Nonfiction Writing Workshop Has Been Rescheduled

The Nonfiction Writing Workshop with Carolyn Kellogg has been rescheduled for Tuesdays, August 10th to  to October 5th, from 7:30 to 9:30 pm.  There won’t be a class meeting on September 14th.

Here’s the course description.  Please email writingworkshopsla@gmail.com to sign up!

Creative Nonfiction Workshop: Personal Essay and Memoir
(Taught by Carolyn Kellogg in Echo Park)

Tuesdays, 7:30 to 9:30 pm
August 10th to October 5th (no class 9/14)

In this mixed-level course, we will read and discuss published narrative nonfiction as a means to investigate questions of truth and storytelling, and where the two intersect. There will be in-class exercises that address specific craft issues such as scene and voice, among others, and every student will have the opportunity to workshop at least one piece of nonfiction writing in a serious environment meant to challenge and inspire each member of the class.

This course will take place in the instructor’s home in Echo Park, where beer, wine and sparkling water—and the occasional delicious snack—will be served.

Enrollment limit: 8 students
Course fee: $360 for new students; $320 for returning students (Payment plans available!)

Q & A With WWLA’s Ravishing Leslie Parry

Leslie Parry, graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop,  will be teaching the Beginning/Intermediate Short Story Writing Workshop starting July 27, 2010.  Since way back in early 2010, she’s graced WWLA with her presence and gusto, and has now graced us with these delectable A’s to all our Q’s on writing, reading, critique, and cheese.

WWLA:  What are your 3 favorite short stories (and if that’s impossible to answer, what 3 short stories do you find to be the most masterfully executed)?

LP:  Among my many favorites are “The Point” by Charles D’Ambrosio, “From Where I Sit” by Nancy Zafris, and “Crazy Sunday” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

WWLA:  You’re working on a novel right now. What do you do for yourself to keep an idea that you may have had a really long time ago vital? Do you ever find that you’re racing with the fear of obsolescence?

LP:  I’ve found that any project becomes more vital and fascinating the longer I’m with it.  The only time I really get stuck is when I’m too unwilling to let go of my original idea, too much of a pouty dictator to let the narrative evolve.  Nothing I’ve completed looks the way I initially envisioned it.  But that element of surprise is what I love most.  Writing is often a frustrating and time-consuming process, but never a boring one.

WWLA:  Creative Writing hasn’t always been an academic field of study– writers were, in the past, often schooled in some other subject and had the “innate gift,” or whatever skeptics of pedagogical creative writing practices seem to say. Why do you think people have become more open to the idea of creative writing as something that can be taught? What do creative writing workshops provide that pure erudition in, say, English Lit can’t?

LP:  Writing workshops will always have their detractors.  We’re besotted with the myth of romantic genius, this idea that artists are divine conduits, that they don’t actually work except in inspired, supernatural bursts.  But writers don’t arrive fully formed.  They have to practice.  Many people romanticize the process; they don’t want to accept that there’s a technical aspect as well as an imaginative one, that writing is a craft as much as an art.  Much of the anti-workshop rhetoric strikes me as antiquated or ill-informed.  Any committed writer can learn and practice the technical aspects of the craft: point-of-view, structure, scene, etc., as well as the elements of grammar, syntax, and diction.  And while you can’t give someone an imagination, hopefully you can give them the resources to tap into their creativity in a rewarding way.  Ultimately a writer who has discipline, stamina, and the right balance of conviction and humility will succeed no matter what route they take.  That said, unlike formal English classes, which might emphasize theory and context, workshops offer the opportunity to discuss literature from a writer’s point of view.  It’s the process, not the product, that is emphasized.  Tracing the writer’s steps through a story, identifying the sentence or image that either reveals a character or propels the plot forward — I find these conversations endlessly gratifying, and always instructive.

WWLA:  What’s the funniest compliment you’ve received about your writing? The funniest critique?

LP:  The ones I remember were criticisms disguised as compliments, or vice versa.  When I was in film school, I screened a short movie that I’d worked on for months.  When the lights came up, there was a strained silence, followed by some uncomfortable throat-clearing and paper-rustling.  Finally one girl ventured (reluctantly), “The, um…  the credits?  They were… good?”  Everyone, grateful to have something nice to say, agreed immediately.  What ensued was a desperate conversation about “how perfectly timed the names were!”  How the acknowledgements weren’t too short — or too long!  How the fonts were pretty!  I tried to be polite, but I knew exactly what they were saying: the movie was terrible.  And, in hindsight, they were right — the only thing I had any talent with were the words.

WWLA:  Do you find yourself conceiving of short stories first through beginnings, middles or ends? Does your way of storytelling ever seem to mirror personal patterns?

LP:  I always start at the beginning — inspired by some line of dialogue, an image, a throwaway anecdote I heard on the bus — and work my way through to the end, like a sleuth on a case.  It’s hard for me to characterize my way of storytelling, since most of the time I’m not fully aware of what I’m doing or why I’m doing it.  In person I’m pretty laid back and even-tempered, but I wouldn’t describe my writing that way.  My wild streak is reserved for the page.

WWLA:  You say you may, on occasion, serve gourmet cheeses during your classes. That’s wonderful. If you’d like to say a few words about cheese, this page is your oyster.

LP:  I don’t know anything about cheese; I just buy what the hot dude at Bristol Farms tells me to.

–Interviewed by Moze Halperin (the Intern)

Prompt and a Half

Well, hello there.  On this glorious Thursday evening in the Pico/Fairfax district, should you find yourself not basking in the glory– perusing facebook for friends’ cousins’ friends’ summah-vacay-in-Solvang photos or ravenously checking the WWLA Twitter account for new updates (which, alright, we’ll condone), we at WWLA entreat you to indulge in this stimulating yet zippy little prompt.

Write a non-verbal dialogue between two or three characters.  This could either be naturalistic–  you could illustrate two people eying each other from across a classroom– or exaggerated– a vegetarian and a meat-eater eying each other eying a turkey from across a table (these are just our piddling examples.  Go wild.  Go wilder).  Explore the ways in which physicality, gesture, silence and perhaps even a smidgen of onomatopoeia can express each character’s emotional state, relationship to other characters, power, power struggle, etc. within a scene.

Then, as if this weren’t already fun enough, write the same scene, but with the characters adapted to being something inhuman– perhaps an animal, perhaps a monster, perhaps an alien or even an object.  How do the minute details of non-verbal interaction change when the human anatomy is taken out of the picture?  Do you now have more or fewer freedoms?

–Moze Halperin (intern)

New Summer Classes

Attention everyone involved, formerly involved, or prospectively involved in WWLA!  The future of your involvement now lies ever so desirously, ever so desirably, ever so accessibly in the “classes” section of this website.  Go ahead.  You know you want to.  Temptation has never felt so… pedantic.

-Moze Halperin (Intern)

A Wednesday Evening Prompt (Applicable to any evening, morning, afternoon, mid-afternoon, twilight, light dusk, etc.)

Be naughty, counterintuitive, and perhaps counter-everything-you’ve-learned-about-writing. Write towards a superlative– any extreme. Write the saddest/silliest/ dullest/numbest/coldest/pithiest/Lynchiest/most exuberant/whatever-your-choice-may-be piece of writing that you’ve ever written, or, even more challenging, that you’ve ever read. In so doing, notice how this approach impacts your authorial voice: in order to truly attain such a goal (obviously not objectively speaking), should voice/style/structure change at all, or are you deft enough with plot to not have to neglect your typical writing tendencies? Do you have to stifle emotional flexibility within your piece, or can something only truly be, say, crushingly sad if it encompasses all those other elements? Simply notice what you must abandon and what you must adopt in using this method, and whether, in the end, you’re written something readable or something that purely sounds like an exercise.

–Moze Halperin (Intern)

Tweeting Around

Hello, everyone.  This is the new intern for WWLA, Moze Halperin, announcing our plunge into the now with the instauration of WWLA’s new Twitter account, @writingLA.  Of course, plunging into the now is no easy task (140 characters– seriously?)– it is a task that necessitates the support of loyal… supporters such as yourselves.  So get tweeting (twitting?  twatting?) and add us, follow us, love us.  You’ll be duly rewarded by daily quotes, witticisms and perhaps even a tsp. of rollicking idiotism about writing.  Links, updates, and prompts may also be found lurking in the tweets (twits? twats?).

–Moze Halperin

Creative Nonfiction Course Has Been Postponed!

The creative nonfiction course taught by Carolyn Kellogg in Echo Park has been postponed…we will announce its new start date very soon!  Please scroll down for more information, and if you’re interested in signing up/hearing directly about the new dates, please email writingworkshopsla@gmail.com.

Creative Nonfiction Workshop: Personal Essay and Memoir
(Taught by Carolyn Kellogg in Echo Park)

Tuesdays, 7:30 to 9:30 pm
DATES TBA (8 meetings)

In this mixed-level course, we will read and discuss published narrative nonfiction as a means to investigate questions of truth and storytelling, and where the two intersect. There will be in-class exercises that address specific craft issues such as scene and voice, among others, and every student will have the opportunity to workshop at least one piece of nonfiction writing in a serious environment meant to challenge and inspire each member of the class.

This course will take place in the instructor’s home in Echo Park, where beer, wine and sparkling water—and the occasional delicious snack—will be served.

Enrollment limit: 8 students
Course fee: $360 for new students; $320 for returning students (Payment plans available!)

If you’re interested in signing up, email writingworkshopsla@gmail.com

Back by Popular Demand: 3-hour Writing Sessions

I’ve just announced two new fiction writing exercise sessions for May.  Scroll down for more information, and email writingworkshopsla@gmail.com to sign up!

Keep Writing in 2010: One-Day Fiction Writing Exercise Sessions
Easier on the body than a yoga class–and better for the imagination.

$25 per student

There are 2 session sections to choose from:

FICTION WRITING:  Saturday, May 15, 2010 10 am to 1 pm  (with Leslie Parry in Pasadena)

In this 3-hour class, we will do a series of short in-class writing exercises that will give you new ideas and/or help you further develop projects you’ve already begun.  Some of the exercises will be favorites from previous courses, and some will be new.  We’ll go from one exercise to the next fairly quickly, and by the end of the session you’ll have pages upon pages of new material.  Those who are interested may stay for 15-20 minutes after the session to share one exercise with your fellow writers.
Enrollment is limited to 8 students per session.  Coffee, juice and sparkling water will be served!
If you’re interested, please email writingworkshopsla@gmail.com

Carolyn Kellogg Joins Writing Workshops Los Angeles!

Carolyn Kellogg!

I’m very excited to welcome writer Carolyn Kellogg to our growing roster of instructors.  Carolyn will be teaching the Spring/Summer 2010 Creative Nonfiction Workshop: Personal Essay and Memoir, beginning June 1st.  Go here for more details.  Carolyn and I have been friends for about a year now, and she continually impresses me with her passion for books and reading, her astute critical gaze, and her endless efforts to make L.A. a wondrous place for writers and readers (which it is, thanks in part to her.)

Here’s her official bio:

Carolyn Kellogg, who writes about books for the Los Angeles Times, holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Pittsburgh. She has taught at the University of Pittsburgh and in UCLA Extension’s Writers’ Program. Her work is regularly read online and in print at the Los Angeles Times and other venues, and can be heard on NPR. She was a judge of the 2010 Story Prize, the Library of Congress’s Letters to Literature Contest, USC’s Wonderland Prize and the Morning News Tournament of Books. Work by Ms. Kellogg is upcoming in Black Clock and a Red Hen Press anthology about California.

And here’s her Instructor’s Statement:

In class, we will explore the pleasures of reality-based narratives and the sometimes-conflicting pressures of truthtelling and storytelling. We will discuss the difference between memoir and memory, the difficulties of disclosure, and explore the edges of nonfiction. We will also practice, practice, practice: form, technique, discipline, play. Workshops and exercises are designed to ignite the desire to read and to write. Each individual voice will be fostered, encouraging students to be the best writers they can be.

New Classes

Beginning/Intermediate Fiction Writing Workshop (taught by Leslie Parry in Hollywood)

Thursdays, 7:30 to 9:30 pm
April 15, 2010 to June 10, 2010  (8 meetings; no class on May 27, 2010)

This 8-week class is designed both for short story writers and those just embarking on a novel.

For the first four weeks, we will do in-class writing exercises and discuss published short fiction and novel excerpts from a craft perspective.  We will cover such topics as characterization, pacing, point of view, structure, voice, and scene, and there will be short take-home writing assignments designed to help you progress with your manuscript.  For the final four weeks of the course, we will workshop student work in a serious environment meant to challenge and inspire every member of the class. Each student will have the opportunity to workshop either one short story manuscript or one novel excerpt (maximum 25 pages).

This course will take place in the instructor’s home in Beachwood Canyon (Hollywood), where wine and sparkling water—and the occasional gourmet cheese—will be served.

Enrollment limit: 8 students
$360 for new students; $320 for returning students.  Payment plans available.

If you’re interested, email writingworkshopsla@gmail.com

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Advanced Short Story Workshop (taught by Edan Lepucki in the Fairfax District)
Thursdays, April 22, 2010 to June 24, 2010 (10 meetings)

This 10-week course is designed for advanced students who are interested in deepening their understanding of short story craft and technique.

For the first few weeks we will discuss published short fiction and do in-class writing exercises. There will be optional out-of-class writing assignments, and we will hold short critiques of students’ work-in-progress and revisions. Each student will get to workshop at least one short story manuscript, if not two; the class will encourage everyone to turn in two short stories for feedback from the instructor.

Enrollment limit: 6 students
$385 for returning students; $400 for new students.  Payment plans available.

This course is by application only.  All students who sign up must have the minimum page requirement of a first draft to be eligible for the course. Please email writingworkshopsla@gmail to inquire about submission guidelines.

If you’re interested, email writingworkshopsla@gmail.com

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Intermediate Novel Writing Workshop (taught by Edan Lepucki in the Fairfax District)

Wednesdays, 7:30 to 9:30 pm
May 5, 2010 to July 21, 2010  (10 meetings; no class on 6/16 and 6/23)

This 10-week course is open to more advanced writers who have written between 50-100 pages of a novel. For the first few weeks of this class we will do in-class writing exercises, discuss craft and technique from a novelist’s perspective, and conduct critiques of 1- and 2-page excerpts of students’ works-in-progress.  There will be a weekly page-count requirement to keep you on task, and we will even set aside time for “lab” sessions, where students work seriously in-class, writing their manuscripts.  There will be two weeks off before we begin workshops so that students may commit their time to preparing their manuscripts for workshop.  The final weeks of the course will be devoted to critiquing student novel excerpts in an intense yet compassionate environment designed to challenge and inspire all members of the class.

Course will take place in instructor’s home in the Fairfax District where wine and sparkling water—and the occasional gourmet cheese—will be served.

This course is by application only.  All students who sign up must have the minimum page requirement of a first draft to be eligible for the course. Please email writingworkshopsla@gmail to inquire about submission guidelines.

Enrollment limit:  7 students
$410 for new students; $385 for returning students.  Payment plans available

If you’re interested, email writingworkshopsla@gmail.com

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There are a few spots left in Leslie’s 3-hour writing session on 3/20. It’s only $25!
Email writingworkshopsla@gmail.com to sign up!