Class Description
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 memoir and personal essay: we’ll mine for material, construct characters and settings, shape vivid dialogue, understand point of view, and find your voice. Discussions will focus on the process of writing and the strengths and weaknesses of the work we produce in class. We will examine some short published texts with an eye on craft, then write exercises inspired by them, in a supportive and generative environment for both new and practicing writers. Note that this is not a course in the fundamentals of nonfiction, but an opportunity for beginners and advanced students to generate new stories and scenes.
NOTE: Class will not meet on Columbus Day (Oct. 9th).
Did you know that we have scholarships available for all GrubStreet classes? To apply, click the "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button in the top right corner of this page. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your scholarship application and await our Scholarship Committee's decision before registering for the class. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
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.