SEATTLE WRITING CLASSES
Narrative writing is perhaps the greatest of the literary arts, allowing writers to tell compelling stories, reach a wide audience and satisfy some of their deepest yearnings for pattern, mystery, and coherence in their lives.
While narrative writing allows for great scope and ambition, it also demands mastery of form and structure to succeed. An ability to manipulate form and structure allows a writer to create stories that entrance readers and bring them along for the ride. The mastery of these techniques does not come easily, alas. It requires commitment to the habit of art to write excellent fiction or creative nonfiction.
My Seattle writing classes will help you develop your own habit of art, mastering the craft of narrative writing essential to creating fiction and nonfiction stories. Each quarter I offer a Seattle-based writing class in narrative writing for creative nonfiction and fiction. The emphasis varies from writing class to writing class, but all of the courses provide detailed, constructive criticism of your stories and book chapters.
The four writing classes form a sequence, introducing you to all the essential elements of creative nonfiction and fiction writing: dramatic scenes, scene by scene construction, character sketches, research and interviewing, first and third person point of view, story ideas, dramatic outlines and publishing strategies. They may be taken independently, but altogether they give you a comprehensive introduction to the art and craft of narrative writing. You'll learn more about the craft of writing than you would in most MFA programs, at a fraction of the cost.
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Every class requires that participants write a story or book chapter, revise it, and prepare it for publication. This focus on honing and perfecting the prose and finding a suitable outlet for it has resulted in students making real breakthroughs in their work. Many have gone on to publish their stories in magazines like Newsweek and the New York Times Magazine and sell their books to prominent publishing houses worldwide. www.thewritersworkshop.net/reviews.htm
The Seattle writing classes take place Wednesday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. in the historic Good Shepherd Center in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood (4649 Sunnyside Avenue North). Enrollment is limited to 15. The classes usually fill several weeks prior to the starting date. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions and would like to sign up.
Sincerely,
Nicholas O’Connell
206.284.7121
2011 SEATTLE WRITING CLASSES
Fall - Revising Your Life - Research and Writing of Fiction and Nonfiction - Wednesday evenings 7 to 9 p.m. from Oct. 12 - Nov. 30, $550.
2012
Winter - Follow the Story - Genres of Creative Nonfiction - Wednesday evenings 7 to 9 p.m. from Jan. 11 to Feb. 15 and three Monday evenings Jan. 23 and 30 and Feb. 6. $575.
Spring - The Nature of Narrative: Scene and Structure - Building Blocks of Narrative Writing - Wednesday evenings 7 to 9 p.m. from Mar. 21 to May 2, and one Monday evening April 2. $575.
Summer - Writing for Story - Dramatic Structure of Fiction and Nonfiction - Wednesday evenings 7 to 9 p.m. and one Monday evening July 18 from June 13 to August 1st. $575.
The Nature of Narrative: Spring
Creative Writing Class
The Nature of Narrative will introduce you to the essential
building blocks of dramatic writing, whether in fiction, nonfiction or film. The
alternating pattern of scene and sequel forms the basis of all dramatic writing,
pulling readers into your story and not letting them go until the end. This
pattern is as essential as breathing, but is often misunderstood by writers.
This eight-week course will show you how to incorporate these techniques in your
own work to provide drama, pacing, tension and resolution in your creative
nonfiction, short stories, novels and memoirs.
The Seattle writing course will run March 21 to May 2 on
Wednesday evenings (and one Monday evening, Mar. 26) from 7 to 9 p.m. in Room
221 of the
In addition to the classroom work, I’ll schedule individual
conferences with each of you. This will give me a chance to go over your story
or book chapter with you one-on-one and suggest ways to improve it. There will
be six assignments: a 150-word story idea or book concept statement, a 250-word
scene, a 150-word character sketch, a 1500- to 2500-word story or book chapter
and its revision, a cover letter for your story or book. The cost will be $575
per person. Texts: Jack Bickham’s Scene
and Structure and Norman Maclean’s
A River Runs Through It. Both
titles are available at the Elliott Bay Book Company.
To enroll,
please send a check for $575 to Nick O’Connell, 201 Newell St.,