Fiction Writing Workshop
This two-month creative writing course is more than a traditional
workshop. The structure is based upon creative response techniques
taught in the studio art, performance, and writing departments at the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The workshop has three parts:
On the first day of class, we read a literary work out loud and write a
creative response. We also share our work and analyze the variety of
creative responses. In general, writers respond to what interests them, and
knowing our own interest can be very helpful in developing an aesthetic.
As the workshop continues, students submit original work to the class that
can be developed out of a piece they began in class, or can be completely
unrelated. One of the advantages of the creative response technique is that,
if nothing else, everybody generates new words in every class session. The
course is also intended to change the writer’s relationship to craft by
eroding the habits and beliefs that prevent us from writing on a daily
basis.
Classroom discussion is structured to provoke the important questions:
What kind of detail is essential detail? What is point of view? Does a story
want to be told from the outside, or from the inside? What happens when
the author gives the events of a story to the reader out of order? How does
one deal with memory and shifting consciousness? What is more powerful,
the said or the unsaid?
At the end of the course, students have completed three new works, at least
one of which is a creative response to the work of a classmate. Students
also come away from the class with their generative writing portfolio from
each in-class session.
For more information on classes and workshops, please contact
vanessa@vanessacurto.com.
workshop. The structure is based upon creative response techniques
taught in the studio art, performance, and writing departments at the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The workshop has three parts:
- Because writers, as well as visual artists, benefit from actual studio
time, we hold in-class generative writing sessions every week. - Students present their work to fellow classmates and receive feedback.
This part is similar to a traditional writing workshop. - Students write at least one new piece that is a creative response to the
work of a classmate.
On the first day of class, we read a literary work out loud and write a
creative response. We also share our work and analyze the variety of
creative responses. In general, writers respond to what interests them, and
knowing our own interest can be very helpful in developing an aesthetic.
As the workshop continues, students submit original work to the class that
can be developed out of a piece they began in class, or can be completely
unrelated. One of the advantages of the creative response technique is that,
if nothing else, everybody generates new words in every class session. The
course is also intended to change the writer’s relationship to craft by
eroding the habits and beliefs that prevent us from writing on a daily
basis.
Classroom discussion is structured to provoke the important questions:
What kind of detail is essential detail? What is point of view? Does a story
want to be told from the outside, or from the inside? What happens when
the author gives the events of a story to the reader out of order? How does
one deal with memory and shifting consciousness? What is more powerful,
the said or the unsaid?
At the end of the course, students have completed three new works, at least
one of which is a creative response to the work of a classmate. Students
also come away from the class with their generative writing portfolio from
each in-class session.
For more information on classes and workshops, please contact
vanessa@vanessacurto.com.
Classes & Workshops
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