the muse & the marketplace 2010
session 2
Saturday, May 1st, 2010, from 11:15am to 12:30pm
***SOLD OUT*** SESSION 2A: “From Circumstance to Plot: Creating Narrative Drive in Fiction”
Description: Every novel and short story starts with a set of circumstances, or “weather”, in which events and actions will take place (a young man sets out to seek his fortune on a whaling ship sailed by a mysterious, possibly-mad, one-legged captain). And from that “weather” its plot unfolds (the young man embarks on various hair raising, whale-chasing adventures over the course of which the mad captain’s obsession with one whale in particular is revealed). In this class we will differentiate “weather” from plot by discussing well-known examples in literature. And then we will work on practical ways to draw plot and action out of the “weather” of our own novels and stories. Come with an idea for a story or novel in mind.Type: Discussion
Jessica Shattuck is the author of the novels Perfect Life (W.W. Norton, 2009) and The Hazards of Good Breeding (W.W. Norton, 2003), which was a New York Times Notable Book of 2003 and finalist for a PEN/Winship award. Her short fiction has appeared in Open City, Glamour, The Tampa Review, and The New Yorker.
***SOLD OUT*** SESSION 2B: “Try and See Things My Way”
Description: This is a discussion class about point of view. The discussion will use certain examples of text (handouts) to show how varying point of view opens huge doors to narrative thought and storytelling. There may be some guided writing, but students should come away with a greater understanding of how to use their own experiences to inhabit the experience of others.Type: Discussion Class
Author: Elizabeth Strout. Elizabeth Strout is the author of three books of fiction. Her latest work, Olive Kitteridge, won the Pultizer Prize in fiction for 2009, and her other books Amy and Isabelle, and Abide With Me, have been national best sellers. She lives in New York City.
***SOLD OUT*** SESSION 2C: “The Joy of Revision”
Description: So you have finished your novel! Now it’s time for the real work to begin: Revision! Nabokov claimed he rewrote—sometimes several times—every word he ever wrote. John Irving says half his life has been spent revising. In this session, I will give concrete tips for how to revise your work, from small things to larger problems, such as plot, tension and conflict. I will also share my secret for how to be sure you are keeping your readers engaged and eager to keep reading. There is no shortcut to revision, but you can learn to embrace it and even enjoy it.Type: Lecture with Q&A
Author: Ann Hood. Ann Hood is the author of eight novels, including the bestsellers Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine and The Knitting Circle; a collection of short stories, An Ornithologist’s Guide to Life; and the memoir Comfort: A Journey Through Grief, which was a New York Times Notable Book and was selected by Entertainment Weekly as one of the ten best non-fiction books of 2008. She has won two Pushcart Prizes, a Best American Spiritual Writing Award and The Paul Bowles Prize for Short Fiction. Her essays and stories have appeared in The New York Times, Tin House, The Paris Review, The Washington Post, Bon Appetit, Traveler, Glimmer Train and many other publications. Her new novel, The Red Thread, will be published in May 2010 by WW Norton.
SESSION 2D: “Memoir: A Window Into Your Life”
Description: Memoir is not autobiography, but a selected facet of a life. By choosing the focus, you open a window into your life. What window are you opening? What is its frame? What are the parts that you will include and the parts that you will not include? And what pattern will you give to the parts to link them together? Working with these questions, with examples of contemporary memoirs and guided exercises, you will move forward on a memoir already started, or you will start a new one.Type: Short Lecture, Discussion and Guided Writing
Author: Susan Tiberghien. Susan M. Tiberghien, an American writer living in Switzerland, has published three memoirs—- Looking for Gold; Circling to the Center; and Footsteps, A European Album—- along with numerous narrative essays in journals and anthologies. Her most recent book, One Year to A Writing Life: Twelve Lessons to Deepen Every Writer’s Art and Craft, published by Da Capo Press (Perseus Books), is “an inspiring window into the world of writing.” She has been teaching creative writing for twenty years both in the States and in Europe, at writers conferences, graduate programs, C.G. Jung Centers, the International Women’s Writing Guild, and at the monthly Geneva Writers’ Workshops. She directs the Geneva Writers’ Group and Conferences. Her website is www.susantiberghien.com.
SESSION 2E: Marketplace Lecture: "Omigod, I Just Self-Published! Is That Allowed?”
Description: For years, there’s been a stigma associated with self-publication. But as the traditional “top-down” publishing model continues to contract, that’s changing. The means of producing books has become cheaper and more accessible, as happened with the music industry a decade ago. In this informal (and hopefully free-wheeling) lecture/discussion, we’ll discuss the risks and opportunities afforded by the “print on demand” revolution, and what it means to build a readership “from the bottom up.”Type: Lecture with Q&A
Author: Steve Almond. Steve Almond is the author the story collections: My Life in Heavy Metal and The Evil B.B. Chow, the novel Which Brings Me to You (with Julianna Baggott), and the non-fiction books Candyfreak and (Not That You Asked). His new book, Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life, is just out. He has also, crazily, self-published a book called This Won’t Take But a Minute, Honey, composed of 30 very brief stories and 30 very brief essays on the psychology and practice of writing. ***SOLD OUT*** SESSION 2F: “Understanding Plot I: The Fundamentals of Story”
Description: Too much plot or none at all? Writers are sometimes daunted by plot, but understanding it can guide you to the heart of your story. We will cover the basics of plot and structure, including recognition, reversal, significant action, active characters, and resolution.Type: Lecture with Q&A
Author: Lynne Barrett. Lynne Barrett is the author of the story collections The Secret Names of Women and The Land of Go and she co-edited the anthology Birth: A Literary Companion. She has received the Edgar Allan Poe award of the Mystery Writers of America for best mystery story and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Recent stories have been published or are forthcoming in Night Train, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Delta Blues, A Hell of a Woman, One Year to a Writing Life, Miami Noir, A Dixie Christmas, and many other anthologies and literary magazines. Editor of The Florida Book Review, she is a professor at Florida International University, where she teaches in the M.F.A. program. You can read more here.SESSION 2G: “The Essentials of Dialogue”
Description: Effective dialogue is more than a simple transcript of speech; our characters’ conversations must be shaped to do work for narrative, to develop character, setting, and voice, and to propel the plot forward. We will practice a range of techniques for the creation of vivid, engaging dialogue, illuminated by examples from authors such as Richard Bausch, Flannery O’Connor, Sherman Alexie, and Raymond Carver. By the end of this session, you will have an enhanced toolbox bringing your characters’ words to life.Type: Lecture, Q&A, Guided Writing
Level: Beginning/Intermediate
Leader: Adam Stumacher. Adam Stumacher's fiction has appeared in Best New American Voices, has been published in TriQuarterly, The Massachusetts Review, Carve, Barnstorm and The Sun, and was winner of the Raymond Carver Short Story Award. His nonfiction has appeared in the Guardian (UK) and the anthology Peace Under Fire. He holds degrees from Cornell University and Saint Mary's College, where he was recipient of the Jeanine Cooney and Agnes Butler fellowships. More recently, he was the the Carol Houck Smith Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, where he taught undergraduate courses. In addition to his work at Grub Street, he teaches creative writing at MIT and has many years experience as an educator in urban high schools. He is the author of a short story collection, Slipknot, and is currently working on a novel, entitled A Liar's Opus. SESSION 2H: Marketplace Seminar: “Brave New World: Writers In the Digital Age”
Description: Recent innovations in technology and communication have made the written word more portable, accessible, and popular than ever. It is an exciting but challenging time for writers: loud, fast-changing, and filled with both exciting opportunities and dangerous pitfalls. While writers have never enjoyed this much control, power and ownership over their work, we have also never been trained or prepared to handle the accompanying responsibilities. As traditional publishing models dissolve and reformulate, we are at a point of radical restructuring in how written work gets out in the world. This panel of authors and industry professionals discusses the implications of this changing landscape on writers.Panelists: Julie Barer, Joshua Benton, Sanj Kharbanda and Allison Winn Scotch. Moderated by Eve Bridburg.
SESSION 2K: Marketplace Panel: “Literary Idol”
Description: Important: Please read this description carefully before signing up, and bring all necessary materials to the session if you wish to have your work read aloud!In this freewheeling session, a trained actor will perform the first page of YOUR unpublished manuscript for the audience and a panel of three “judges.” The judges are agents and/or editors with years of experience reading unsolicited submissions. When one of the judges hears a line that would make her stop reading, she will raise her hand. The actor will keep reading until a second judge raises his hand. The judges will then discuss WHY they would stop reading, and offer concrete (if subjective) suggestions to the (anonymous) author. If no agent raises his/her hand, the judges will discuss what made the excerpt work so well. All excerpts will be evaluated *anonymously.* Please bring THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript (fiction or non-fiction only, please) double-spaced, to the session, TITLED, with its genre marked clearly at the top. You will leave it in a box at the front of the room, and the manuscript will be chosen randomly by the actor. (Unfortunately, given the volume of submissions, we can’t guarantee that yours will be read aloud). We do hope and expect this to be a fun event that is respectful of your work and illuminates the process each agent/editor goes through when she receives a new piece of fiction or non-fiction. The point is not to get through as many writers as we can, but to thoughtfully evaluate the work at hand. Please be aware that some lines may cause laughter or scorn; in other words, this session is not for the thin-skinned!
Panelists: Regina Brooks, Elyse Cheney, Rebecca Oliver and Joanna Stampfel-Volpe