Class Description
We've often heard that a ticking clock can be used to amplify suspense and raise the stakes in fiction. But time is so much more multidimensional and complicated than that. In this class, we'll explore the many ways that time can become not just an incidental factor but a driving force in your fiction, allowing you to delve more deeply into your characters' inner lives, using narrative time vs. psychological time to your advantage, exploring how history impacts the present, and how the uncertain future can be a fulcrum for locating your character's longing and sense of possibility. By developing time profiles for your characters, examining their orientation toward time, as individual and indelible as their signatures, you will arrive at a deeper, richer understanding of who they are. Moreover, you will see how syntax and language can be used to manipulate time, speeding it up or slowing it down strategically in order to yield the greatest emotional effect. Writers who we might examine include Edward P. Jones, Rebecca Makkai, Claire Vaye Watkins, Jamel Brinkley, Nicholson Baker, Jane Pek, Danielle Evans, and Matt Bell, among others.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.