We’ve all been there at one time or another—we’ve written something that has potential, something with a great storyline and characters, but there’s just one problem: the prose doesn’t sing. Whether we’ve relied on clichés, avoided taking risks, or included language and transitions that are too predictable, we know we are capable of better, more surprising language and turns. The good news is, there are many tools available for waking up our prose and injecting surprise into our work that will compel and delight readers.
In this eight-week fiction workshop, open to intermediate and advanced writers of fiction, we'll share from our works-in-progress (novel excerpts or short stories) with an eye toward nurturing each other's language, associative leaps, and surprise on the line level. Each participant will have the opportunity to workshop twice, receiving written and verbal feedback from the instructor. Through craft lessons, we'll learn actionable ways to write against cliché, make the mundane seem fresh and new, write memorable turns of phrase, and lean into unexpected transitions.
We'll do this by closely reading examples of surprising and defamiliarized work from prose writers and poets alike, learning techniques we can turn to when we are stuck, and then doing various prompts using our works-in-progress and/or drafting new work.
