aired in this workshop, and we’ll do our best to create a climate of trust, respect, and confidentiality, but in no way should the class be mistaken for group therapy. Our emphasis will always be on how best to convert experience into language.