Course Descriptions

Poetry as Starship with Jack Jung

Imagine that a starship is about to launch, and we really want you to come hop around the galaxy with us. We can do it together. This class concerns itself with the ways in which language is a means of construction and communication. They are our planets and stars. Language builds and allows for communication in complex ways. Poetic language is, among many things, heightened use of language as such. It is like going beyond the light speed. We might even leap into the multiverse. In this course, we will workshop at least one of your submitted poems in class, in addition to generating new material.

Please submit three poems, in a total of no more than three pages, along with your current CV in a separate attachment, on the same day you register for the Squire Summer Writing Workshops. 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. 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 accepted registrants will be asked to circulate their drafts to others in the class prior to the conference.

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

Storytelling through Scene-writing in Creative Nonfiction with Cynthia Lewis

This workshop will focus on scene-writing as the foundation of storytelling. Each participant will submit up to 1500 words of creative nonfiction that include two scenes, the second of which builds on the first by advancing the narrative. The submission can be an excerpt from a longer nonfiction narrative, the opening of a projected nonfiction essay, or a self-contained nonfiction story. Each submission should include at least two people, dialogue, and efficient descriptions of the people and of the physical setting. The heart of the workshop will be participants’ responses to one another’s submissions. Each participant’s submission will be discussed twice, and everyone will have the opportunity to revise between sessions. I’ll send out a detailed schedule of the entire workshop in advance.

Please submit up to 1500 sequential words from a single work, along with your current CV in a separate attachment, on the same day you register for the Squire Summer Writing Workshops. 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 title and your name should appear on the submission. The sample you submit will be the work discussed in class, and accepted registrants will be asked to circulate their drafts to others in the class prior to the conference.

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

“How many sentences does it take to cross a room?”: Narrating in Fiction with Alan Michael Parker

In this fiction workshop, we’ll be exploring the ideas of pace, narrative time, POV, room sound, and detail—and how to choose the right amount of language to narrate different kinds of scenes. With numerous examples from published works, and diverse approaches to consider, this class is designed for both writers of short and long-form fiction. But not only will the class be substantive, it will also be fun. I mean, really, really fun: we’ll learn a lot together, play, and spend significant time looking at your work in critique sessions.

Please submit the first 1,500 sequential words from a single work, along with your current CV in a separate attachment, on the same day you register for the Squire Summer Writing Workshops. 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 title and your name should appear on the submission. The sample you submit will be the work discussed in class, and accepted registrants will be asked to circulate their drafts to others in the class prior to the conference.

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