Saying What Can’t Be Said: a workshop on subtext in dialogue
Combining traditional writing prompts with improv exercises, participants will craft dialogue that works to hone a character’s ability to manipulate, deceive, and achieve objectives. Working with the basic acting strategies of “What are you fighting for?” and the “Yes, and…” exercise, writers can both get in touch with the processes actors explore when bringing to life a play and develop the crucial undertones in dialogue necessary to make characters vivid and conflict palpable.
with Hilary Tellesen

Memoir and Personal Essay: Transforming the Real into Art
This workshop will focus on two opposing approaches to avoiding the “one thing after another” school of writing in creative non-fiction, especially for writing in its early stages, or writing that has not yet been drafted.  One approach is to begin with particulars; the other is to begin with abstractions. Through two exercises, and some discussion, this workshop will guide participants into considering a couple of ways of creating resonance among the various facets of their personal experiences and attitudes.
with Paul Eggers

Tell the Truth: Risk-Taking and Art-Making in Creative Nonfiction
The author V.S. Pritchett said, “It’s all in the art. You get no credit for the living.” In this workshop, we will look at the ways nonfiction writers employ the personal/confessional story as a literary device, providing structure, organization and narrative variation. We will also discuss some of the complexities inherent in writing prose that relies on memory and the assumption of fact. Finally, we will put some of these theories to the test, working and reworking our own stories through a selection of writing prompts.
with Sarah Pape

Steps to Crafting a Successful Book Proposal
In this workshop, participants will consider the ingredients to a successful book proposal through the alignment of audience, market, publisher, and project. Participants will gain insight from both the author and publisher’s perspective and have an opportunity to draft a mock proposal. Additionally, this workshop will offer a behind-the-scenes understanding of the publishing life of a book as it progresses from concept to shelf.
with Aubrie Koenig