Arts: Writing   

Would you rather play scrabble than monopoly because you love the surprise of creating words from the letter tiles you choose? Magnify that joy and you'll have the experience of cut-up poetry. All participants receive an assortment of pages from a variety of books that range from poetry to recipes to nonfiction texts on sewing or driving. Instead of choosing letter tiles, students pick words/phrases that speak to them from a page of text. Prompts and guidelines give students enough time to amass enough scraps to create a piece of writing. The juxtaposition available due to the different texts lends a certain nuance of magic to the creativity of the cut-up poem. Students may share their work with the class, but it’s not required.

In this writing workshop, students will strive to make their novel’s first chapter (with or without a prologue) the best it can be. There will be lecture interspersed with critiques. The class begins with a focus on creating a captivating first page. Students must submit their work before the course begins, and the first session will focus on critique and discussion of the elements that make a first page compelling. They will receive a handout of first-page guidelines. Students will rewrite their first pages for the second class, and a new round of critiques will take place. Once a first page is strong, students will move on to the rest of the chapter/prologue, reworking their narratives to sharpen tension, pace, and reader involvement. The instructor will coach writers on craft, including creating more effective description and dialogue. In addition to learning about technique, students will gain skills in self-editing.

NOTE: Students must complete their first chapter (including a prologue, if desired) and submit it to the instructor before the first session.