ADULT WRITERS

Jumpstart Your Fiction: Providence

Do you have a story to tell? Now’s the time to move your idea from inspiration to page. This workshop will explore fiction through craft-talks and writing exercises. Each session focuses on an element of craft, such as how to develop engaging characters and how to create life like dialogue.

In a supportive environment, participants will write from in-class prompts and share their work, receiving valuable feedback from fellow writers. We will read and discuss short stories by contemporary writers such as Amy Bloom, Ha Jin, and Carmen Maria Machado, as well as the classic works of Ernest Hemingway and Flannery O’Connor.

Writers at all levels will strengthen their writing and their connection to creativity.

Thursdays, 6-9pm | January 30 – March 19, 2020 | $340

Please note this class does not meet February 13 and March 12.

Memoir in Progress: Providence

Writing the first draft of your memoir can be daunting. Determining its scope, narrative voice, and perhaps the most challenging of all, figuring out how to handle time, are no easy tasks. But guidance in a group setting of peers facing similar questions can help. This class will tackle these big-picture issues and pay close attention to the minutiae of good writing.

Rather than a traditional workshop-structured class (where manuscripts are read and critiqued outside of the classroom for discussion the following week), this class allows students to take turns sharing five-page excerpts, which we will workshop in class "on the fly." In the remaining time, we will participate in some in-class exercises, and we'll discuss craft issues such as writing scenes vs. exposition, integrating research, avoiding cliché, developing character, and "truth" and memory as it relates to recovering and recreating the past. We will also examine some exemplary memoirs and personal essays, including work by such authors as: Jesmyn Ward, Patricia Hampl, Kiese Laymon, Helen Fremont, Jo Ann Beard and Frank Conroy.

There is no work outside of class other than continuing to write, with the goal of each student being to write 5 new pages or revise 10 pages each week, while developing a solid sense of their book's themes and driving questions. On the last day of class, writers may hand in 15 pages of their work to receive critique from the instructor with suggested strategies for finishing the manuscript. Designed for writers with some knowledge of the craft of memoir writing who have either: (a) begun at least three chapters of a full-length memoir or (b) begun at least three essays of a connected series of personal essays.

Please come to the first class with a copy of "an elevator pitch" for your potential or existing memoir (a compelling title and 150-word blurb that summarizes and encapsulates your work) or the first page of your memoir/essay collection.

Thursdays, 6-9pm | February 13 – April 16, 2020 | $475

Please note this class does not meet February 13 and March 12.
Please note: Class does not meet 3/5 or 3/12.

Screenwriting for Script & TV: Providence

In this interactive 6-week workshop, writers will learn the art of script writing while working on either a feature-length film or a pilot for a television show. With Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and YouTube redefining what the word “television" means, the boundaries between TV and feature films have become less clear. Television shows have evolved into long-form movies lasting dozens of hours and told over the course of years, creating some of the most compelling stories of our time. Whether your movie is two or fifty-two hours long, a movie is a movie, and this class seeks to break down the barriers between television and the movies (or better, show that they have already gone away).

Students will learn about the differences and similarities between film and episodic television, explore new media, and discuss how the medium is evolving. We will discuss screenplay format, as well as how to structure a scene, create compelling characters, write dialogue, and overcome writer’s block. Students will work on creating a backstory (or “show bible”) to help make the world of their story more complex and populate this world with fascinating and believable characters.

During the class, we will analyze the structure of several films and episodic television shows to help students gain a complex understanding of stories that follow the Hollywood paradigm as well as those that defy it. Students can expect to leave the class with a detailed outline, several completed scenes crucial to the screenplay, and either a completed first act of a feature-film or the first half-hour of a television pilot.

Thursdays, 6-9pm | February 13 – March 26, 2020 | $365

6 Weeks, 6 Essays

Sometimes the smallest moment--or the shortest essay--holds the greatest revelation. In this class, each week, you will write a personal essay between 500 and 1,000 words, and bring it into class for presentation and discussion.

Modeled on exemplary published essays provided by the instructor, each essay you produce will experiment with subject matter, focus, form, structure, and voice. You’ll learn to write quickly, generate a lot of material, improve your craft, and enhance your ability to discuss each other’s work. By writing in a shorter format, you’ll also find ways to tighten your prose, refine your drafting and editing skills, and heighten your storytelling skills. There will also be brief discussions of short, contemporary published essays including work by such authors as: Brian Doyle, Gwendolyn Wallace, Roxane Gay, Cheryl Strayed, Matthew Purdy, Brady Udall, Annie Dillard, Meredith Maran, and others.

This course is geared towards intermediate and advanced students.

Thursdays, 6-9pm | March 5 – April 16, 2020| $355

Please note this class does not meet February 13 and March 12.
Please note: Class does not meet 3/12.