Class Description
Our writing often contains conversations that are harder and more high-stakes than our everyday, real life conversations. How do we convey a difficult conversation between two people with all the same intensity as an action sequence (or a love scene)? When do we want to use direct dialogue to make our readers "hear" us, and when do we want to skip the direct dialogue to leave a powerful impression instead? This course will focus on short stories and narrative non-fiction centered around difficult conversations, backtalk and circular reasoning, succinct and beautiful dialogues, and stilted speech that gets us nowhere. By the end of the course, students will leave with at least one draft of a new story as well as opportunities to workshop their dialogue-heavy scenes. We will read writing from Mary Karr, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ken Liu, Madeline Miller, and more. This course is appropriate for both fiction and nonfiction writers; it will be valuable whether you have a story with some conversations you're hoping to revise or if you have not yet begun to write!
Please note: Class does not meet on November 23rd (Thanksgiving Break).
Class Format
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. About 15 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin, you'll receive an email from your instructor with a link to join the class meeting!
Scholarship Information
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 more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
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. Please visit the Resources tab to access the video-conference link.
Zoom Participation:
Students are not required to turn their camera on, but are encouraged to participate any way they feel comfortable through functions such as the live chat, emoji reactions, and unmuting the microphone. Learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
We ask that instructors enable closed captioning and send a transcript of the session after class. You can also enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting. If your instructor forgets to send the transcript, just send ’em an email!