Prose Workshops
Week 1 - The Autobiography of a Character
Zelda Lockhart
In this workshop, participants will take their fictional characters to the next dimension and develop their motives, behaviors, and thereby develop the plot of the story. We will delve into each character’s psychology; dissect them, give them a past with initial wounds, and use self-help books to put them back together. We’ll also explore the craft of writing intriguing dialogue, and developing non-physical characteristics. Though this workshop is best for those with a fiction work in progress, no writing sample is required. You are welcome to bring 15 copies of up to 10 double-spaced pages to discuss in class as time allows.
 | About Zelda Lockhart Zelda Lockhart is author of award-winning novels Fifth Born and Cold Running Creek. Her third novel, Fifth Born II: The Hundredth Turtle, will be released in June 2010. Excerpts appear in the 2010 Chautauqua journal. Lockhart lives in North Carolina and is the 2010 Piedmont Laureate for her state. She lectures and leads workshops around the country. |
Week 2 - Less is More: Writing the Short –Short Story
Kirk Nesset
Since the mid-1980s, the short-short story has continued to assert itself as a vibrant subgenre in fiction, even as it blurs into spaces formerly occupied by poetry – the prose poem especially. In this class we’ll work to discover what makes such stories tick, how and why they succeed. We’ll also write and revise mini-fictions, sharpening our editorial skills in workshop format. You are welcome to bring 15 copies of 1-2 shorts (2 pages, maximum) to discuss in class as time allows.
 | About Kirk Nesset Kirk Nesset is author of two books of fiction, Mr. Agreeable and Paradise Road, as well as The Stories of Raymond Carver (nonfiction), Saint X (poems, forthcoming), and Alphabet of the World: Selected Works by Eugenio Montejo (translations, forthcoming). He was awarded the Drue Heinz Literature Prize in 2007 and has received a Pushcart Prize and grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. His work has appeared in The Paris Review, Kenyon Review, Southern Review, American Poetry Review, Gettysburg Review, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner and elsewhere. He teaches at Allegheny College. |
Week 3 - Writing Reflectively: How to Make Meaning in Memoir
Richard Terrill
When it comes to memoir, the old writing adage, “Show, don’t tell” might be modified to read, “Show, and tell!” One way to enrich your personal narrative writing is to comment on the narrative, to use your story to explore ideas or pose questions, even questions to which you finally don’t know the answer. This week we will see how published writers have done that, and also discuss each other’s writing in workshop. Advance submissions (up to 2,000 words, but not required) may be sent to 4633 Ensign Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55428. Or bring 15 copies of up to 2,000 words of nonfiction to discuss in class as time allows.
 | About Richard Terrill Richard Terrill is the author of two collections of poems, Almost Dark and Coming Late to Rachmaninoff, winner of the Minnesota Book Award; as well as two books of creative nonfiction, Fakebook: Improvisations on a Journey Back to Jazz and Saturday Night in Baoding: A China Memoir, winner of the Associated Writing Programs Award for Nonfiction. He teaches in the MFA program at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he is a Distinguished Faculty Scholar. |
Week 3 - Advanced Fiction Workshop: Verisimilitude
Emily Barton
Whatever kind of fiction you’re working on – literary, historical, young adult, genre – well chosen details bring your characters and situations vividly to life for your readers. In this workshop, our focus will be on reading and discussing each student’s work with an eye toward perfecting our incorporation of detail; we will also cover the related topic of doing research creatively and efficiently. There will be a small amount of outside reading and a few exercises. Admission by advance submission and acceptance only. Please submit, as your application to the workshop, the passage, no longer than 10 double-spaced pages in length, you’d like the group to consider if you are selected for the class. If this is an excerpt from a longer work, please include one or two sentences to help your readers understand the selection’s context. Send by June 1 c/o Clara Silverstein, 216 Grove St., Auburndale, MA 02466. Please include your contact phone number and e-mail for notification of acceptance and registration for class.
 | About Emily Barton Emily Barton (advanced fiction workshop) is the author of two novels, The Testament of Yves Gundron, and Brookland, both named New York Times Notable Books. Her fiction, criticism, and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including Story magazine, American Short Fiction, Conjunctions, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post Book World, the New York Observer, Poetry magazine, Nextbook, and Bookforum. She has received a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. |
Week 4 - Two Voices, One Story: Writing the Reflective Memoir
Michael Steinberg
The most compelling memoirs written today seem to be employing two voices; one tells the surface story, while the other searches for some broader meaning or human connection. It's that second (more reflective) voice that adult memoirists need to pay more attention to. In addition to discussing participants' writing, we'll look at a variety of examples that illustrate how experienced and aspiring memoirists can make fuller use of their adult, reflective selves, and do some informal, in-class writing. You are welcome to bring 15 copies of up to 10 double-spaced pages of writing to discuss in class as time allows.
 | About Michael Steinberg Michael Steinberg has written and/or edited five books. In 2004, Still Pitching won the ForeWord Magazine/Independent Press Memoir of the Year. The Fourth Genre: Contemporary Writers of/on Creative Nonfiction (with Bob Root), is in its fifth edition. Several essays have also been cited as “Notables” in Best American Essays. Steinberg is founding editor of the literary journal, Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction, and he's currently writer-in-residence in the Solstice/Pine Manor College MFA program. |
Week 5 - Fiction Writing and the Camera
Nancy Reisman
Snapshots, montage, close-ups, panoramic views, jump-cuts, portraiture, documentary style, all of which we often associate with the camera, are also staples of literary fiction. Photography and cinema offer writers not only rich source material, but also compelling ways to approach literary craft and form, and to bring characters to life. As we consider the camera’s and the pen’s shared and borrowed techniques, we’ll write several brief pieces and explore how other writers have used these connections. We’ll also experiment with photographic and cinematic source material for our stories, with an emphasis on generating new material (each of us will create a short literary “photo album”). We’ll share writing as it develops and collectively discuss new pieces and options for revision. Previous experience with fiction writing is helpful but not necessary. Come prepared to generate new work.
 | About Nancy Reisman Nancy Reisman is the author of the novel The First Desire and the story collection House Fires. Her work has appeared in many anthologies and journals, including Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Award Stories, Jewish in America, Yale Review, Tin House, Glimmer Train, and SubTropics. She has taught creative writing at the University of Michigan and the University of Florida, and now teaches fiction writing at Vanderbilt University. |
Week 6 - The Intersection of Journalism and Memoir
Dan Roche
Creative nonfiction writing is often divided between works defined primarily by journalistic research and those rooted in personal memoir. But are these two approaches mutually exclusive? What will happen if we treat them as complementary? U sing writers such as Joan Didion, George Orwell, and Michael Pollan as models, we will explore ways to connect our personal stories with the researched world beyond, to fuse the timeliness of journalism with the timelessness of nonfiction literature. You are welcome to bring 15 copies of up to 10 double-spaced pages of writing to discuss in class as time allows.
 | About Dan Roche Dan Roche is the author of two memoirs, Great Expectation: A Father's Diary and Love's Labors, as well as essays in The North American Review, The Journal, and Under the Sun, among others. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and now teaches journalism and creative nonfiction at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY. |
Week 7- Keepers of the Legends: Using History and Folklore in Fiction
Sharyn McCrumb
Fiction with a strong sense of place (e.g. the works of Flannery O’Connor, Stephen King, and Mark Twain) is enriched by the incorporation of regional history and folklore into the narrative. This workshop explores ways to find the stories of your region, the use of dialect and other techniques of regional writing, and ways to incorporate the area folklore and cultural values into a contemporary narrative. The goal is to make your work transcend regional appeal by finding the universal cross-cultural connections. You are welcome to bring 15 copies of up to 10 double-spaced pages of writing to discuss in class as time allows.
 | About Sharyn McCrumb Sharyn McCrumb, author of the Appalachian “Ballad” novels, including the New York Times Best Sellers She Walks These Hills and Rosewood Casket, was named a “Virginia Woman of History” in 2008. St. Dale, The Canterbury Tales set in NASCAR, won a 2006 Library of Virginia Award, AWA Book of the Year, and was featured at the National Festival of the Book. Most recent novels: The Devil Amongst the Lawyers, and Faster Pastor, with Adam Edwards. |
Week 8 - In My Life: The Joy and Brevity of Personal Essay
Ann Hood
Over 400 years ago, Michel de Montaigne called his writing “essays.” The word “essay” is derived from French for “to try or attempt.” Montaigne said he was attempting to put his thoughts into writing. Four centuries later, people are still writing personal essays as a way to reflect, clarify, or celebrate their lives. In this workshop, we will read and discuss personal essays by Jonathan Lethem, Jhumpa Lahiri and others. We will also write and critique student essays on a variety of topics given each day in workshop. You are welcome to bring 15 copies of 1-2 brief (1-2 page) essays to discuss in class as time allows.
 | About Ann Hood Ann Hood is the author of eight novels, including The Knitting Circle and Somewhere Off The Coast Of Maine, and two memoirs, most recently Comfort: A Journey Through Grief. Her short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Paris Review, Bon Appetit, Traveler, O, and many other publications. She has won a Best Spiritual Writing Award, the Paul Bowles Prize for Short Fiction and two Pushcart Prizes. Her most recent novel is The Red Thread, to be published in May, 2010. |
Week 9 - Life, Liberty and the pursuit of History: Writing About the Past
Bruce Chadwick
This workshop examines the unique art of writing about the past, whether biographies of great men and women, tales of tumultuous events, or personal narratives of family history. It also teaches you how to research historical people and places – exotic journeys that often turn into dramatic stories themselves. You are encouraged to bring 15 copies of a 10-12 double-spaced page sample of your writing, a sense of history, and a sense of humor.
 | About Bruce Chadwick Bruce Chadwick, an historian, is the author of 28 books. He has written extensively about the Civil War and the American Revolution. His last two works were Lincoln for President, a political biography, and I Am Murdered, an early nineteenth century mystery thriller. Chadwick teaches writing at New Jersey City University and is a part time American Studies lecturer at Rutgers University. He has been a frequent guest scholar on the History Channel, the National Geographic Channel and national television programs such as Fox and Friends. He appeared in the documentary film Moving Midway, about the American South. |
