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Fall | Writers’ Lab: Life Stories w Lee Montgomery | Sep 20 – Oct 25 | Online

Online N/A, Portland

Frank Conroy, the longtime director of the Iowa Writers Workshop, once said that in good writing, you can feel a soul pressing up against the narrative. The question is how do writers access the “soul” that translates into good storytelling? We’ll first focus on finding the soul that’s pushing you to write by offering a true laboratory, a safe place to inspire and experiment with new ideas generated by in-class prompts and exercises. We will talk about the craft of narrative, as well. Students will be required to read assigned essays and memoir excerpts outside of class to get a sense of the forms and techniques of narrative. The hope is students will be well on their way with a map for a new project by…

Continue readingFall | Writers’ Lab: Life Stories w Lee Montgomery | Sep 20 – Oct 25 | Online
$265 – $287

Fall | Introduction to Flash Nonfiction w Brian Benson | Sep 20 – Oct 18 | Online

Online N/A, Portland

Flash nonfiction, simply put, is true-to-life writing defined by extreme compression: it's saying what you've got to say using as few words, and as much beauty, as possible. An endlessly accessible, playful, potent form, flash nonfiction is evermore popular; from Brevity to 100 Word Story, The Forge to The Sun, legions of journals are eager to publish great flash. In this prompt-driven workshop, we'll read short nonfiction by masters of the form; we'll talk about what stories are suited for flash, how to tell them well, and where to publish them; and most of all, we'll write and write and write, via in-class exercises and take-home prompts. Students will leave the class with reams of new writing and ideas for where to publish. Maximum | 16 students. Zoom link provided prior to start of workshop. Teacher: Brian BensonWorkshop Day: TuesdayTime: Tuesdays,…

Continue readingFall | Introduction to Flash Nonfiction w Brian Benson | Sep 20 – Oct 18 | Online
$219 – $248

Refuse the Given World: Breaking Blocks Through Play

Literary Arts 925 SW Washington Street, Portland

“When I sit down and start writing, I feel the given world recede, and I can just play.” —Sam Lipsyte Remember when you were a little kid, playing on the floor for hours and hours? Our best writing days are often imbued with that same sense of timelessness, freedom, wonder, and escape—in other words, our work often works best when it feels like play. In this generative writing course, we will tap into a playful mindset—by using silly rules, obstructions, oblique strategies, games, dreams, ephemera, constraints, and more—to unlock problematic works and/or generate new material. You will leave this class with more than a dozen techniques for starting a new project, breaking a block, or working through something sticky in a piece of writing. This…

Continue readingRefuse the Given World: Breaking Blocks Through Play
$285
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