We cannot help but write about love. It is our primary business in life, the center around which everything else revolves. Our character's motivations and our story's stakes almost always rely on love, whether that be platonic, familial, self, or romantic. But despite our universal familiarity with love, it remains ineffable, and so though we try to get it on the page, we often get tripped up. If love is indescribable, how do we capture it?
And yet artists do, and always have. Each week we'll read a story, essay, or novel excerpt to see how the writer takes on the daunting but essential task of capturing love. We'll then use what we've learned through these readings in weekly writing exercises, exploring how dialogue, interiority, image, and voice helps us approach some truth about our connection to other people. These exercises can be wholly new and generative, or used as a way to deepen or strengthen something you're already working on, and will be shared weekly in class.
