2025 Summer Writing Retreat - Fiction
Course: “Roadmap from Start to Finish: Fiction Techniques to Begin & Complete Your Draft (& Beyond)”
Instructor: Natalia Sylvester
Class Assistant: Evan Parks
Week One
Sunday, July 6
7:00-8:00 PM CDT / Orientation Session: Hear from your instructor and learn all about the month ahead!
Event recording (available until August 31, 2025)
Monday, July 7
6:30-9:30 PM CDT / Write-in session: Join fellow SWR students for this virtual writing session. You’ll set intentions at the beginning, turn mics and cameras off for writing time, and then come back together at the end to share how the session went.
Tuesday, July 8
12:00-1:00 PM CDT / Lunchtime Craft Talk: “Atmosphere and Tone” with Andrew Porter: Take a mid-day break to learn how to create atmospheric writing and strike a particular tone in your work.
Event recording (available until August 31, 2025)
6:30-9:30 PM CDT / Write-in session: Join fellow SWR students for this virtual writing session. You’ll set intentions at the beginning, turn mics and cameras off for writing time, and then come back together at the end to share how the session went.
Wednesday, July 9
6:30-9:30 PM CDT / Session One – How to Begin (Again, or for the First Time): We’ll discuss the essentials of great beginnings and how to set up your story in a way that gives it fuel and momentum, whether you’re starting with a blank page or a revision.
Event recording (available until August 31, 2025)
Saturday, July 12
10:00-11:30 AM CDT / Saturday Craft Seminar “Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird: The Art of Eastern Storytelling” with Henry Lien: Author and writing instructor Henry Lien will explore how storytelling staples in the West, such as the three-act structure and themes of empowerment and change, are far from universal. He will introduce the East Asian four-act structure (kishōtenketsu), as well as circular and nested structures, and explain how Eastern value systems such as collectivism can dictate story structures, using examples ranging from the film Parasite to The 1,001 Nights to the Mario video game franchise.
Event recording (available until August 31, 2025), Presentation Outline
Week Two
Monday, July 14
6:30-9:30 PM CDT / Write-in session: Join fellow SWR students for this virtual writing session. You’ll set intentions at the beginning, turn mics and cameras off for writing time, and then come back together at the end to share how the session went.
Tuesday, July 15
12:00-1:00 PM CDT / Lunchtime Craft Talk: “Finding Meaning Everywhere” with A. Kendra Green: Take a mid-day break to learn how to find meaning and inspiration in the world around you.
Event recording (available until August 31, 2025)
6:30-9:30 PM CDT / Write-in session: Join fellow SWR students for this virtual writing session. You’ll set intentions at the beginning, turn mics and cameras off for writing time, and then come back together at the end to share how the session went.
Wednesday, July 16
6:30-9:30 PM CDT / Session Two – Who’s Driving Who?: We’ll explore the ways character and plot intertwine to drive a story forward, not only in our protagonists’ lives, but in secondary characters’ to create subplot.
Event recording (available until August 31, 2025)
Thursday, July 17
7:00-8:30 PM CDT / WLT Third Thursday “Remixes & Reimaginings: Seeing Stories Anew” with Kalynn Bayron, Gabe Cole Novoa, and Vaishnavi Patel: For our July Third Thursday, join us for a conversation about why and how we adapt and reimagine popular fairytales, classics, and mythologies as writers.
Week Three
Monday, July 21
6:30-9:30 PM CDT / Write-in session: Join fellow SWR students for this virtual writing session. You’ll set intentions at the beginning, turn mics and cameras off for writing time, and then come back together at the end to share how the session went.
Tuesday, July 22
12:00-1:00 PM CDT / Lunchtime Craft Talk: “Writing Hybrid Forms” with Jasminne Mendez: Take a mid-day break to learn about the challenges and rewards of eschewing genre and writing hybrid forms.
Event recording (available until August 31, 2025), Presentation Slides
6:30-9:30 PM CDT / Write-in session: Join fellow SWR students for this virtual writing session. You’ll set intentions at the beginning, turn mics and cameras off for writing time, and then come back together at the end to share how the session went.
Wednesday, July 23
6:30-9:30 PM CDT / Session Three – Take It All In: In this session we’ll dig into the makings of a scene by exploring things like dialogue, setting, and narrative distance. We’ll use these same tools to reimagine what a scene can do.
Event recording (available until August 31, 2025)
Thursday, July 24
7:00-8:00 PM CDT / Meet-up & Trivia Night: Test your literary knowledge and mix and mingle with fellow SWR writers.
Week Four
Monday, July 28
6:30-9:30 PM CDT / Write-in session: Join fellow SWR students for this virtual writing session. You’ll set intentions at the beginning, turn mics and cameras off for writing time, and then come back together at the end to share how the session went.
Tuesday, July 29
6:30-9:30 PM CDT / Write-in session: Join fellow SWR students for this virtual writing session. You’ll set intentions at the beginning, turn mics and cameras off for writing time, and then come back together at the end to share how the session went.
Wednesday, July 30
6:30-9:30 PM CDT / Session Four – Are We There Yet?: In this final session, we’ll embrace going “off-road” in your story to find twists and turns that feel organic to it. We’ll also discuss revision techniques and how to get unstuck in a way that helps you sustain the rest of your book’s journey towards the end.
Event recording (available until August 31, 2025)
Thursday, July 31
7:00-8:30 PM CDT / Student Reading Night: Select students will read from their works in progress to a warm and receptive audience of fellow Summer Writing Retreat writers and instructors, celebrating the culmination of a week full of craft and community.