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Tag Archive for: Online Learning

The Porch: The Origins of the Original with Visiting Writer Rebecca Makkai

When we sit down to write, the first words, scenes, characters, conflicts, and settings we come up with are often the least original ones of which we’re capable. Digging past the obvious, the stock (and even the products of the collective unconscious), we might finally arrive at stories that are strikingly new and memorable. In this class we’ll cover some key elements of originality — specificity, idiosyncrasy, complexity, repetition, and change — and talk about accessing them both in drafting and revision.

For writing to succeed, it must be both well-executed and original. While originality might seem intuitive, or even a product of the writer’s personality, it’s in fact a skill that can be sharpened. That’s what we’ll be doing.

Online Workshop Via Zoom

Saturday, April 30th, 2022 | 2:00pm – 4:00pm CT

$68 for members

$75 for non members

on April 15 2022· Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lighthouse Lit Fest: Interiority Complex

The great advantage of prose (over theater, film, and life) is that we’re privy to characters’ interior states. But how can a writer get thoughts and emotions across, other than by stating them flat-out or by updating us constantly on breathing and heart rate? We’ll explore ways to use tangent, gesture, backstory, action, association, and more to give characters a rich internal life without resorting to the old cardiopulmonary check-in.

This class accommodates 25+ writers.

on May 18 2021· Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Lighthouse Lit Fest Advanced Weeklong Fiction Workshop: The Arc Of Story, The Architecture Of Plot With Rebecca Makkai

No one’s ever going to force you to write a traditional plot arc, but the tools of narrative momentum—cause and effect, development, change, stakes, suspense—should be in every writer’s tool kit, if only so we know what to rebel against. We’ll workshop student fiction in this light—focusing on arc, on shape, on plot or the intentional lack thereof—asking, in every case, what moves the story along, and how it earns and keeps its audience.

Accepted participants will submit up to 20 pages of fiction by May 10, either a complete short story or a section of a novel, and will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with Rebecca during the week of class.

Priority applications for Lit Fest Advanced Workshops close at midnight MT on March 13. Accepted applicants will be notified and able to register for this workshop in early April. Apply here and learn more about Lit Fest here.

 

START DATE: Mon, Jun 07, 2021 | 9:00am – 11:30am MDT
END DATE: Fri, Jun 11, 2021 | 9:00am – 11:30am MDT
VENUE: Zoom: Remote Participation
LEVEL: Advanced

on May 18 2021· Tagged: , , , , ,

Hugo House Workshop: “Blind Date”

This brainstorming workshop will explore the alchemy of combining seemingly disparate concepts into one narrative. We’ll each take our own unused, unloved ideas and, after we discuss the fine art of narrative matchmaking, set them up together for a lifetime of happiness—or at least a few paragraphs of fun. In addition to something to write with, bring whatever notebook or computer file contains your miscellaneous ideas. You’ll leave with the makings of several new pieces.

Due to COVID-19, all classes will take place online-either through Zoom or through Wet Ink, Hugo House’s asynchronous learning platform.

Member Price: $135

Non-Member Price: $150

Minimum Class Size: 10 / Maximum Class Size: 20

on May 17 2021· Tagged: , , , , , , ,

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