Course Descriptions

Begin Again; Begin Better: Fiction with Bryn Chancellor**Closed**

Story and novel openings are a tall order with a ticking timer. In a short space, fiction writers must establish character, voice, point of view, and setting; put the situation and plot in motion; offer some sense of trouble or tension; and deploy arresting language and style that mesmerize and propel a reader deeper into the narrative. In this workshop, we’ll examine some pitfalls of beginnings—throat clearing, feet dragging, false starts—and practice how to craft compelling openings, especially through compression and simultaneity. Of course beginnings don’t exist in a vacuum, so we’ll also talk about middles and ends, those other pesky parts of story-making.

We’ll use the openings of your own submitted pieces (see below), which we will read in advance and discuss in each session, and revise them till they shine. Along the way we’ll start some new ones through prompts. Please also have ready a favorite opening page of a novel or short story that you love.

Please submit up to 1,200 sequential words from the beginning of a single work, along with a current CV, on the same day you register for Squire Online. Submissions should be saved in a single MS Word document, using double-spaced, 12-point, Times New Roman font, with numbered pages, and sent as an attachment to masterclass@ncwriters.org. The Word document’s file name should include your own last name, and the title and your name should appear on the submission. The sample you submit will be the work discussed in class, and your submitted work will be shared with other registrants.

Each registrant should be ready to handle the intensive instruction and atmosphere of the workshop.

But It Really Happened Just Like That: Our Stories, Our Truth: Creative Nonfiction with Patrice Gopo

Have you ever written a story from your life, only to discover the details created a dull tale on the page? Or perhaps you wonder if the story you’ve lived, the story you are here to tell, will hold a reader’s attention and matter in this vast world steeped in a multitude of words? In this creative nonfiction workshop, we’ll use the personal essay as our springboard for discussion about how we write creative nonfiction that rises above anecdote and moves forward with unstoppable momentum.

Workshop participants will submit essays or excerpts up to 1,200 words when they register (see below). We’ll intentionally use these contributions to move us into fruitful conversations about craft—both general and specific to creative nonfiction.

Please submit up to 1,200 sequential words of a single work, along with your current CV, on the same day you register for Squire Online. Submissions should be saved in a single MS Word document, using double-spaced, 12-point, Times New Roman font, with numbered pages, and sent as an attachment to masterclass@ncwriters.org. The Word document’s file name should include your own last name, and the title and your name should appear on the submission. The sample you submit will be the work discussed in class, and your submitted work will be shared with other registrants.

Each registrant should be ready to handle the intensive instruction and atmosphere of the workshop.

Courting the Muse, Finding Your Voice and Other Good Things that Don’t Happen without Applying the Elbow Grease: Poetry with Dannye Romine Powell**Closed**

Using the three poems each participant submits with his or her registration (see below), we will look at ways to improve each poem. Is each poem saying what the poet intended? Extra words? Enough music? Cliches? Does the poem make an emotional connection with the reader and with the poet herself?

Using poems by widely published poets as examples, we will look at how mystery works throughout a poem, how sound creates emotion, how repetition appeals to the ear, how dreams can spark poems, how emotion connects the poet to the reader. Also, the tricks of the trade. Respecting the muse. Showing up to write. Reading aloud. Taking care of that fascinating organ called the brain.

Please submit three poems, totaling no more than five pages, along with a current CV, on the same day that you register for Squire Online. Poems should be saved in a single MS Word document, using single-spaced, 12-point, Times New Roman font, and sent as an attachment to masterclass@ncwriters.org. The Word document’s file name should include your own last name, and your name and the title of each poem should appear on the submission. The sample you submit will be the work discussed in class, and your submitted work will be shared with other registrants.

Each registrant should be ready to handle the intensive instruction and atmosphere of the workshop.