A 4-Week Online Fiction Workshop
Wednesdays: September 3 – 24, 7-9 PM
The sentence is an infinitely elastic instrument containing thousands of microdecisions. So which decisions make your sentences become YOUR sentences? This class will examine virtuosic sentences—from Herman Melville to Toni Morrison—exploring what these sentences might have been in the hands of another writer, exposing what makes them unique. We will look at syntax, diction, and sonic elements, as well as attitude and subtext, and we’ll audaciously re-cast familiar sentences to see their inner mysteries, using work by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, NoViolet Bulawayo, Vivian Gornick, Charles Dickens, and others. We’ll look at theories of the sentence as well, from Garielle Lutz, Zadie Smith, and William Gass, applying them to our own sentences to push them deeper into singularity, sharing our discoveries and revisions. Part bootcamp, part yoga—all on the page, of course—this hands-on workshop will focus on strength and flexibility in the prose line, building confidence in composition and revision.
Designed for writers of fiction and narrative nonfiction. Session format will be interactive lecture, discussion, and playful sharing of experiments aloud. Light reading and writing homework. Takeaways: practice slowing down while reading and writing, a sentence-level revision methodology, and feedback on the emotional subtext of microdecisions in a small portion of your work-in-progress. We'll celebrate uniqueness, risk, experimentation, and the sound of language.
$185 Members/$245 Nonmembers
Anne Elliott's short fiction can be found in Story, A Public Space, Crab Orchard Review, Ploughshares Solos, Witness, Hobart, Bellevue Literary Review, Fifth Wednesday Journal, and in her collection, The Artstars. Honors include the Blue Light Books Prize, the Story Foundation Prize, and fellowships from The Elizabeth George Foundation, the Table 4 Writer's Foundation, and Vermont Studio Center. Her essays on the craft of fiction have been featured in TriQuarterly, CRAFT Literary, and The Writer's Chronicle. Elliott holds an MFA in visual art from UC San Diego, and an MFA in fiction writing from Warren Wilson College. She lives in Maine, where
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All MWPA workshops require advanced registration. We accept registration by phone, mail, and online via our website. We cannot guarantee registration in the final 24-hours before a workshop, and can rarely accommodate day-of registration.
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For any questions regarding this workshop, please contact programs@mainewriters.org.
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SCHOLARSHIP
The MWPA is proud to offer one partial scholarship to this workshop for members-only. Scholarships are awarded on a combination of need and merit. Application Due two weeks prior to the workshop start date, at 9:00 a.m.
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