Winter 2020 creative writing classes oo TABLE OF CONTENTS BECOME A MEMBER As a member, you help us provide About Our Classes ... 1 thought-provoking classes and events that connect writers and readers to the craft of Navigating the Catalog ... 2 writing. You’ll also receive great benefits, Visiting Writers ... 3 including early registration and discounts on classes and events. Learn more at Fiction ... 6 hugohouse.org/become-member/ Nonfiction ... 01 Prose ... 13 Mixed Genre ... 16 Poetry ... 19 Reading Like a Writer ... 23 The Writing Life ... 24 Youth Workshops ... 26 Resources ... 28 About Our Teachers ... 29 Notes ... 33 Need a coffee fix before class? All Hugo House students receive a 10-percent discount from our generous friends at Cafe Argento. iiii ABOUT OUR CLASSES At Hugo House, we offer creative writing courses in a wide range of writing styles and genres. Whether you’re writing your first poem or have a few novels behind you, Hugo House offers a class to help you become a better writer. Our classes are taught by published writers and experienced teachers. Our students come from a variety of backgrounds and life experiences. What they all have in common is a love of words. REGISTRATION SCHOLARSHIPS Register in person, by phone at (206) 322-7030, or Need-based scholarships are available every online at hugohouse.org. quarter. Applications will be due December 2, and scholarship applicants will be notified All registration opens at 10:30 am December 9. $500+ donor registration: December 2 Member registration: December 3 Visit bit.ly/AboutHHClasses for more General registration: December 10 information and to apply. Register early to save with early bird pricing, in effect December 2–16. CANCELLATIONS AND TRANSFERS REFUNDS If you need to cancel your registration for a class, the Hugo House cannot provide refunds, transfers, or following refund schedule applies: makeup sessions for classes a student might miss. If Hugo House has to cancel a class, you will receive a • 3 days or more before a class, a class credit or full refund. transfer will be issued less a $15 fee. Refunds will be issued less a $35 fee. QUESTIONS? • Less than 3 business days before class start, no If you want to know more about a class or Hugo refund, credits, or transfers are available. House policies, email us at [email protected] • No refunds, class credits, or transfers will be or call (206) 322-7030. We are here to help! available after classes begin. hugohouse.org 206-322-7030 [email protected] 1 NAVIGATING THE CATALOG • If you’re looking for genre-specific classes, look under Fiction, Nonfiction, or Poetry. Classes applicable to both fiction and nonfiction writers can also be found inProse . • You can also look under Mixed Genre and in the Visiting Writers section, as many of these classes are useful to writers in any genre. Mixed Genre also includes courses in writing for performance, including playwriting, screenwriting, and songwriting. • For classes that are less about writing and more about reading and discussing works by great authors, look in the Reading section. • For classes on submitting your work, publishing, and the business of being a writer, look under The Writing Life. • This term, we’re also offering writing classes for middle- and high- schoolers. These classes are listed under Youth Workshops. • For information about our writers-in-residence, drop-in writing circles, and manuscript consultation program, look at the Resources section. CLASS LEVELS ALL LEVELS | Many classes at Hugo House are intended for writers at any level, regardless of prior writing class experience. INTRODUCTORY | Writers with limited experience in a writing class or workshop setting who want to expand their knowledge should consider introductory classes. These classes are also designed for writers who want to explore a new genre. INTERMEDIATE | Writers with some experience in genre-specific instruction looking to deepen their understanding should consider intermediate classes. These classes often feature a workshop component in which student work is shared and critiqued. NAVIGATING THE CATALOG NAVIGATING ADVANCED | Writers with significant experience in a writing class or workshop setting who seek assistance and feedback with revision should consider advanced classes. CATALOG KEY Online class 2 VISITING WRITERS FICTION JESS WALTER WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM NOIR & CRIME FICTION (IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK) Every few years, I find myself going back to classic noir: Hammet, Cain, Highsmith. I used to think it was the breathless, hard narratives drawing me in. But I’ve realized it’s the writing I go back for—the clear rhythm and compression, an almost musical quality that reminds me how voice can rise from the first sentence to hold a story together, almost like the melody of a song. It reminds me of an old saying: The only truly American arts are jazz and noir. In this class, we’ll listen to some classic noir together, for its dialogue and pacing, its syncopation and simplicity. We’ll write a line or two and see what we can learn by taking the crime out of crime fiction. VISITING WRITERS One session | Saturday, Jan 11 | 1–4 pm General: $200 | Member: $180 FICTION GISH JEN WHERE’S THE STORY? The classic short story focuses on what William Faulkner called “the human heart in conflict with itself.” In this workshop, we will analyze a story to see how that conflict drives story structure. We will then generate story ideas, evaluate them with the help of our classmates and, time allowing, write an opening paragraph ripe with promise. Experienced writers welcome, but no experience necessary. One session | Thursday, Feb 20 | 1–4 pm General: $200 | Member: $180 PROSE STEVE ALMOND THE ULTIMATE CRAFT CLASS: HOW TO NARRATE, CONSTRUCT CHARACTER, AND BUILD SCENES In this two-day intensive workshop, Almond will lead participants through sev- eral essential craft lessons. Participants will learn how to create dramatic scenes, unforgettable characters, and an irresistible narrator. They will complete in-class exercises to help bring the lessons home. The craft concepts discussed apply to any genre of prose and to any level of writer. Come prepared to learn more in two days than you thought possible. This class includes a lunch break. Two sessions | Saturday & Sunday, Mar 14 & 15 | 10 am–3:30 pm General: $500 | Member: $450 3 YOUR OBSESSION IS YOUR MUSE: STEVE ALMOND DON’T FIGHT IT, WRITE IT! One session Most good writing—whether fiction or nonfiction—arises from a writer’s obses- Monday, Mar 16 sions. In this intensive session, we’ll discuss how to explore our obsessions on the 2–5 pm PROSE page, without falling prey to self-absorption or sentiment. We’ll start by looking General: $150 | Member: $135 at the work of folks such as Joan Didion, George Saunders, and others, and then generate some work in class by confessing to our own obsessions. Check your inhibitions at the door. STEVE ALMOND WHERE YOUR STORY STARTS: DOUBT & DISEQUILIBRIUM One session Too often in our lives (off the page and on) we seek refuge in a sense of assurance Monday, Mar 16 and psychological stability. But our most intense and lasting experiences are one 6–9 pm that involve doubt and disequilibrium. So what happens when we focus on those General: $150 | Member: $135 PROSE moments, when we allow ourselves to return to those lost weeks and months and years? Looking at the work of Charles D’Ambrosio, Lorrie Moore, Cheryl Strayed, and other modern masters, we’ll dig deep into this troubled terrain, and use an in- class writing assignment to discover what truths we can reveal. ANTHONY SWOFFORD THE PATH TO STORY Two sessions Over this two-day generative workshop with Jarhead author Anthony Swofford, Saturday & Sunday, Feb 29 & Mar 1 you will read the first pages of a number of fiction and nonfiction works and -dis 10 am–2 pm cuss “the path” into the works for the reader and the writer. With a series of cre- General: $240 | Member: $216 PROSE ative prompts and group discussion, you’ll establish tactics for finding a way into story. On the second day, small groups will workshop each writer’s new works and their steps toward establishing a world and narrative drive. Each participant will leave the workshop with the first pages of a new work-in-progress or a refreshed approach to established material. MITCHELL S. JACKSON THE TOOLS OF VOICE One session One of the most effective ways in prose to, as Susan Sontag says, “preserve the works Friday, Feb 28 of the mind against oblivion,” is to craft a distinctive voice. Voice is made up of 12–3 pm qualities that include diction and structural choices, syntactical usage, and a mind- General: $90 | Member: $81 PROSE fulness of the acoustics of language. This craft lecture will present philosophies on VISITING WRITERS voice and some of the rhetorical tools used to compose a remarkable one. It will in- clude examples of those tools from published excerpts, as well as guide participants through a critique of those examples. The lecture will conclude with an exercise designed to challenge participants to employ some of the strategies covered. COURTNEY MAUM FALL BACK IN LOVE WITH YOUR WRITING One session Acclaimed author Courtney Maum will teach writers how to reengage with texts Wednesday, Feb 19 they’ve fallen out of love with or are simply struggling to complete. Whether you 1–4 pm are stuck in the mucky middle of a first novel draft, can’t find the meat in your General: $90 | Member: $81 nonfiction essay, or simply feel like doing anything but going to your desk to write, Courtney has solutions and exercises to bring focus (and fun!) back to your writ- MIXED GENRE ing.