Enrich your story with moments from your characters' past. Characters have a history just as real people do. A character’s past provides motivation, making them believable and emotionally sympathetic. By using backstory, we give readers valuable insight into their lives. But how do we write effective backstory and where in our stories do we put […]
Make your fiction — and your non-fiction — come alive by incorporating gripping facts about what the world was really like when your story takes place! During the first four sessions, this class will cover and answer participants' questions about (1) how to perform research at many of the DC area's unique resources, including the […]
Write a publishable story for the current literary market! What makes a story fresh? Contemporary? Stand out? Publishable? In this small-sized class, we'll examine a series of contemporary stories to answer these questions and discover lessons on craft, style, and theme to apply to our own writing. In preparation, you'll need a full-length story or […]
Learn how to approach revision strategically. You know that writing is rewriting, but you’ve combed over your manuscript so many times and it’s still not working. Do you give up? Start again? Submit to agents and hope they’ll see a diamond in the rough? What you need is a revision plan. In this workshop, you’ll […]
This workshop will introduce writers to the explosive short form of Flash Fiction. This workshop will introduce writers to this explosive short form. Each week, writers will read several contemporary flashes, read craft essays on flash, and write one piece to a specific prompt. The instructor and class will offer feedback on all the flash […]
