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fiction. summer 2010.

Reading Like a Writer

6 Sundays, 6:00-9:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 12th.

To become better writers, we must not only read great books, but read them more actively. This fall, get back to the reason why you wanted to write in the first place: to create fiction that lasts, that matters. For six weeks, we will read and discuss some of the best stories in contemporary and classic literature, as well as selected essays from Francine Prose’s book, Reading Like A Writer. We will also do short, weekly writing exercises designed to get us inside authors’ heads and unlock their secrets. By the end, we’ll have trained ourselves to read for craft as well as for pleasure, and you’ll see that your favorite writers aren’t magically gifted beings, to be admired and exalted — they’re your teachers.

Instructor: Cam Terwilliger: Cam Terwilliger is a recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fiction Fellowship and a Somerville Arts Council Fiction Fellowship. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in West Branch, Post Road, The Mid-American Review, The Greensboro Review, The Sycamore Review and others. Cam’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and has received an Academy of American Poets Prize. Additionally, he holds an MFA from Emerson College, and has served as a reader for The Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares, and as a judge for The Rhode Island Council on the Arts Fiction Fellowship.

Level: For Everyone
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, September 08, 2010

There are 4 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Six Weeks, Six Stories: Level I

6 Sundays, 6:00-9:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 12th.

Do you believe the finer things in life often come in small packages? If so, why not have a shot at the short short story? In this flash fiction class for beginners, you will write both brand-new complete stories ranging from 300 to 1500 words or brand-new beginnings of longer stories. Each week, you'll be given a different exercise to explore an interesting and tighter way to write plot, character, setting, and language; you will get quick on-the-spot feedback on what you write from both the instructor and fellow students. Classes will also include some discussion of published short shorts and elements of craft. The goal is to leave the class with new beginnings, a few complete short-shorts, and at least one revised piece to submit for publication. Recommended for those who are new to writing short short fiction.

Instructor: Sue Williams: Sue Williams is a British writer living near Boston. She taught English and Drama in schools and colleges across the UK, and her fiction has been published in numerous magazines including Narrative, Night Train, Salamander, Gargoyle and Redivider. A firm believer in the power of the story, Sue has acted in and directed plays, led oral storytelling workshops, and used art and music to inspire the writing process. She is currently an assistant editor at Narrative Magazine. Her educational resources have also appeared in print. You can find her online at www.suewilliams.co.uk.

Level: Intermediate
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, September 08, 2010

There are 3 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Jumpstart Your Writing

6 Mondays, 7:00pm-10:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins October 18th.

This course has a very clear mission: devote three hours of your week to writing. Through a series of fun directed writing exercises, we will explore the terrain of fiction and non-fiction: mining for material, constructing characters and settings, shaping vivid dialogue, understanding point of view, and finding your voice. We will discuss the process of writing and the strengths and weaknesses of the work we produce in class. We may read and discuss some short published texts in regards to craft, then write exercises inspired by the texts. A supportive and generative experience for both new and practicing writers. Limited to 15 students.

Instructor: Grace Talusan: Grace Talusan lives in Somerville and teaches writing at Tufts University. She has published essays and stories in Creative Nonfiction, The Boston Globe, Brevity, Buran, Tufts Magazine, Colorlines, and other publications. She earned an MFA from the University of California, Irvine and a Massachusetts Artist Grant in Fiction.

Level: Beginner
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.

Writing Horror, Making Monsters

6 Mondays, 7:00pm-10:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins October 18th.

Those who loved our “Monsters & Mayhem” course will simply die for this six-week workshop on horror and fantasy writing. In this course, we’ll immerse ourselves in these popular genres and focus on accessing the darkness within our characters and their worlds. No flat characters or two-dimensional baddies for us! With a rich array of visuals and writing prompts we’ll learn how to make the horrific and strange real for the reader, creating rich and imaginative stories that will captivate and inspire. We’ll workshop one short piece (no more than 1000 words) from each student as well as discussing where our more sinister work may find a home in the world. Not for the faint of heart or imagination! Co-taught by Sue Williams.

Instructor: KL Pereira: KL Pereira writes poetry, nonfiction, cross-genre, and memoir. Pereira has taught poetry classes and writing workshops at East Boston High School, Casa Myrna Vasquez, Freedom House, The Women's Center, and Center for New Words and has served as an editor and writer for LiP Magazine, Whats Up Magazine/Spare Change News, advocacy publications by and for the homeless and underemployed. Her work has appeared in The Pitkin Review, Girlistic Magazine, The Hub Journal: Boston's Literary Occasional, Sui Generis, Bitch Magazine, Clamor Magazine, Whats Up Magazine/Spare Change News, Girl Culture: An Encyclopedia and the forthcoming Boy Culture: An Encyclopedia, both from Greenwood Press. She holds a BA in Literature and Languages from Bard College, an MA in Gender/Cultural Studies from Simmons College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College.

Level: For Everyone
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, October 13, 2010

There are 10 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Solving Novel Problems

8 Mondays, 7:00pm-10:00pm at Buttonwood Books. Begins September 27th.

Are you fifty pages in and losing your way? Do you have a first draft that doesn’t quite sing? Every novel offers puzzles for the writer to solve. Early in writing a novel, you must choose the right point of view for the story and which characters will have a voice. Along the way, you may be plagued by two-dimensional characters, stale dialogue, weak plot lines, or perhaps a setting that doesn’t support your novel’s themes and premise. In this eight-week course, you’ll learn to examine key aspects of craft to be sure your story structure is strong. Through lecture, discussion, and exercises using your own manuscript, novelist Lynne Griffin will help you dig to the heart of your story.

Instructor: Lynne Griffin: Lynne Griffin writes about family life. She is the author of the novels Sea Escape (Simon & Schuster, 2010) and Life Without Summer (St. Martin’s Press, 2009), and the nonfiction parenting guide, Negotiation Generation (Penguin, 2007). In addition to teaching at Grub Street, Lynne teaches in the graduate program of family studies at Wheelock College. She is the parenting contributor for Boston’s Fox Morning News, where she talks about family life issues. For more about Lynne’s work, visit her website, www.LynneGriffin.com or her blog, www.Family-Life-Stories.com.

Level: Advanced
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, September 22, 2010

There are 9 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

10 Weeks, 10 Stories

10 Tuesdays, 7:00-10:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 14th.

Tired of workshopping the same stories? Can't come up with new plots and characters? All writers go through this, but here’s a way to shake up your writing world. In this always-sold-out workshop, you will write both brand-new complete stories ranging from 300 to 1500 words or brand-new beginnings of longer stories. Each week, you'll be given a different exercise to explore an interesting and tighter way to write plot, character, setting, and language; you will get quick on-the-spot feedback on what you write from both the instructor and fellow students. Classes may also include some discussion of published short shorts and/or elements of craft. The goal is to leave the class with new beginnings, a few complete short-shorts, and at least one revised piece to submit for publication. Recommended for students who’ve taken Fiction I or an equivalent.

Instructor: Adrian Van Young: Adrian Van Young attended Columbia University's MFA Program in Fiction, where he now teaches in the Undergraduate Writing Program. He is the recipient of a 2008 Henfield Foundation Prize and was nominated for inclusion in Best New American Voices 2010. He has taught fiction and expository writing at 826 NYC, Columbia University, The Calhoun School and, most recently, Grub Street. His fiction and non-fiction have been published in Lumina and Gigantic.

Level: Intermediate
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Thursday, September 09, 2010

Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.

Fiction I, Section A

10 Tuesdays, 7:00-10:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 14th.

In the beginning, there was the short story, and it was good. In this course, you'll learn and practice the tried-and-true elements of fiction—character, plot, dialogue, setting, point of view, and revision – with an emphasis on the short story form. As you mine for material, you will also explore new possibilities in subject, style, and voice. Classes include short lectures and discussions on various elements of craft, skill-based writing exercises and workshopping of student work. The goal is to write and/or revise two complete stories (up to 25 pages each), giving you the momentum you need to continue writing well after the workshop ends.

Instructor: John Cotter: John Cotter's first novel, Under the Small Lights, was published in the summer of 2010 by Miami University Press. He is a founding editor of the online arts magazine Open Letters Monthly and has published short fiction in Hanging Loose, Lifted Brow, Lost, and genre fiction in New Genre (forthcoming) and Lifted Brow.

Level: Beginner
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Thursday, September 09, 2010

Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.

Fiction I, Section B

10 Wednesdays, 7:00-10:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 15th.

Instructor: Cam Terwilliger: Cam Terwilliger is a recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fiction Fellowship and a Somerville Arts Council Fiction Fellowship. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in West Branch, Post Road, The Mid-American Review, The Greensboro Review, The Sycamore Review and others. Cam’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and has received an Academy of American Poets Prize. Additionally, he holds an MFA from Emerson College, and has served as a reader for The Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares, and as a judge for The Rhode Island Council on the Arts Fiction Fellowship.

Level: Beginner
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Thursday, September 09, 2010

There are 6 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Revision Clinic

Monday-Friday, August 23-27th, 11:00am-2:00pm at Grub Street headquarters.

Though it's often said that revising is the key to publishable writing, revision is a process that many fiction writers find frustrating. Once you have a first draft, what happens next? How do you follow through on the ideas your workshop suggested? How do you add depth to characters? How do you make the structure more direct? This week-long intensive course will teach the crucial concepts of revision that will allow you to address these issues. Whether it's exploring the possibilities of an initial draft or adding the final touches, revision is a process no successful writer can do without.

Instructor: Cam Terwilliger: Cam Terwilliger is a recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fiction Fellowship and a Somerville Arts Council Fiction Fellowship. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in West Branch, Post Road, The Mid-American Review, The Greensboro Review, The Sycamore Review and others. Cam’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and has received an Academy of American Poets Prize. Additionally, he holds an MFA from Emerson College, and has served as a reader for The Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares, and as a judge for The Rhode Island Council on the Arts Fiction Fellowship.

Level: Intermediate
Type: Daytime Class
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, August 18, 2010

There are 6 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Fiction II

10 Wednesdays, 7:00-10:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 15th.

Whether your model is Carver or Coover, Kafka or Krantz, your voice and narratives are unique. That doesn't mean you don't have to revise. Fiction II is designed to give intermediate/more experienced writers, and those with workshop experience, the intensive review and analysis they need to make their stories deeper and sharper. Classes are primarily focused on discussion of student work, but may also include writing exercises and instruction on craft issues that arise in participants' writing. In addition to the class's comments, you will get in-depth written feedback from the instructor. The goal is to write and revise two short stories or self-contained novel chapters, up to 25 pages each.

Instructor: Christina McCarroll: Christina McCarroll holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan, where she won two Hopwood Awards and a Helen Zell Post-MFA Fellowship. She earned her M.A. and B.A. in English from Stanford University and has worked as a writer and editor at The Christian Science Monitor in Boston. Her book reviews and nonfiction essays have appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Stanford magazine, and elsewhere, and her fiction has been nominated for the Best New American Voices series. She teaches in the English department at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and will be teaching at Lesley University this fall.

Level: Intermediate
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Thursday, September 09, 2010

Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.

Writing the Smart Page-Turner

10 Thursdays, 7:00-10:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 16th.

Exciting plots and larger-than-life characters are the cornerstones of so-called "popular" or "genre" fiction, but in an era when Michael Chabon wins science fiction's Nebula Award and Cormac McCarthy wins the Pulitzer for the apocalyptic novel The Road, the lines between genre and literary fiction are blurrier than ever. Whether you're writing romance, mystery, science fiction, erotica, supernatural or suspense, the principles of writing popular fiction – clear prose, characters we can empathize with, and a story that moves – are key, and in this course, you'll learn ways to do that while developing a distinct literary "voice". Classes will entail the workshopping of your stories and novel chapters, exploring the terrain of the genres, the use of writing and idea-generating exercises, and discussion of the magazines and publishers looking for your sort of fiction. The goal is to give you a solid grounding in the demands of popular fiction, and a better understanding of literary potential of your favorite genres. An intermediate level class, recommended for students with some workshop experience. Click here for more information about the class, direct from the instructor.

Instructor: Michael Marano: Michael Marano is a literary horror and dark science fiction writer, with stories in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 11 and Outsiders: 22 All-New Stories from the Edge; his first novel Dawn Song won the Bram Stoker and International Horror Guild Awards. He is Fiction Editor of the award-winning dark fiction magazine Chiaroscuro (www.chizine.com) and has worked one-on-one with authors in the development of their short fiction. Stories From the Plague Years, a collection of Marano's new and reprinted short fiction, is now in preparation at Cemetery Dance Publications. Since 1990, he has also been reviewing movies and doing pop culture commentary for the Public Radio Satellite System program Movie Magazine International, syndicated in more than 111 markets in the US and Canada. Mike is a former Writing instructor in the SUNY system, and his non-fiction has appeared in venues like The Boston Phoenix, The Weekly Dig, The Independent Weekly, Paste Magazine, and Science Fiction Universe.

Level: Intermediate
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Thursday, September 09, 2010

There are 8 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Fiction II Revision Focus

10 Thursdays, 7:00-10:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 16th.

In this workshop, we will go deep on revision. Many experienced writers have pages and pages of rough drafts, but seldom do we take the time to take a single piece and rework it to the point of completion. Over our ten weeks together, each participant will take a single story or novel excerpt and workshop it twice, in two distinct drafts. The course will be structured like a traditional fiction workshop, including class critique and extensive instructor feedback on your manuscript, but craft discussions and writing exercises will all be centered around issues of revision. The end goal is that each participant will have a piece of work ready to send out into the world, whether for publication in a magazine or as part of an application for a fellowship or MFA program.

Instructor: Adam Stumacher: Adam Stumacher's fiction has been published in Best New American Voices, TriQuarterly, The Sun, The Massachusetts Review, and elsewhere, and was winner of the Raymond Carver Short Story Award. His nonfiction has appeared in the Guardian (UK) and the anthology Peace Under Fire. He holds degrees from Cornell University and Saint Mary's College and has received fellowships from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing and the Macondo Writers’ Workshop. He has taught creative writing at MIT, the University of Wisconsin, Saint Mary's College, and Grub Street, and has many years experience as an educator in urban high schools. He is the author of a short story collection, The Neon Desert, and is currently working on a novel, entitled A Liar's Opus.

Level: Advanced
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Thursday, September 09, 2010

Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.

Novel in Progress I

10 Thursdays, 7:00-10:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 16th.

First drafts of novels can be messy, amorphous and daunting. Some writers feel extensive critical feedback can be counterproductive before the first draft is finished, yet find themselves losing their focus without support and guidance. In this class, there will be no manuscripts to read and critique outside of class; all the work outside of the classroom will be devoted to one's own writing. In class, we will do exercises, discuss craft issues -- characterization, plot and outlining, point of view, voice, dialogue, setting -- and read short scenes (no more than 5 pages) from each other's work aloud, providing guidance and feedback in an environment that recognizes the specific challenges of the novel in progress. In the last class, all writers will be invited to hand in the first 20 pages of their novels to receive a written critique from the instructor, with suggested strategies for finishing the manuscript. Please bring the first page (double-spaced) of your novel to the first class; or, if you haven’t started writing yet, bring a one-page summary of the novel you’d like to write.

Instructor: Sue Williams: Sue Williams is a British writer living near Boston. She taught English and Drama in schools and colleges across the UK, and her fiction has been published in numerous magazines including Narrative, Night Train, Salamander, Gargoyle and Redivider. A firm believer in the power of the story, Sue has acted in and directed plays, led oral storytelling workshops, and used art and music to inspire the writing process. She is currently an assistant editor at Narrative Magazine. Her educational resources have also appeared in print. You can find her online at www.suewilliams.co.uk.

Level: Intermediate
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Thursday, September 09, 2010

Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.

Master Fiction: Flash Focus

10 Thursdays, 7:00-10:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 16th.

Part punk, part poetry, this advanced writing workshop is designed to push you that much closer to the short, sharp shock that only flash fiction can deliver. By further exploring the ways in which story and language work together on the page, you will not only refine your own unique style and voice, but also recognize the conflicting and complementary qualities found in both that will best connect to the reader. Think: Joey Ramone meets Emily Dickinson. Picture: a spark to the heart. This master class is by submission only, and features a visit from local journal editor to review one revised piece of student work. To submit, please email chip@grubstreet.org a writing sample of no more than 5 pages by noon on Friday, September 3rd. (Limited to 9 students. Cost: $555/$530 members.)

Instructor: Stace Budzko: Stace Budzko has recently been published in Southeast Review, Smokelong Quarterly, Long Story Short, The Binnacle, Diner, and has work forthcoming in Quick Fiction. His work can be found in Norton's Flash Fiction Forward and Rose Metal Press' Brevity and Echo Anthology. He was a finalist for the Raymond Carver Short Story Award as well as the 2006 Richard Yates' Short Story Award and World's Best Short-Short Story. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College where he currently teaches writing. In addition, he is the writer-in-residence at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. At present, he is working on his first novel.

Level: Master
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Thursday, September 09, 2010

Middle Grade and Young Adult Writing

6 Thursdays, 7:00pm-10:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 16th.

Have you considered writing for children? Do you have an idea for a middle grade mystery? Can a novel for young adults work without vampires? This course provides an introduction to writing for middle grade and young adult audiences. Each week, writers will examine excerpts from contemporary children's novels for discussions of craft, engage in writing exercises, and workshop their writing in a supportive environment. Participants will receive suggested reading lists for use during and after the course. Introduces writers to the submission process and to relevant resources.

Instructor: Elaine Dimopoulos: Elaine Dimopoulos is currently serving as the 2010-2011 Boston Public Library Children’s Writer-in-Residence. While in residence, she will complete her second novel, a dystopia for young adults called Eco-Chic. Elaine is an instructor of children's literature at Boston University and has lectured at Simmons College. In 2008, she received an Emerging Artist Grant from the St. Botolph Club Foundation to conduct research for her first novel, Scratching the Stillness. She is a graduate of Yale, Columbia, and most recently, Simmons College, where she earned an M.F.A. in Writing for Children. To learn more about Elaine, visit elainedimopoulos.com.

Level: For Everyone
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Thursday, September 09, 2010

Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.

Picture This: Writing Picture Books for Kids

6 Tuesdays, 11:00am-1:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 21st.

This course is for writers who dream of becoming published in the area of picture books. Take your idea from inspiration to the printed word with this hands-on writing class, led by an experienced instructor and published children’s book writer. Explore areas of inspiration, conception, story mapping, creating and writing a picture book. This class will be a combination of lecture and writing exercises directly related to the picture book you have in your head and the one you want to get out into the hands of children.

Instructor: Beth Raisner Glass: Beth Raisner Glass is a children's book author, newspaper writer and teacher. She has taught in the Massachusetts public school system, and was Associate Professor of Education at Wellesley College. Her first picture book, Noises at Night, was published to wide acclaim and was featured on the Today Show's "Best Books for Children" segment. Her next picture book, Blue Ribbon Dad, is will be published in 2010. Her middle grade novel, A Date for Honey Moone is currently under consideration. She received her Bachelors in Education from Lesley College, and M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Lesley University.

Level: For Everyone
Type: Daytime Class
Registration Deadline: Thursday, September 16, 2010

There are 8 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Jumpstart Your Novel

10 Tuesdays, 11:00am-1:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 21st.

Writing a novel can be an incredible journey of self-discovery. It can also be quite a struggle as you trek through the middle chapters, re-write your outlines, and wonder if you will ever finish the thing. Not only is finding time to write difficult, but overcoming literary pitfalls takes patience and practice. In this workshop, Becky will lead writing exercises designed for writers at any level who wish to gain the skills and confidence necessary for completing a novel. Topics explored will include character development, set-ups and payoffs, conflict, story arcs, as well as when it's appropriate to send out excerpts for publication. The sessions will be a mix of in-class writing, in which students can work on their own novels or respond to a writing prompt, sharing of student work, and discussion of published novel excerpts.

Instructor: Becky Tuch: Becky Tuch has won several awards for her fiction (from Briar Cliff Review, Byline Magazine and The Tennessee Writer's Alliance) and received Honorable Mentions from the 2008 Pushcart Prize Anthology and Writers' Journal. She has published stories, poetry and art and reviews in numerous publications including Blueline, Eclipse, Folio, The Connecticut River Review, Artsmedia and The Women's Review of Books. She is also the founding editor of TheReviewReview.net, a website which reviews literary magazines and offers publishing tips to writers. Her website and commitment to the writing life were featured in The Somerville News in the winter of 2009. She teaches fiction to kids, teens and adults throughout Boston.

Level: For Everyone
Type: Daytime Class
Registration Deadline: Thursday, September 16, 2010

There are 4 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Story and Structure

6 Wednesdays, 11:00am-2:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 22nd.

Too often the word "plot" is relegated to the slums of fiction, seen as the concern of genre writers and somehow beneath proper literature. But every great work of fiction--from Twain to Nabokov to Chabon--has a great plot, and in this intermediate/advanced workshop we'll analyze how plotting works. Each student will outline a short piece, write that short piece, and receive both peer feedback and written instructor comments, with an emphasis on structure. In-class exercises will focus on building coherent, cohesive plots, creating characters, and combining both elements into a compelling tale. Designed for the student who has taken Fiction I or its equivalent.

Instructor: Micah Nathan: Micah Nathan is an award-winning author, screenwriter, and essayist. His debut novel Gods of Aberdeen (Simon & Schuster) became an international bestseller. Nathan’s short stories have been a finalist for the Tobias Wolff Award for Short Fiction and the Innovative Fiction Award, and his work has appeared in The Bellingham Review, Boston Globe Magazine, Eclectica, Diagram, Commonweal and other national publications. He received his MFA from Boston University, where he was awarded the 2010 Saul Bellow Prize in Fiction.

Level: Intermediate
Type: Daytime Class
Registration Deadline: Thursday, September 16, 2010

There are 4 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

The Terrible Familiar: Writing Literary Darkness Tastefully and Effectively

Saturday, September 11th, 9:00am-4:00pm at Grub Street headquarters.

The one-day version of the popular weekend seminar! Writing a dark domestic drama but can’t quite make the conflict pop? Penning a tale of the supernatural that wants to be taken seriously? Inhabiting a villain or scoundrel who refuses to be plausible? This weekend workshop is geared towards writing from the dark side without the melodrama or the fatal constriction of genre. By looking at the dark successes of some of our best writers, and through lively in-class exercises in everything from non-linear narrative structure to writing first-person unreliability, you will become a seasoned hand in writing violence, both physical and emotional, creating nuanced, relatable villains, mastering the finer points of dark and uncanny description, and making the dark hopes and desires of your characters seethe upon the page, among other strange things not dreamt of in our philosophy.

Instructor: Adrian Van Young: Adrian Van Young attended Columbia University's MFA Program in Fiction, where he now teaches in the Undergraduate Writing Program. He is the recipient of a 2008 Henfield Foundation Prize and was nominated for inclusion in Best New American Voices 2010. He has taught fiction and expository writing at 826 NYC, Columbia University, The Calhoun School and, most recently, Grub Street. His fiction and non-fiction have been published in Lumina and Gigantic.

Level: Beginner
Type: Weekend Workshop
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, September 07, 2010

There are 7 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Short-Short Story Lab

10 Thursdays, 11:00am-1:00pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 23rd.

This course is a wonderful way for writers at all levels to flex their literary muscles. Whether you want to learn the art of the short-short (also known as flash fiction or “sudden fiction”), try new writing styles, or simply produce as much as possible in a fun and supportive environment, this is the perfect class for you. Each session will be a mix of in-class writing, discussion of student pieces (with emphasis on what is strong and positive in the student's work,) and analysis of published short-short stories. There will be new writing prompts each week, with the hope of every student producing at least ten new story drafts.

Instructor: Becky Tuch: Becky Tuch has won several awards for her fiction (from Briar Cliff Review, Byline Magazine and The Tennessee Writer's Alliance) and received Honorable Mentions from the 2008 Pushcart Prize Anthology and Writers' Journal. She has published stories, poetry and art and reviews in numerous publications including Blueline, Eclipse, Folio, The Connecticut River Review, Artsmedia and The Women's Review of Books. She is also the founding editor of TheReviewReview.net, a website which reviews literary magazines and offers publishing tips to writers. Her website and commitment to the writing life were featured in The Somerville News in the winter of 2009. She teaches fiction to kids, teens and adults throughout Boston.

Level: For Everyone
Type: Daytime Class
Registration Deadline: Thursday, September 16, 2010

There are 7 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Plotting the Novel

Saturday, September 11th, 9:00am-4:00pm at Grub Street headquarters.

Have you started your novel but feel a sense of indecision encroaching your progress? Have you written hundreds of pages and now need to pull the bloody mass together into a workable book? Do you have a sense of dread that the pages you’ve left behind you are “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”? Starting with Aristotle and working through three contemporary authors’ ideas about plotting, this course will offer several plot forms to help you rethink your novel’s structure and the vital connection between character and plot. The goal is that, by the end of the evening, you will have a new outline for your book that gives your creation grounding but also leaves you open for further exploration and discovery. Note: this is a one-day expanded version of Michelle Hoover’s sold-out seminar.

Instructor: Michelle Hoover: Michelle Hoover is a full-time instructor at Boston University and has published short stories and novel excerpts in numerous journals, including Prairie Schooner, The Massachusetts Review, StoryQuarterly and Confrontation. She has been the Philip Roth Writer-in-Residence at Bucknell, a MacDowell Fellow, and in 2005 the winner of the PEN/New England Discovery Award for Fiction. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and published in Best New American Voices. Her novel, The Quickening, will be published by Other Press in June 2010.

Level: All
Type: Weekend Workshop
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.

Jumpstart Your Writing

Sunday, September 12th, 9:00am-4:00pm at Grub Street headquarters.

This one-day weekend version of one of our most popular courses has a very clear mission: spend the day writing. Through a series of fun directed writing exercises, we will explore the terrain of fiction and some non-fiction: mining for material, constructing characters and settings, shaping vivid dialogue, understanding point of view, and finding your voice. We will discuss the process of writing and the strengths and weaknesses of the work we produce in class. We will read and discuss published stories in regards to craft, then write exercises inspired by the stories. A supportive and generative experience for both new and practicing writers. Limited to 15 students.

Instructor: Grace Talusan: Grace Talusan lives in Somerville and teaches writing at Tufts University. She has published essays and stories in Creative Nonfiction, The Boston Globe, Brevity, Buran, Tufts Magazine, Colorlines, and other publications. She earned an MFA from the University of California, Irvine and a Massachusetts Artist Grant in Fiction.

Level: Beginner
Type: Weekend Workshop
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, September 07, 2010

There are 2 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Encountering the Past: How to Research and Write Your Historical Novel

Saturday-Sunday, November 13-14th, 9:00am-4:00pm, at Grub Street headquarters.

Writing a novel is difficult enough to begin with, but the historical novel faces a slew of unique challenges on top it. How do you conduct research successfully? How much is historical accuracy to be protected at the expense of the story? How do you transform the glut of historical detail into a compelling plot? This seminar provides an overview of effective strategies for investigating the past, organizing information into a storyline, then bringing it to life with your prose.

Instructor: Cam Terwilliger: Cam Terwilliger is a recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fiction Fellowship and a Somerville Arts Council Fiction Fellowship. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in West Branch, Post Road, The Mid-American Review, The Greensboro Review, The Sycamore Review and others. Cam’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and has received an Academy of American Poets Prize. Additionally, he holds an MFA from Emerson College, and has served as a reader for The Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares, and as a judge for The Rhode Island Council on the Arts Fiction Fellowship.

Level: For Everyone
Type: Weekend Workshop
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, November 09, 2010

There are 11 seats available for this course.

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The Murky Middle

Saturday-Sunday, December 4-5th, 9:00am-4:00pm, at Grub Street headquarters.

Writing the middle of a novel can feel, for many writers, like being lost in the forest with neither a breadcrumb trail nor a compass. You know where you want to end up, but are not sure how to get there. If you’ve written at least 50 pages and feel lost in the murky middle of your novel, this class will help you forge a path toward the story’s climax. Through intensive in-class exercises and brainstorming as well as an overnight assignment, you will leave on Sunday afternoon with a new mid-novel scene, and a possible path out of the forest. Please come to class with 12 copies of both the first paragraph of your novel and a plot outline of what you’ve written so far, broken down chapter by chapter. We will be working with these outlines in class.

Instructor: Lisa Borders: Lisa Borders' first novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land, was chosen by Pat Conroy as the winner of River City Publishing's Fred Bonnie Award for Best First Novel and was published in 2002. Cloud Cuckoo Land also received fiction honors in the 2003 Massachusetts Book Awards. Her essay "Enchanted Night" was published in Don't You Forget About Me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes (Simon & Schuster, 2007). Lisa has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and her short stories have appeared in Kalliope, Washington Square, Black Warrior Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, CrossConnect and other journals. She has received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Somerville Arts Council and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and residencies at Hedgebrook and the Blue Mountain Center. She was also a visiting writer at the University of Pennsylvania. Lisa holds an MA in Creative Writing from Temple University in Philadelphia, where she taught undergraduate writing. More information on Lisa and her work is available at lisaborders.com.

Level: For Everyone
Type: Weekend Workshop
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, November 30, 2010

There are 6 seats available for this course.

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Writing Suspense: You Know It When You Feel It

Monday, September 20th, 7:00-10:00pm, at Grub Street headquarters.

Suspense is that feeling that makes it impossible to put a book down and shut off the light. It’s that essential ingredient that turns a work of fiction into a “page turner.” In this 3-hour workshop we’ll talk about what makes suspense work. We’ll dissect the arc of suspense within a scene and within a novel. We’ll go through the variety of tools a writer can use to create suspense and to modulate it. Finally, we’ll discuss how to manage suspense in a book-length work. Optional: Bring a scene from a work in progress in which you are trying to create a feeling of suspense

Instructor: Hallie Ephron: Hallie Ephron came to writing after careers as a teacher and marketing copywriter, and has been making up for lost time. She’s published six novels, including her latest Never Tell A Lie (2009) which was nominated for several awards including the Mary Higgins Clark Award. In a starred review, Publisher’s Weekly called it “stunning” and a “deliciously creepy tale of obsession.” Her new novel, Come and Find Me, is due out in winter 2011 from Wm. Morrow. She is also the crime fiction book reviewer for the Boston Globe, and the author of two books about books, including The Bibliophile’s Devotional. Her book on mystery writing was a finalist for both the Edgar and Anthony awards.

Level: For Everyone
Type: Seminar
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.

Writing As Performance

Monday, September 20th, 7:00-10:00pm, at Grub Street headquarters.

A writer must constantly make choices, commit to them, and fully explore their possibilities. Yet it's so easy to judge our choices before we even see how they might work out. What if you could create a story in real time, if your characters took your ideas and developed them on their own? In this on-your-feet, fun-filled workshop we will practice the fundamentals of story using theater games and related writing exercises to generate ideas on the spot, create storylines, and build characters. Improv not only promotes the quick-thinking confidence that all writers need, but can help writers who edit too aggressively from the beginning, have trouble starting or finishing a story, or are dealing with writer's block. While some of the best humor can come from improv, this workshop will benefit anyone seeking to bring more spontaneity and joy to their craft.

Instructor: Amanda Keil

Bio coming!

Level: For Everyone
Type: Seminar
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, September 15, 2010

There are 11 seats available for this course.

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Crafting the Villain

Monday, August 23rd, 7:00-10:00pm at Grub Street headquarters.

Some of the best and most memorable characters in literature are villains, rough and tough monsters, sly and sexy femme fatales, and naughty and deceitful oligarchs. They unnerve and excite us, sending a chill down our spines, and striking fear into our hearts. Yet when creating our own villains we often fail to overtly acknowledge the complexity and moral ambiguity that compels them to cause mayhem, delegating their motivation to a need to cause evil for evil’s sake and resulting in two-dimensional baddies. In this one-day seminar we will discuss traditional and non-traditional villains, why they are an essential part of any juicy tale, and how we can develop truly sinister and captivating characters that will antagonize, needle, and provoke even the bravest reader.

Instructor: KL Pereira: KL Pereira writes poetry, nonfiction, cross-genre, and memoir. Pereira has taught poetry classes and writing workshops at East Boston High School, Casa Myrna Vasquez, Freedom House, The Women's Center, and Center for New Words and has served as an editor and writer for LiP Magazine, Whats Up Magazine/Spare Change News, advocacy publications by and for the homeless and underemployed. Her work has appeared in The Pitkin Review, Girlistic Magazine, The Hub Journal: Boston's Literary Occasional, Sui Generis, Bitch Magazine, Clamor Magazine, Whats Up Magazine/Spare Change News, Girl Culture: An Encyclopedia and the forthcoming Boy Culture: An Encyclopedia, both from Greenwood Press. She holds a BA in Literature and Languages from Bard College, an MA in Gender/Cultural Studies from Simmons College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College.

Level: All
Type: Seminar
Registration Deadline: Monday, August 23, 2010

Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.

Creating Complex Characters

Tuesday, August 31st, 7:00-10:00pm at Grub Street headquarters.

Stories often begin with a character the writer loves -- or loves to hate. But characters who come to life on the page are full of contradictions, neither wholly good nor entirely evil. How do we infuse our characters with the complexity that will make them believable? Through a combination of exercises and discussion, this seminar will show you how to create characters whose human contradictions make them vivid and memorable.

Instructor: Lisa Borders: Lisa Borders' first novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land, was chosen by Pat Conroy as the winner of River City Publishing's Fred Bonnie Award for Best First Novel and was published in 2002. Cloud Cuckoo Land also received fiction honors in the 2003 Massachusetts Book Awards. Her essay "Enchanted Night" was published in Don't You Forget About Me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes (Simon & Schuster, 2007). Lisa has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and her short stories have appeared in Kalliope, Washington Square, Black Warrior Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, CrossConnect and other journals. She has received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Somerville Arts Council and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and residencies at Hedgebrook and the Blue Mountain Center. She was also a visiting writer at the University of Pennsylvania. Lisa holds an MA in Creative Writing from Temple University in Philadelphia, where she taught undergraduate writing. More information on Lisa and her work is available at lisaborders.com.

Level: All
Type: Seminar
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.

The Unreliable Narrator in Fiction

Monday, October 4th, 7:00-10:00pm, at Grub Street headquarters.

The unreliable narrator, with his deceits and his confessions, with his justifications and evasions, is one of fiction-writing’s most venerable traditions, and one in which we’ve all probably dabbled ourselves, whether or not we know it. This one-night seminar will deal in isolating and exploring the various ways in which a first-person narrator can be made unreliable (there are many different types besides the scoundrel in Lolita); how unreliability can be used as a tool to draw more vivid characters, weave more complex plots, and complicate the interface of reader and writer; and how for better or for worse, for evil or for good, we are all unreliable narrators of our own experience, so why should our characters be any different, inextricably linked to our selves as they are? Discover how sometimes to lie to your reader is a way to expedite the truth. Or lie, if you want, for the sheer joy of lying. Lie, because that’s what writers do.

Instructor: Adrian Van Young: Adrian Van Young attended Columbia University's MFA Program in Fiction, where he now teaches in the Undergraduate Writing Program. He is the recipient of a 2008 Henfield Foundation Prize and was nominated for inclusion in Best New American Voices 2010. He has taught fiction and expository writing at 826 NYC, Columbia University, The Calhoun School and, most recently, Grub Street. His fiction and non-fiction have been published in Lumina and Gigantic.

Level: For Everyone
Type: Seminar
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, September 29, 2010

There are 7 seats available for this course.

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The Business of Writing for Children and Young Adults

Monday, October 4th, 7:00-10:00pm, at Grub Street headquarters.

While the market for publishing books for children and young adults bears many similarities to the adult trade market, there are some major differences you should know about before you send your work out into the world. In this seminar, agent Maribeth Sanabria, whose clients include Grub’s own Beth Raisner Glass, will offer a nuts-and-bolts overview of the agent-stage of the process (manuscript review, query letter writing, etc) and take your questions on the burgeoning world of writing for these populations.

Instructor: Maribeth Sanabria: Maribeth Sanabria is an editor and agent with over 10 years experience in the publishing industry. As a former freelance editor, she has worked with contacts from Charlesbridge, Pearson, Houghton Mifflin, and WGBH, to name a few. As the founding agent at Arro Literary, Maribeth has helped advance the careers of several children's book authors. Locally, she represents Beth Raisner Glass who is co-author of Noises at Night, now in its fourth printing, and the soon to be released series picture book Blue Ribbon Dad (Abrams, 2011). Maribeth is a graduate of Boston College with degrees in education and communications. Her primary interests are picture books for children, as well as middle grade novels and young adult fiction and nonfiction.

Level: For Everyone
Type: Seminar
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, September 29, 2010

There are 10 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Art of the Scene

Tuesday, August 31st, 7:00-10:00pm at Grub Street headquarters.

Scenes play important roles in fiction and nonfiction—an opportunity for the reader to experience the action as it unfolds in the real time of the story and for the writer to dramatize crucial encounters and key moments. But combining numerous narrative elements into a successful scene can be a challenge. This class will look at the way scenes work and strategies employed by various authors. We’ll focus on pacing, choreography, dialogue, tension, details, subtext, and more and practice these with in-class writing exercises designed to inspire and elevate your own writing. If time permits, we can workshop a short scene you bring (up to about five pages double spaced) in small groups. Bring 3 copies.

Instructor: Amy Marcott: Amy Marcott's fiction is forthcoming or has been published in DIAGRAM, Dogwood, Memorious, Juked, and Six Sentences. She is the recipient of a Somerville Arts Council fellowship, was nominated for a 2009 Pushcart Prize, and won third place in Glimmer Train's Very Short Fiction Contest, among other honors. She received a BA in English from Wesleyan University and an MFA from Penn State University, where she also taught creative writing and composition. She has been a professional writer and editor for many years and currently plies her trade at MIT, where she's an active blogger and social media marketer and assists with incorporating new technologies into online strategies. She belongs to the Writers' Room of Boston and is currently at work on a novel.

Level: Beginner
Type: Seminar
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Sorry, this class is sold out. Please email chip@grubstreet.org to be put on a waiting list.

Keeping Fiction Wild

Wednesday, December 15th, 7:00-10:00pm, at Grub Street headquarters.

An expanded version of the very popular Muse and the Marketplace 2010 Conference Lecture: The primary way in which stories are shaped these days is via the workshop method, with its emphasis on craft and technique (elements of balance) without sufficient (if any) attention to urgency and necessity, to mention two elements that define wildness. The result is an enormous number of prim, proper, but dull stories. How do we recognize wildness in our fiction, how do we sustain it? We will try to answer these questions through examples drawn from Denis Johnson and Jorge Luis Borges.

Instructor: Pablo Medina: Pablo Medina is the author of 11 books of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and translation, among them the poetry collection Points of Balance/Puntos de apoyo (2005) and the novel The Cigar Roller (2005). In January 2008, Medina and fellow poet Mark Statman published a new English version of García Lorca’s Poet in New York, which John Ashbery called “the definitive version of Lorca’s masterpiece”. Acclaimed as “lyrical and powerfully evocative” and “deserving a prominent spot in today’s literature of exile,” Medina’s work has appeared in various languages, among them Spanish, French, German, and Arabic, and in periodicals and magazines throughout the world. Winner of numerous awards, among them grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the NEA, the Lila-Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund, and others, Medina is currently professor in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College in Boston and is on faculty at the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers.

Level: For Everyone
Type: Seminar
Registration Deadline: Thursday, December 09, 2010

There are 9 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Novel In Progress II

10 Wednesdays, 7-10pm at Grub Street headquarters. Begins September 15th.

For novelists who have written at least 50 pages of their novels, and have taken previous fiction workshops at Grub Street or elsewhere, the main goal of this course is to write a substantial number of new pages in ten weeks. You will be asked to submit and read the first page and a one-page outline of each of your fellow writers’ novels before class begins; after that your time outside of class will be for your own work. Feedback in this class will be delivered using the novel in progress method: reading 5-7 new pages aloud in class during pre-arranged workshop slots and receiving on-the-spot feedback from your fellow novelists and instructor, rather than reading and commenting on each others’ manuscripts outside of class. At the end of the course, you may submit those pages OR 25 new pages to the instructor, and will receive via e-mail a detailed analysis of your work with strategies for continuing/finishing your novel, as well as for revising the submitted pages. Enrollment is limited to 10 students.

Instructor: TBA

Level: Advanced
Type: Full-length Workshop
Registration Deadline: Thursday, September 09, 2010

There are 8 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!

Art of the Scene

Sunday, October 17th, 9:00am-4:00pm at Grub Street headquarters.

Scenes play important roles in fiction and nonfiction—an opportunity for the reader to experience the action as it unfolds in the real time of the story and for the writer to dramatize crucial encounters and key moments. But combining numerous narrative elements into a successful scene can be a challenge. This one-day class – an expanded version of the popular seminar -- will look at the way scenes work and strategies employed by various authors. We’ll focus on pacing, choreography, dialogue, tension, details, subtext, and more and practice these with in-class writing exercises designed to inspire and elevate your own writing. If time permits, we can workshop a short scene you bring (up to about five pages double spaced) in small groups. Bring 3 copies.

Instructor: Amy Marcott: Amy Marcott's fiction is forthcoming or has been published in DIAGRAM, Dogwood, Memorious, Juked, and Six Sentences. She is the recipient of a Somerville Arts Council fellowship, was nominated for a 2009 Pushcart Prize, and won third place in Glimmer Train's Very Short Fiction Contest, among other honors. She received a BA in English from Wesleyan University and an MFA from Penn State University, where she also taught creative writing and composition. She has been a professional writer and editor for many years and currently plies her trade at MIT, where she's an active blogger and social media marketer and assists with incorporating new technologies into online strategies. She belongs to the Writers' Room of Boston and is currently at work on a novel.

Level: For Everyone
Type: Weekend Workshop
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, October 12, 2010

There are 12 seats available for this course.

Not a member? Become a Grubbie today!