Summer Writing Retreat 2022: “Beginnings, Middles, and Endings: Fiction at Every Stage” with Stacey Swann
July 11, 2022 - August 1, 2022
$269.00 – $389.00
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This Event is for Members only.
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Level 1 (Class Only): $269 for Members, $329 for Non-Members
Level 2 (Class + Private Consultation): $329 for Members, $389 for Non-Members
This July, join us for our virtual 2022 Summer Writing Retreat featuring three classes on memoir, fiction, and revision plus lots of special events throughout the month, including two Saturday Craft Seminars, meet-ups, and dedicated writing time.
Each class will meet weekly for four weeks, starting the week of July 11, ending the week of August 1. Our fiction class with Stacey Swann will meet every Monday (July 11, 18, 25, August 1) from 6:30 PM CDT to 9:30 PM CDT via Zoom. A recording of each class session will be shared with all class registrants the day after – so you won’t miss anything even if you need to skip a session. Class details are below.
Registration for this class will close at 5:00 PM CDT on Monday, July 11.
“Life is very nice, but it lacks form. It’s the aim of art to give it some.” – Jean Anouilh
Whether we’re writing novels or short stories, fiction writers have to grapple with structuring beginnings, middles, and endings. Each of these sections of a larger work has its own specific needs. In this class, we’ll take a close look at successful strategies – and potential pitfalls – for each stage of the narrative.
Over the course of the four class sessions, we’ll gain skills in crafting openings that ground the reader and draw them in, middles that escalate tension and add to character development, and endings that satisfy and yet still surprise. We’ll do this through in-depth discussions of essential craft topics and hands on experimentation through writing exercises. Throughout, there will be plenty of space for discussion as well as giving and receiving informal feedback.
As the month progresses, we’ll read two short stories and a short novel – Who Will Run the Frog Hospital by Lorrie Moore – to evaluate their success at each stage of the narrative.
About each session:
Week 1 (July 11): Give the reader a place to stand… and then suck them in: In this first session, we’ll discuss the importance of a first page in a short story and the first scene in a novel. What information does the reader need immediately and what can be developed later? What does the opening say about the emotional and intellectual promise of your work, and how does that promise relate to atmosphere and tone? We’ll dig into these topics by looking at published examples as well as our own opening paragraphs.
Week 2 (July 18): A further examination of openings: In our second session, we’ll move further into openings to examine inciting incidents, scene versus summary, introducing characters, and the other important work a successful opening accomplishes.
Week 3 (July 25): The dreaded long middle: In this third session, we’ll tackle the part of a work that often gives writers the most trouble: everything that comes after the beginning and before the end! Topics will include pacing, subplots, and the wide variety of plot structures available to us.
Week 4 (August 1): And then we came to the end: In the final session, we’ll take a close look at endings. How successful at sticking their endings are the published works we’ve read throughout the month? As a reader, what kinds of endings delight you the most? We’ll also compare the different expectations for short story endings versus novel endings and how best to meet those expectations while still surprising the reader.
Take this class if…:
The class is geared to all fiction writers at any stage of a project, whether you are just getting started or have already finished a draft. Beginning writers will gain a clearer understanding of the structural expectations of fiction, and more experienced writers will learn tactics for looking at their work in fresh ways.
Preparation for the first day of class:
Over the course of the month, students will read two short stories and a short novel, but there will be no required reading prior to the first class session. Ahead of the first class session, students will be expected to purchase (or check out from the library) a copy of Who Will Run the Frog Hospital by Lorrie Moore.
Registration details:
Choose your registration level:
Level 1 (Class Only) or
Level 2 (Class + Private Consultation)
The difference: Level 2 (Class + Private Consultation) registrations include one 20-minute meeting with Stacey Swann sometime during the month (via Zoom). If you’d like, you can also share 10 pages of your work for feedback ahead of the meeting.
Instructor
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Stacey Swann’s debut novel Olympus, Texas (Doubleday) was a Good Morning America Book Club selection, an Indie Next Pick, and was longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Swann holds an M.F.A. from Texas State University and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Her writing has appeared in LitHub, Electric Literature, Texas Highways, Epoch, and other journals. She splits her time between Austin and Lampasas, Texas.
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