Classes at the Attic

Or a work in progress that you want to polish into picture book form? This 5-week intensive class will take you through the most vital steps in picture book writing. Through studying the picture book form, reading successful picture books, and focused writing exercises that help you develop your characters, narrative and voice, this intensive workshop will help you turn your picture book ideas into a solid draft.

Guided discussions on technique; written exercises; assigned nonfiction for study; informal in-class critique of student work; mutual support and encouragement. Students submit two short works and one revision. Workshop format, limited to 9 students. (CLASS FULL: WAIT LIST ONLY.)

Guided discussions on technique; written exercises; assigned nonfiction for study; informal in-class critique of student work; mutual support and encouragement. Students submit two short works and one revision. Workshop format, limited to 9 students. (CLASS FULL: WAIT LIST ONLY.)

Whether you want to write lyric journalism, a “how-to” essay, travelogue, or memoir, Creative Nonfiction helps you craft the facts into art. We’ll analyze contemporary nonfiction by authors ranging from David Foster Wallace to Jo Ann Beard to Charles D’Ambrosio, and discuss your work in progress. Through this in-depth workshop, your writing will be transformed  from journal entry, blog, or academic essay into art which is both intimate and universal in its appeal. (Creative Non-Fiction section D continues with the themes of the first 5 weeks. You can sign up for both, or either, depending on how in-depth a look at the topic – and your work – you desire.)

Whether you want to write lyric journalism, a “how-to” essay, travelogue, or memoir, Creative Nonfiction helps you craft the facts into art. We’ll analyze contemporary nonfiction by authors ranging from David Foster Wallace to Jo Ann Beard to Charles D’Ambrosio, and discuss your work in progress. Through this in-depth workshop, your writing will be transformed  from journal entry, blog, or academic essay into art which is both intimate and universal in its appeal. Creative Non-Fiction Section C includes the themes of these 5 weeks. You can sign up for both, or either, depending on how in-depth a look at the topic – and your work – you desire.

Andy Warhol once said, "Sex is more exciting on the screen and between the pages than between the sheets." And, yet, for so many writers of both fiction and non-fiction, sex is one of the hardest things to write well. Whether you want to produce hot and literary erotic short stories, add realistic and imaginative sex to your novel, or pen sizzling poems, this intensive Attic class promises to deliver. Using exercises, readings, discussions and critiques, we'll explore written sexuality in all its forms and learn the elements of language, character, narrative and style that come together to create amazing sex on the page.

The dedication to writing a novel can be a lonely experience. An opportunity for support, input, & critique. Students should have written at least one chapter. Discussion of style, theme, voice, & character development. By the end of the term, you will be farther along & know that you are working in a community of novelists.

A workshop on the essentials of story-telling. Emphasis on the motivations of characters & on transforming the familiar into stories. Strong feedback & direction.

Many of us may struggle with containing our so-called “short stories” within the magazine-fashionable 6000-word-length limit asked for by many journals, but neither are we quite ready to turn that story into a full-blown novel. The long story thus becomes an excellent format for these types of writers. This course allows students to write and receive constructive discourse and written critique on their individual “long story” projects. Students will submit in-progress “long story” projects for the rest of us to read and discuss in a constructive, supportive, respectful, productive environment. Through the course you should gain as much from the process of reading, analyzing and discussing, as you will from the personalized feedback you receive on your own work from a whole circle of aspiring writers and your instructor. Please be willing to submit 1 in-progress or rough draft-completed “long story” (up to 25,000 words) at some point in the five weeks. This course is a very good follow-up to Writing the Lives of Girls and Women.

THE LIFE SKETCHES EXPERIENCE
Life Sketches classes offer an exceptional, step-by-step process to capture one essential story of your life. Trained facilitators guide you in a unique journey to awaken memories and develop and write a single story which is published in a book that becomes a treasure to share.

STIMULATE
By writing sketches about your life, you will activate your memories and make new connections between past and present, answering thought-provoking questions, such as:

• ““Did you ever abandon one life for another?”
• “What are you most or least proud of from your life?”
• “How would you like to be remembered?”

EXPRESS
In a community of supportive peers, you will learn to tell the stories of your life. Life Sketches workshops guide you through the fundamentals of good storytelling by teaching the use of descriptive language, dramatic framing, and sculpted vignettes.

SHARE
Through feedback and sharing, you and fellow workshop writers build a collaborative and vibrant atmosphere to share your essential stories.

SAVE
At the end of a Life Sketches workshop, you will have a short book of your own writing which will contain one captured memory, and become a family treasure for future generations.

Designed to help you turn topics into well-developed magazine ideas and ideas into winning queries. This workshop blends Elizabeth Rusch’s popular conference workshops including finding the story in the idea, targeting publications, and writing winning queries with direction, inspiration, and feedback that will help you turn ideas into assignments. If you’ve considered trying your hand at freelance magazine writing or want to break into new magazine markets, this is a great place to start.

Ariel Gore will host a special weekend memoir intensive. Jump-start your writing life, get feedback on essays you've been working on, breath new energy into a project, or just explore the memoir possibilities. This weekend intensive is appropriate for new and seasoned writers interested in fashioning stories from real life. Writers will receive an assignment via email on October 15th. We'll spend three inspiring days workshopping stories and generating new material.

Emphasis on turning your real-life experiences into quality stories that linger, affect and resonate. Discover how to put living people on the page, organize your story for more impact, and use objects, imagery and dialogue to increase the power of your words.

Whether you’re finishing a book-length manuscript or beginning a collection of personal essays, this course will help you learn the art of crafting your life stories into compelling narrative. Learn how to successfully incorporate the techniques of fiction, the proper use of “truthiness,” and how to keep the story going when you can’t remember a damn thing.

Using Alice Munro’s short stories as a basis for inspiration and craft/storytelling investigation, this short course would guide students — particularly women — in mining their own experiences of girlhood, adolescence, womanhood and beyond as material for fiction. A literary fiction focus.

For students who've already taken Acito's Story Structure class to continue to develop their projects or work on new ones. As with pre-requisite Story Structure, this advanced workshop experience is organized like a classical master class with direct live chat feedback, video lectures and notes on your works-in-progress, regardless of where you in the process. Whether you join the live chats each Saturday or check in to the course material anytime, Advanced Story Structure will keep you on track to actually finish your magnum opus. Marc's popular classes fill up fast, so sign up now.

It happens to every writer--you start your novel, memoir, screenplay or play full of excitement and then the story fizzles before you're halfway through. The answer is to master the techniques of story structure. This weekly online experience is organized like a classical master class with direct live chat feedback, video lectures and notes on your work-in-progress, regardless of where you are in the process. Whether you join the live chats each Saturday or check in to the course material anytime, the workshop helps you focus on how to build a page-turning tale that will keep readers up all night. Marc's popular classes fill up fast, so sign up now.

What’s more powerful and alluring in a poem than discovery? In this workshop for both novice and experienced writers, we will use our draft poems, models drawn from contemporary poetry, and vibrant exercises to invite fresh “discovery” into our poetry. Toward the end of the session, poets will have an opportunity to offer a “batch” of their poems to the group for comments and insights. This is a workshop for poets who are interested in play and are excited about listening and writing, reading and re-writing in non-judgmental and honest company.

You've done your time -- spent years learning how to craft quality stories, essays, memoirs or poems. Now is the time to get your babies out into the world. Learn how to find markets that suit your voice and style, write cover letters that sing and bios that growl, and properly format your pieces and get them sent off to prospective publishers. I'll offer all my secrets for keeping track of markets, submitting stories, reading contracts and getting published.

Whether you are at the early stages or wanting to polish your final draft, you'll find the right atmosphere and feedback in this workshop devoted to your existing screenplay or your dream one. We'll discover tools for formatting your idea (whether its specifically for film or something you've adapted from another piece of your writing), writers block, or isolation. Special emphasis on character and plot development--and on finding the inspiration to complete the thing. A great class for moving you from idea to the screen.

A great workshop if you're most in need of time to write. Each Saturday you'll make time for exploring with language in a directed and supportive atmosphere. Each session uses unique assignments to help you discover and develop your voice as well as create new material. Unlike a critique workshop, we’ll focus on the process, not the result, so that you’ll have many new pieces to pursue and revise. You'll also learn a variety of tips and techniques that will enable you to create writing time and space in your own life after the class is complete. Working with prompts, you'll also learn a variety of tips and techniques that will enable you to create writing time and space in your own life after the class is complete.

The "Write Now!" workshop for teachers allows you to write freely. Free of consequences. Free of daily concerns except to nurture your creative life. Plus: In partnership with Western Oregon University, teachers who take the "Write Now!" workshop can earn professional development graduate academic credit. The goal of the workshop is both to renew enthusiasm for your own creative writing and to generate original work. We will use writers’ lives to generate new pieces. The class will focus on “teachers as writers” with the understanding that renewed enthusiasm for one’s writing will be carried over into your classrooms and in turn help invigorate your student-writers.