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FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP | |
GETTING INTO WRITING | |
SOLVING THE MYSTERY | |
WRITING PROMPT WORKSHOP | |
CREATIVE NONFICTION WORKSHOP | |
BOOK-WRITING WORKSHOP | |
BEGINNING FICTION | |
CREATIVE NONFICTION WORKSHOP | |
INTRODUCTION TO POETRY WRITING | |
LEARNING THE UNDISCIPLINED | |
Building a Novel: Where to Start and How to Keep it Going | |
SIX WAYS OF LOOKING AT AN ESSAY | |
WRITING THE PERSONAL ESSAY; TELLING YOUR PERSONAL TRUTH | |
A VISIT TO GRAMMAR’S HOUSE | |
DEVELOPING YOUR STORY WITH THE TAROT |
These popular classes are for the fiction writer who is ready to work on short stories or novels with the goal of publication. This specialized chat format will give you the closest possible thing to a “live” writers’ workshop, with the convenience of the online class. Class A: 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. CST Class B: 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. CST Each week, two students will submit up to 2500 words of a fiction project. This could be a short story, a chapter from a novel, or an excerpt. Projects will be emailed to the instructor and to all of the students in the class. Each student is expected to send an email critique back to the authors. The instructor will send each author a line-by-line edit and a thematic critique. Then, on Thursday nights, the instructor and students will meet in an online AOL chatroom. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BELONG TO AOL TO BE IN THIS CLASS. If you aren’t on AOL, just go to www.aol.com and download their FREE Instant Messenger. This will allow you into the classroom. In these Thursday night sessions, the submitting students will get to watch as their fiction projects are discussed by the class and the instructor. Each discussion will last for twenty-five minutes, and then the student will have five minutes to respond. This is a great way to get feedback on your work and to prepare it for submission. The class size will be no less than six students and no more than eight. If the class has six students, it will last ten weeks, and if there are eight students, it will last twelve. The price of the class remains the same, regardless of the length. Currently, there are two sessions of this workshop offered. If enough students register, more sessions will be added. Session A: 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time Session B: 9:00 - 10:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time We will open another class if we get 6 applicants. Go to our Contact Us Page and let us know if you're interested. |
This is an online, e-mail interactive workshop for the would-be writer trying to find his or her writing voice. Utilizing a combination of themed creative exercises, personal writing opportunities, and peer and instructor critique, participants will experience the benefits of the writing workshop while still receiving the topical information the just-starting writer needs most. The first four weeks of the workshop will feature a short writing exercise (500 words or less) on the week’s topic of discussion. The final four weeks will give the participant an opportunity to produce one longer work or partial work (up to 2,500 words) for peer and instructor critique. Topics will change each session, with the goal of students working toward eventual participation in a fiction or non-fiction workshop. |
One of the biggest mysteries in mystery writing is figuring out exactly what makes the story a mystery. Is it a whodunit? A whydunit? A what-happens-after-the-deed-is-done? A mystery can be all of these and more. In this course, you’ll learn not only what it takes to create a mystery, but how to make it more mysterious. Why is MOM (Motive, Opportunity, and Means) so near and dear to the mystery writer’s heart? What comes first—plot, characters, or setting? Who is the best character to tell your story? How do you fool the reader and still play fair? Using a combination of examples and creative exercises, you’ll unravel the secrets and work your way through completing a mystery short story.
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Get ready to get your creativity in gear and the words overflowing your page! This workshop is especially designed to help you jump head-first into the world of fiction writing. The prompts offered each week will provide you with launch pads for ten short stories, or possibly even a novel! The prompts will challenge your imagination and get those creative juices flowing. Each week, all students will be given the same writing prompt. It might be a first line, a general idea, a title, or anything your instructor comes up with. For example, "Write to the opening line, 'There were days when the wall was too big." Students will write 500 words to the prompt. This might be a complete short-short story, or it could be the beginning to a longer piece. Students will then email their prompt to their instructor and all of the other students in the class. Students are expected to critique everyone's prompt via email. Instructor will provide a line-by-line edit and an overall thematic critique. |
Are you working your way through a novel and wish you had a workshop where all of your chapters would be read in a timely basis? This novel-writing workshop is developed specifically for the novelist. Class size is limited to allow every student to receive critique time each week. Up to twenty pages (5000 words) can be handed in on a weekly basis, and the pages will be emailed a week ahead of time so that all of the material is already read prior to each class. This intense twelve-week workshop will allow you to consistently move forward on your novel, providing you with support, honest and helpful critique, and a positive community. Students will also receive a line-by-line edit and a thematic critique of their work from the instructor. On Monday nights, from 9 - 11 p.m. central time, students will gather in a private online chatroom for discussion of their pages with the instructor. This is the closest you can get to a face to face workshop on the internet! |
Fiction writing is supposed to be just telling stories, making stuff up, right? Well…almost. Writing fiction is very similar to building with blocks, the good old-fashioned wooden kind. Stack them up right, and you can get some creative and fun shapes. But do one thing wrong, and the whole tower topples down. In fiction, the blocks are the characters, dialogue, setting, opening lines, and plot. In this class, you will learn how to stack these building blocks into a short story. Even if you have a novel in mind, start here, with small steps. |
Autobiography, memoir, personal essay... The term "creative nonfiction" encompasses them all. This course will examine the differences between fiction and nonfiction and help writers put onto paper their thoughts, feelings, observations, memories, and much, much more in a way that reads as entertainingly as fiction but remains truthful, accurate, and not made up. (In other words, James Frey need not apply.) There will be no prompts here, only your own lives. Thus, the possible topics are infinite. This workshop is for the aspiring David Sedaris, Augusten Burroughs, or Annie Dillard, or for any other writer with his or her own story to tell. Each week, two students will submit their work for class critique and discussion. All students receive email critiques from their peers and an email critique with a line by line edit from their instructor. Then, once a week, students gather in a chatroom to further discuss the work in a workshop environment. |
“Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does.” ~Allen Ginsberg This course focuses on writing creative, thoughtful, and evocative poems in a variety of forms, as well as active reading of and critical thinking about the work of other poets. Although to many people, poetry is a deeply personal art, this course will be taught with an emphasis on writing for publication. Week 1: Story, Structure, Music, and Imagination: Reading Others’ Work & Shaping Our Own Week 2: Where Do Poems Come From?: Drawing on Experience, Surrealism, and Writing Prompts Week 3: You Wrote That?: Writing What You Feel, Not What You Should Feel, or Writing Poetry You Wouldn’t Want Your Mother to Read Week 4: Inspiration vs. Perspiration: What’s It Take to Be a Writer, Anyway? Week 5: Revision: How Do You Know When a Poem’s Ready? Week 6: Sending Your Poems Out Into the World: Accepting Rejection and Living with Success |
This workshop is designed to inspire. Students will be offered weekly "snapshots" of poetry by a range of contemporary writers and provided with assignments which stimulate the imagination. Assignments may include establishing a collection of pet rocks, interviewing a parakeet, throwing a birthday party for your favorite tree, making demands from a piece of lint... Be prepared for adventure! Try something new, write poems straight from your unconcious! Through the six week workshop, suggestions on sculpting raw material and asking questions of your work will be provided! Week 1: Introduction: Exploring the Outskirts of Your Imagination Week 2: Exploring Ekphrastic Poetry Week 3: Adpoting A Character, Inventing Voice Week 4: Amplifying the Accidental Week 5: Writing From Dream Week 6: Considering Content, Considering Theme |
You might have an idea. Perhaps you are exploring a character or two. You may even have some scenes. How do you pull the pieces you have together and build them into a compelling novel? How do you write a great beginning? How do you keep a story going past the first few chapters? Learn the process of building a novel from the ground up. This 6-week class will begin with novel basics and creativity techniques to develop solid, high-concept ideas that will keep your story going strong. Next, construct a foundation of unforgettable, real characters with motivations to drive your book. Plan a setting that weaves throughout and moves your story, and description that adds meaning as well as a genuine sense of place. Learn to write dialogue that sounds real and gives each character a unique voice. Put it all together as we explore story and scene structure, story arc, and plot. Finally, learn how to keep a reader hooked and techniques to edit and pace your novel. Week 1: Fiction Basics: The Rules and When to Break Them Week 2: Characters Build Your Story—Plotting through Character Week 3: Structure and Plot Week 4: Dialogue, Setting and Description Week 5: Putting it All Together: Writing Scenes Week 6: Theme and Editing |
In his essay “Toward a Definition of Creative Nonfiction,” essayist and author Bret Lott explains that creative nonfiction can include everything “from the letter to the list, from the biography to the memoir, from the journal to the obituary” before concluding that, “…creative nonfiction, like fiction, like poetry, is simply and completely a way of seeing—the rewards we will reap will be great: we will understand. To understand, and nothing more, and that is everything.” Students will be exposed to the writing of essayists such as Joan Didion, Pico Iyer, Annie Dillard, and others. Often, when people think of the personal essay – also known as creative nonfiction – they think of memoir. But not every essay draws on memory. In this class, we will examine and write six different types of personal essays. Students will be asked to observe nature, to interview, research and/or observe someone who fascinates them, to weave personal stories together, and to write with the lovely language of a poet. Week 1 - Narrative Essay. Week 2 - Meditation Essay. Week 3 - Nature Essay. Week 4 - Portrait Essay. Week 5 - Braided Essay. Week 6 - Lyric Essay. |
“The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and about all time.”—George Bernard Shaw In this course, students will learn to draw on their life experience, memories, and observations to create vivid, meaningful personal essays. They will learn the difference between fact and truth, how to treat their characters, including the narrative “I”, fairly and honestly, and how to find depth and balance in their prose. Students will learn how to conceive and develop ideas, using beautiful language, and will be given writing prompts. They will read a variety of online essays written by essayists such as David Sedaris, Bret Lott, Robert Vivian, and Joan Didion, and will be introduced to the online literary journal Brevity. Week 1 – I’m here! Week 2 – Who Counts? Week 3 – Where Did That Happen Again? Week 4 – Say what? Week 5 – Aw, Do I Have To? Week 6 – Hindsight. |
Grammar is the broccoli of the writing world. People don’t like it, no matter how beneficial it might be. This course removes the unpleasant taste of grammar and puts it in a palatable format. Students will learn the thrill of stringing words together with hyphens, like fish on a trot line. Commas and periods are like apples and oranges: different. The world’s best-kept secret about the spicy semi-colon will be revealed! WEEKLY TOPICS Week One: What makes a sentence? Week Two: Diagramming sentences to understand them Week Three: Avoiding the most-common error: the run-on (fused) sentence Week Four: Punctuation can be fun! Week Five: Using prepositions, adverbs and adjectives for writing elegance Week Six: Red flags for editors and agents |
Are you looking for new ways to breathe life into your outlining process, your plots, your characters? If so, have we got the course for you! Elizabeth Delisi, a.k.a. Madame Liz, will teach you how to use the ancient art of the Tarot to develop stories, plots and subplots, heroes, heroines and villains, and more. You'll learn the history of the Tarot, how to choose a deck, how to read the cards, how to develop your own spreads, and how to use those readings to develop and improve your writing. There will be eight lectures, and eight assignments to be posted to the instructor to comment on, and naturally all questions will be answered. WEEKLY TOPICS Week One: History of the Tarot Week Two: Choosing Your Deck Week Three: How to Read Tarot Week Four: Developing Personalized Spreads Week Five: Using Tarot to Create Your Hero and Heroine Week Six: Using Tarot to Create Your Villian Week Seven: Using Tarot to Develop Your Plot Week Eight: Continuing to Develop Your Plot |
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