SUMMER 2020 WRITING WORKSHOPS
READ ME:
- As of June 2020, all Writespace workshops are only available online. See individual workshop listings for details.
- Registration closes 24 hours before start time or when workshop fills.
- Please read our workshop policies before registering.
- Can't attend without a scholarship? Apply here.
July Workshops
Magazine Writing: Three Story Structures for Success with Pat Baldwin
No matter your writing project, never sit down to a blank computer screen again!
No matter your writing project, never sit down to a blank computer screen again!
Skillful magazine writers don’t sit down to blank computer screens. Instead, they rely on specific writing structures that provide workable organizations to keep the words flowing. This class will introduce writers to the basic structures that provide the frameworks for most stories in consumer and trade magazines and will explore techniques to enable students to energize and develop their work. Using examples and exercises that will enhance their magazine writing, this class will show students how to combine the artistry of literary writing with marketplace requirements.
Not a magazine writer? These structures can also help bloggers and even fiction writers control the movement of stories from start to finish. No matter your writing project, never sit down to a blank computer screen again!
Not a magazine writer? These structures can also help bloggers and even fiction writers control the movement of stories from start to finish. No matter your writing project, never sit down to a blank computer screen again!
Facts and Detail in Nonfiction: Show, Don’t Tell With Description with Pat Baldwin
This class will demonstrate that the right selection of words can paint a thousand pictures.
This class will demonstrate that the right selection of words can paint a thousand pictures.
Writing nonfiction does not mean pages of explanations, analysis, or worst of all, telling. In fact, readable nonfiction requires making readers “see” with the use of savory descriptions that don’t sacrifice the truth. The two goals: Get it right; get it read.
This class will help writers to go beyond the surface-level action of stating facts and learn how to involve the reader with sensory sentences that describe images as well as taste, smell, sound and touch. Writers will learn to replace abstract words and phrases with descriptive details that draw readers into narrative prose. Whether writing for media or blogging for family and friends, class members will understand the importance of consciously selecting details.
You already know that a picture is worth a thousand words. Through examples and exercises, this class will demonstrate that the right selection of words can paint a thousand pictures.
This class will help writers to go beyond the surface-level action of stating facts and learn how to involve the reader with sensory sentences that describe images as well as taste, smell, sound and touch. Writers will learn to replace abstract words and phrases with descriptive details that draw readers into narrative prose. Whether writing for media or blogging for family and friends, class members will understand the importance of consciously selecting details.
You already know that a picture is worth a thousand words. Through examples and exercises, this class will demonstrate that the right selection of words can paint a thousand pictures.
Ask a Small Press Editor! Q&A with Holly Lyn Walrath
A small press editor answers all of your burning questions!
A small press editor answers all of your burning questions!
Editors can be a bit of a mystery to new writers: What role do they serve in the writing and publication process? Are they going to obliterate your hard-earned words? And what do those squiggly editors’ marks even mean?
Join Holly Lyn Walrath, freelance editor and founder of Interstellar Flight Press as she answers your most pressing questions about the editorial process, publishing your work, or setting out as a freelance editor yourself. Like writers, editors are critical readers and lovers of words and help shape the books we love. Get to know the world of an editor who believes that authors have the ability to level up their own writing.
Participants will ask their questions live during the Q&A using the chat feature in Zoom.
Join Holly Lyn Walrath, freelance editor and founder of Interstellar Flight Press as she answers your most pressing questions about the editorial process, publishing your work, or setting out as a freelance editor yourself. Like writers, editors are critical readers and lovers of words and help shape the books we love. Get to know the world of an editor who believes that authors have the ability to level up their own writing.
Participants will ask their questions live during the Q&A using the chat feature in Zoom.
Beginning Fiction with Cassandra Rose Clarke
In this workshop, we’ll examine the basics of good fiction: plot, character, dialogue, and setting.
In this workshop, we’ll examine the basics of good fiction: plot, character, dialogue, and setting.
|
TIME: Starts July 11th, and runs until August 8th, with scheduled video chat sessions on four Saturdays: July 11th, 18th, 25th, and August 8th, 10:00 - 11:00 AM CDT
PRICE: Early-Bird until Monday, July 6th: $150 for members, $180 for non-members. After Monday, July 6th: $180 for members, $210 for non-members. Become a member here. Scholarships available here LOCATION: Online via Google Classroom and Zoom CAP: Limited to 15 Writer |
Telling stories has been a part of the human experience for as long as there have been humans, but the experience of formalizing those stories into a work of written fiction can be a daunting process. In this workshop, we’ll examine the basics of good fiction: plot, character, dialogue, and setting. We’ll read and discuss both classic and contemporary short stories, taking them apart to see how they work, and we’ll apply those techniques in a series of fun and inspiring exercises. We’ll also set aside to time to talk about the process of getting started: How do you make time to write? How can you find a good critique group? What happens after you’ve finished a story? And at the end of the workshop, students will have the opportunity to have their work—either a short story or a chapter from a novel—critiqued. All genres are welcome, from literary to mystery to science fiction and fantasy
Technical Writing: Creating a User Guide with Andreana Binder
Join established technical writer Andreana Binder as she introduces students to the ins and outs of technical writing as a career.
Join established technical writer Andreana Binder as she introduces students to the ins and outs of technical writing as a career.
|
TIME: Starts July 11th and runs until August 1, with scheduled video chat sessions on three Saturdays: July 11th, 18th, 25th, 2:00 - 3:00 PM CDT
PRICE: Early-Bird until Monday, July 6th: $120 for members, $140 for non-members. After Monday, July 6th: $140 for members, $160 for non-members. Become a member here. Apply for a scholarship here. LOCATION: Online via Google Classroom and Zoom CAP: Limited to 15 Writers |
Looking for remote work in these difficult times? Join established technical writer Andreana Binder as she introduces students to the ins and outs of technical writing as a career. In this course, she’ll provide an overview of technical writing as a career path and guide students in the creation of a sample user guide.
A user guide is a common “deliverable” that technical writers create and publish for customers across industries, particularly technology. And when seeking out a career in technical writing, a quality user guide writing sample can make all the difference! Using a blend of in-person Zoom meetings, hands-on assignments, and individualized feedback, the course will provide students with the perfect tool for jumpstarting a tech writing side hustle.
A user guide is a common “deliverable” that technical writers create and publish for customers across industries, particularly technology. And when seeking out a career in technical writing, a quality user guide writing sample can make all the difference! Using a blend of in-person Zoom meetings, hands-on assignments, and individualized feedback, the course will provide students with the perfect tool for jumpstarting a tech writing side hustle.
First Chapter Critique Session with Holly Lyn Walrath
Bring in the first chapter of a work and have it critiqued by an established editor!
Bring in the first chapter of a work and have it critiqued by an established editor!
Are you a novelist who has wondered what a critique from a professional editor is like? Do you wish you could have an editor’s support and feedback, but you don’t feel ready to incur the cost? Or are you just starting out and would like to know what’s important to keep in mind as you begin to work on your novel?
In this hands-on session, participants will bring in the first chapter of a work and have it critiqued by an established editor. We will embark upon a fast and fun, yet in-depth adventure in which we explore the fundamentals and subtleties of dozens of craft elements essential to composing reader-catching first chapters.
By the end of the session, through seeing firsthand how editors critique an opening chapter, attending writers will have attained greater clarity about what questions good writers ask as they work, as well as a clearer sense of what editors and agents look for when they receive a manuscript.
In this hands-on session, participants will bring in the first chapter of a work and have it critiqued by an established editor. We will embark upon a fast and fun, yet in-depth adventure in which we explore the fundamentals and subtleties of dozens of craft elements essential to composing reader-catching first chapters.
By the end of the session, through seeing firsthand how editors critique an opening chapter, attending writers will have attained greater clarity about what questions good writers ask as they work, as well as a clearer sense of what editors and agents look for when they receive a manuscript.
Writing History: Yours and Others' with Jessica Handler
Explore and utilize methods for bringing history alive on the page.
Explore and utilize methods for bringing history alive on the page.
In this two hour prompt-driven class, writers will explore techniques for capturing vibrant history on the page. Participants will learn the basics of crafting characters, dialogue, and worldbuilding for both historical fiction and memoir. Although targeted for the beginning writer, this workshop also invites experienced writers to polish their skills.
During the course of the workshop, participants will explore and utilize methods for bringing history alive on the page. Learn how to write effective dialogue without defaulting to "historical-ese” and uncover tips for crafting characters from the past who connect with present-day readers. We’ll also examine the role of research in narrative--and how to incorporate it while maintaining the story itself.
Be sure to check out Jessica's book, The Magnetic Girl.
During the course of the workshop, participants will explore and utilize methods for bringing history alive on the page. Learn how to write effective dialogue without defaulting to "historical-ese” and uncover tips for crafting characters from the past who connect with present-day readers. We’ll also examine the role of research in narrative--and how to incorporate it while maintaining the story itself.
Be sure to check out Jessica's book, The Magnetic Girl.
August Workshops
Poetry for Protest with Kendra Preston Leonard
We’ll create a safe space in which to learn about and write poems that call attention to issues of social justice.
We’ll create a safe space in which to learn about and write poems that call attention to issues of social justice.
|
TIME: Starts August 2nd and runs until August 9th, with scheduled video chat sessions on two Sundays, August 2nd and August 9th, 2:00 - 3:30 PM CDT
PRICE: Early-Bird until Tuesday, July 28th: $85 for members, $100 for non-members. After Tuesday, July 28th: $100 for members, $115 for non-members. Become a member here. Scholarships available here. LOCATION: Online via Google Classroom and Zoom CAP: Limited to 15 writers |
Poetry is a powerful way of speaking out and speaking up against injustice, discrimination, and hate. In this workshop, we’ll create a safe space in which to learn about and write poems that protest events, individuals, or policies and that call attention to social justice issues.
We’ll do some reading of work by writers who have used poetry to express a need for change through their anger, frustration, sorrow, and other emotions and engage in writing exercises specific to developing our own poetic voices as protesters. We’ll examine how our choices of language and rhetoric work in protest poetry, discuss how structure functions in poetic protest writing, and how to navigate difficult topics in writing protest poetry, such as racism, homophobia, and assault.
This workshop is open to writers of all levels of experience, and will focus on writing techniques, not individual politics. Over the course of the workshop, we will each write and polish two poems on topics that are meaningful to us and read them in the group Zoom meetings.
We’ll do some reading of work by writers who have used poetry to express a need for change through their anger, frustration, sorrow, and other emotions and engage in writing exercises specific to developing our own poetic voices as protesters. We’ll examine how our choices of language and rhetoric work in protest poetry, discuss how structure functions in poetic protest writing, and how to navigate difficult topics in writing protest poetry, such as racism, homophobia, and assault.
This workshop is open to writers of all levels of experience, and will focus on writing techniques, not individual politics. Over the course of the workshop, we will each write and polish two poems on topics that are meaningful to us and read them in the group Zoom meetings.
Fiction Feedback Workshop with ire'ne lara silva
We'll be supportively challenging each other to raise the stakes, make strategic choices, and develop a harmonious approach to world-building in our fiction.
We'll be supportively challenging each other to raise the stakes, make strategic choices, and develop a harmonious approach to world-building in our fiction.
|
TIME: Four Saturdays, August 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, 1-4 PM CDT
PRICE: Early-Bird until Saturday, August 1st: $150 for members, $180 for non-members. After Saturday, August 1st: $180 for members, $210 for non-members. Become a member here. Scholarships available here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom CAP: Limited to 12 Writers |
In these four sessions, we'll be supportively challenging each other to raise the stakes, make strategic choices, and develop a harmonious approach to world-building in our fiction. Every week, participants will turn in 10 page max manuscripts for other participants and the workshop leader to review who will then provide written feedback. A portion of each session will focus on live discussion of each manuscript. First manuscript is due on August 1, 2020.
Critical Art Writing 101 with Justine Jannise
In this three-hour workshop, we will make use of the art in our daily lives to practice another art of our own — the critical art essay.
In this three-hour workshop, we will make use of the art in our daily lives to practice another art of our own — the critical art essay.
|
TIME: Saturday, August 22nd, 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM CDT
PRICE: Early-Bird until Monday, August 17th: $45 for members, $60 for non-members. After Monday, August 17th: $55 for members, $70 for non-members. Become a member here. Scholarships available here. LOCATION: Online via Zoom CAP: Limited to 15 Writers |
Writespace has always thrived in an ecosystem of art! Our former home in Silver Street Studios meant that every day we breathed the very air of line, color, motion, texture, and technique. And although we have moved out of our studio, we recognize that art is still all around us--and still worth exploring in writing.
In this three-hour workshop, we will make use of the art in our daily lives to practice another art of our own — the critical art essay. We’ll start by defining what this exciting genre of writing can mean, though we’ll quickly sense the many liberties we may take. Next, we’ll draft a piece about a particular work available online. Finally, we’ll conclude by discussing revision strategies and opportunities for publication. (Hint: there are many!)
In this three-hour workshop, we will make use of the art in our daily lives to practice another art of our own — the critical art essay. We’ll start by defining what this exciting genre of writing can mean, though we’ll quickly sense the many liberties we may take. Next, we’ll draft a piece about a particular work available online. Finally, we’ll conclude by discussing revision strategies and opportunities for publication. (Hint: there are many!)
Pilgrims Unstuck in Time: Playing with Linear Time in Unexpected Ways with Matthew Hefti
This workshop will analyze techniques for traveling through time on the page.
This workshop will analyze techniques for traveling through time on the page.
Are you trying to cover a hundred years of solitude in a hundred thousand words? Or maybe you’re the time traveler’s wife, waiting indefinitely to see your love again. Or are you Benjamin Buttoning your way to an early birth?
As writers and readers, we all have the gift—or curse—of coming unstuck in time. The rules of linearity just don’t apply to us. In writing, we can explore an entire family history in a paragraph or a significant moment in a hundred pages. Whether you’re including flashbacks, flash forwards, or just stretching a single moment into an eternity, this workshop will analyze techniques for traveling through time on the page.
As writers and readers, we all have the gift—or curse—of coming unstuck in time. The rules of linearity just don’t apply to us. In writing, we can explore an entire family history in a paragraph or a significant moment in a hundred pages. Whether you’re including flashbacks, flash forwards, or just stretching a single moment into an eternity, this workshop will analyze techniques for traveling through time on the page.
READ ME:
- As of June 2020, all Writespace workshops are only available online. See individual workshop listings for details.
- Registration closes 24 hours before start time or when workshop fills.
- Please read our workshop policies before registering.
- Can't attend without a scholarship? Apply here.