Reaching for the Sublime: Image Systems in Storytelling

As all good writers know, well-executed imagistic description is one of the keys to fictional transportation. Much depends on the extent to which an author can imagine the world of the story and get the sensory details of that world down on the page. Beyond this, though, it is the use of repeated and varied image systems that can make a novel or a story truly resonate on a subconscious level. The repetition and variation of imagery is a central technique in creating narratives that accumulate meaning and emotional impact. In this intensive workshop, we’ll use a combination of discussion, close reading, and writing/revision exercises to gain a greater appreciation for the potential of image systems to give your work new power and vibrancy. This workshop will be most relevant for fiction and creative nonfiction writers, but poets and screenwriters are also welcome. Participants are required to read Hemingway’s short story “Che Ti Dice la Patria” in advance. Also, please bring a key scene from a work in progress that you don’t mind revising.