Craft Intensive: Time As It Is Felt (Online)

In On Beauty, Zadie Smith writes that, “Time is not what it is, but how it is felt.” We experience time differently depending on what is going on around us: our circumstances and stress levels, how much we want (or don’t want) an event to occur, the anticipation surrounding it. Five minutes can trudge along in an excruciatingly slow drip. A day can whiz by in a blur. In other words, time almost never unfolds steadily but always has its own rhythm, a unique texture and feel.

Capturing this quality of “felt time” can do wonders to transport the reader. Part of why we turn to books is to encounter a new clock, and this experience of alternate time makes reading pleasurable. In this six-week class, we will examine different techniques to shape the reader’s temporal experience. We will specifically look at the following:

• The willful pause or break in tempo to shift rhythm and how time unfolds
• Writing that vibrates and crackles with intensity, like coffee
• Writing that creates a pleasant lull and offers the reader an opportunity to slow down
• Writing that moves back and forth in time

We will look at examples from published short stories and novel excerpts and essays to see how time functions on the page. We will also engage in short weekly writing exercises to put these tools into practice. You will each have the opportunity to share you work with the class in a workshop setting in the final weeks of the class.