“Plot” can be one of the most slippery and angst-inducing idioms for writers of prose: fiction, popular fiction, and even non-fiction. In this class, we’ll learn some tricks of plotting from published writers, classic authors like Thomas Hardy, E. M. Forster, or L. Frank Baum, and contemporaries like Gonzalo Barr, Alison Bechdel, and Lorrie Moore. We’ll nail down […]
In this two-session class, we’ll explore different modes of food writing, and along the way learn to maximize the power of taste, smell, sight, touch, and even sound in your prose. Get ready for a unique two-session course in which we’ll combine tastings and writing exercises that will expand your creative powers of descriptions that […]
Readers enjoy meeting fascinating characters and following a good story, but they also love the chance to explore new worlds or get a fresh perspective on places they've long known. In this three-session course, we'll consider a variety of strategies to create a vivid sense of setting that goes beyond info-dump or set decoration and […]
You want to take your writing to the next level, but no matter how hard you work, you feel as if you're spinning your wheels and you can't quite figure out why. Or maybe someone's identified the problem for you, but no matter what you do, you just can't seem to solve it. This is […]
Readings and presentations on craft for a low-residency program, in Freeport, Maine.
Do you have great ideas for a story or work of creative non-fiction but can't seem to get them on paper? Or are you a writer who seems to have run out of inspiration but would love to get back to work. Come to this two-session class at Politics & Prose to get a jump-start […]
Dialogue in writing presents a difficult challenge to the writer. On the one hand, you want your characters words to sound lifelike. On the other hand, if your characters’ words are too lifelike, the result, ironically, is lifeless writing that drones on and on like a transcript of a really boring Congressional hearing. In this […]
Getting your fiction, non-fiction, and poetry out into the world can be a daunting and difficult business, whether you're trying to land a book contract or get your work into the literary journal of your dreams. However, there are things you can do to increase your odds and make the process more efficient. This workshop […]
We will do a deep read of this hauntingly passionate novel, as well as discuss some of the changes in the film version and what they reveal about the author's style.
In this two-session course, we'll tackle characterization head-on by discussing vital aspects of building characters who pop off the page. We'll look at examples from published fiction and do targeted exercises that explore various strategies to make your characters feel alive. Whether you're in the middle of a piece or just have an idea for […]