Class Description
Just because you know the events you want to describe or the material you want to cover doesn’t mean you know the best way to tell the story. Sometimes it’s not you, it’s the traditional essay form that’s got you down. In this six-hour class, we’ll ask questions about the essay form itself. Can an eBay ad be an essay? Can a resume be an essay? Can a recipe be an essay? And if so, how? We’ll deconstruct several nontraditional forms and see how writers have used them to tell surprising and moving stories. Then, we’ll do exercises based on these forms and on forms you brainstorm on the spot to help you spark new inspiration on old material. You’ll have the opportunity to share a few paragraphs of your new work with your classmates, and by the end of the day, you will leave class with the beginnings of one or more pieces that will show editors that you can bend the essay form to your will.
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.