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Holiday Hours:—Our offices will be closed Tuesday 12/24 through Thursday 12/26 and Tuesday 12/31 through Wednesday 1/1. The Travelmug cafe will be closed Monday 12/23 through Wednesday 1/1.

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  • Workshop
  • Online: Zoom
  • Adult (18+)
  • 5 Weeks

Writing Challenging Fiction

No Longer Enrolling

  • $340.00 Non-Member
  • $325.00 Member

Class Description

When writing stories about trauma, mental illness, or other challenging and possibly triggering topics, we are often asking what we owe to our readers. Is it the writer’s job to tell the most vividly realistic story, without worrying about potentially re-traumatizing readers? Writing about trauma, mental illness, and other challenging topics, especially when they are outside of our personal experience, requires a unique set of tools. This class will consist of discussions, readings, writing prompts, and workshopping that will help writers tell the truest version of a story while still keeping in mind the mental health of our readers and ourselves. Will discuss how POV, tense, and other craft elements create the experience of the reader and the character. Any fiction writer looking to bring to life a story that challenges their skills, their comfort zone, and society at large, will find a voice in this class.

Reading material may include: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Beloved by Tony Morrison, At The Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson, The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatremen, I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, His Favorites by Kate Walbert, and more.

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.

Scholarships Format/Location

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.