Class Description
The real world can provide a useful gateway into the fictional world. The art of shaping credible fiction often means that we look to the actual world around us for ideas and cues, and to our own lives for the seeds of complex and emotionally resonant stories. This six-week course will use personal experiences and observations to craft compelling fiction and characters. Every class will include in-class writing exercises, readings, and craft-related discussions. In the first half of the course, students will share and discuss writing they've generated in-class. In the latter half of the course, we'll workshop one longer work (up to 15 pages) from each student. In this class, you'll read works by authors such as, but not limited to, Annie Ernaux, Sigrid Nunez, Elif Batuman, Ocean Vuong, Sheila Heti, Kristen Roupenian, and Tove Ditlevsen.
Writing Roadmap: We've created a simple, goal-based writing roadmap to help you find the perfect GrubStreet course for your writing needs.
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.