On Campus
Rebecca Kuang
In this intensive fiction workshop, we will explore a variety of craft techniques such as voice, dialogue, plot, world-building, and characterization through close-reading of published works and in-workshop exercises. We will devote part of workshop every day to group critiques of student work and discussing how to incorporate feedback into the revision process. I request that students prepare by reading sample texts and peers' submissions before they arrive in New Haven. Submissions of short stories and novel excerpts are both welcome.
LaTanya McQueen
The first five to ten pages of a novel or memoir often determine whether an agent, editor, or reader wants to see more of your work. Whether you are just beginning a project or revising the manuscript for the fifth time, chances are your first ten pages could still use revision at the sentence and content level. We will look at openings of published novels and memoirs, and discuss and apply revision strategies for the beginning of your work.
Ethan Rutherford
This workshop, open to all forms of fiction, our questions will be: what makes this piece successful? What makes it interesting / compelling / unique? What choices is the author making, and to what effect? We’ll focus on style and structure. Generative writing exercises and revision strategies will be incorporated in every session. The point here is to not only get you writing, but to help you become a better, more thoughtful reader of your own work.
Amy Shean
In this class, we'll study the art and craft of creative nonfiction writing by examining published works as well as the writing of students in the class. Every writer in the class will submit a work of 2500 words or less -- an essay or an excerpt of a memoir -- and we'll workshop these with an eye towards voice, style, story, character, and the more ineffable qualities that make writing truly great. You'll come away with a clear plan for what comes next for this piece and your writing life in general.
Online
Emily Barton
This course helps writers jumpstart their creativity and broaden their skills through low-stakes, playful writing exercises. It will encourage your imagination, fine-tune your observational skills, give you puzzles to solve through writing, and offer ways to try new forms. Students will not submit work in advance for critique. We’ll write together and build a creative community by reading together and sharing the results of exercises. This class is for beginning, experienced writers, and those working in fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid forms.
Louis Bayard
I don't bring any fancy theoretical apparatus to this. In my mind, writer's workshops are like getting under the hood of a car and figuring out how to make the engine run (something I can't actually do in real life). So bring your stories or novel excerpts -- in whatever genre -- and let's figure out how to get them running. Depending on time, I may also assign outside reading and relatively stress-free in-class exercises. It'll be fun.
Christina Chiu
In this workshop, we will discuss different elements of fiction--everything from character, point of view, plot, etc.--and how we can apply these tools to your own story or excerpt to make it as strong as it can be. You will hone your craft as a writer, reader, and editor. There will be reading to support in-class discussion.
Megan Stielstra
This lightning-bolt workshop begins with the gut. What you need to tell; the memories, fascinations, and questions that live not in your head but your bones. Then: craft—how to tell our personal stories in ways that are equally urgent to an audience. Pulling from both literary and oral storytelling traditions, we’ll engage in activities to get our experiences out of the body and onto the page, encouraging discovery and examining literary craft in new ways.