Check out the lineup for Black Lawrence Press virtual events!
Instructor: Gwendolyn Paradice
Date: August 12
Time: 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM Eastern, Virtual
FREE EVENT
“The Flash Fiction Formula” is a 1 ½ hour hybrid craft talk and generative writing workshop that explores what makes flash fiction successful. We’ll begin by defining flash fiction and learning what makes it a distinct form (as compared against the short story or novel). Then, we’ll look at trends in flash fiction—the craft moves and writing choices authors have made over time—that provide us a mix-and-match formulary for writing flash fiction. Finally, participants will piece together formulas for their own flash fiction using what we’ve learned, and they’ll leave with the scaffolding for their own creative piece and a reading list of some of Gwen’s favorite flash fiction of all time.
Gwendolyn Paradice is the author of the short story collection More Enduring for Having Been Broken (Black Lawrence Press, 2021), winner of the 2019 The Hudson Prize, & the co-authored chapbook Carnival Bound (or, please unwrap me) (The Cupboard Pamphlet, 2020). Their work has appeared in Booth, Zone 3, ANMLY, Tin House Online, The Journal of American Folklore, & others. Gwendolyn is a queer, disabled, enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, & their prose often explores form and personal identity. They are currently an Assistant Professor of English and Philosophy at Murray State University where they direct the Creative Writing Program.
Writing the Poetic Series: Six Weeks from Brainstorm to Manuscript Blueprint
Instructor: Cynthia Marie Hoffman
Dates: September 6, 13, 20, 27 & October 4, 11
Time: 11 am – 1 pm Eastern, Virtual
Tuition: $295
Not a single poem. Not a book of poems. But a secret third thing.
In this six-week workshop, we’ll inhabit the magical third space that is created when poems speak to each other. We’ll ask: What is intertextuality, and what does it make possible? We’ll read poems and interviews with poets who are working in this space. We’ll use generative exercises to come up with our own big-picture idea, test the limits of that idea, and then draft our own five-poem (or more!) series as well as a blueprint for expansion to an eventual chapbook or full-length manuscript.
Questions we’ll consider include: How much should I plan ahead, and how much should I let loose? How can I recognize whether an obsession is limiting or liberating my creative spirit (and when to quit)? What purpose does sameness of form, imagery, and subject serve, and when might it become boring for both me and my readers? How can research expand the scope of my project? And what about publishing in journals? Should poems stand on their own? And of course, we’ll acknowledge the pros and cons of the poetry “project.”
We’ll include discussion time to share ideas and poems in an open and generative-minded workshop atmosphere. The class will conclude with a celebratory reading of our work and some tips on how to submit poetic series to journals.
When it’s all over, you’ll have a good start on your next book and a set of brainstorming tools to ensure you’ll never run out of ideas. You’ll never want to write “just one poem” again.
Writing a Biographical Poem
Instructor: Zoe Brigley Thompson
Date: September 9
Time: 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM Eastern, Virtual
FREE EVENT
Even for Youngers: the Personal is Political
Instructor: Laura Jean Baker
Date: October 14
Time: 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM Eastern, Virtual
FREE EVENT
Dismantling the Details: How to Maximize the Impact of Your Imagery
Instructor: Jennifer Met
Date: November 11
Time: 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM Eastern, Virtual
FREE EVENT
Metaphor and Meaning
Instructor: Erica Wright
Date: December 12
Time: 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM Eastern, Virtual
FREE EVENT