Winter 2015 class schedule
Posted: December 2nd, 2014 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »To sign up for a class, please email enrollment@writingworkshopsla.com
SEMINARS
1-Day Seminar: Show and Tell (taught by Seth Fischer in Chinatown)
Sunday, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
February 8, 2022
SOLD OUT!
When you first hear it, “show, don’t tell” sounds like good writerly advice, but have you ever wondered how you’re supposed to tell a story without actually telling anyone anything? Have you ever felt like you lacked the tools to draft and revise your own writing with this advice in mind? This seminar will explore how to move past that old writing class cliché to think of your writing in terms of summary, scene, and story. Using examples from James Baldwin to Cheryl Strayed, students will explore how other writers have created successful scenes using dialogue, description, and action. They will delve into how these authors have written strong summary using tools like detail, voice, and precision. And they will examine how they wove summary and scene together to tell immersive, compelling stories. Before the seminar, students will do two short readings and one brief writing assignment, which can be either fiction or creative nonfiction. In the seminar, after exploring the readings, students will use this new knowledge to experiment with scene and summary through a series of writing and editing exercises.
This one-day seminar is open to students of all levels and to writers of both fiction and creative nonfiction. It will be held in Chinatown, where coffee, sparkling water, and light snacks will be served.
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$130 for new students; $120 for returning students
If you’re interested in signing up, please email enrollment@
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1-Day Seminar: The Art of the Paragraph (taught by Edan Lepucki in Hancock Park)
Saturday, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
March 28, 2021
SOLD OUT!
The paragraph is a self-contained unit of text that deserves to be analyzed and studied more closely in a creative writing setting. How can writers celebrate this tricky, flexible, and even sexy organizational device, and use it to their aesthetic advantage? In this seminar we will review-and perhaps break-traditional rules for paragraph writing, analyze various published paragraphs, and explore how our own paragraphs can be improved upon to strengthen our work as a whole.
This one-day seminar is open to students of all levels and to writers of both fiction and creative nonfiction. It will be held in Hancock Park, where coffee, sparkling water, and light snacks will be served.
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$130 for new students; $120 for returning students
If you’re interested in signing up, please email enrollment@
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2-Day Seminar: Improve Your Submission Game (taught by Chris Daley in Los Feliz)
Two Saturdays, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
January 24, 2022 and January 31, 2022
SOLD OUT!
It’s a new year and a new chance to up your submission game. By the time this seminar is over, you will have 1) an overview of how, where, and what to submit, 2) a list of appropriate venues for your genre and style, 3) a bio that is concise and memorable, 4) an effective query letter (if you have a book-length project) or cover letter (for short-form prose and poetry), 5) a sense of when and where to pitch first, and 6) a greater sense of confidence about sending your work out into the world. This seminar is geared toward students who have at least one finished piece of work. You’ll be asked to bring a laptop or tablet for research and to prepare a record-keeping system for your submissions. Join us for two fun Saturdays of publication preparation.
This two-day seminar is open to students of all levels and to writers of all genres. It will be held in Los Feliz, where coffee, sparkling water, and light snacks will be served.
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$170 for new students; $150 for returning students
If you’re interested in signing up, please email enrollment@
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2-Day Seminar: Using Fiction Techniques in Memoir (taught by Chris Daley in Los Feliz)
Two Saturdays, 10 am to 1 pm
March 7 and March 14, 2022
SOLD OUT!
Of all the subgenres in creative nonfiction, memoir can benefit most by incorporating fiction techniques. In fact, thinking of your memoir this way can make your story more relevant to more readers. Developing point of view, character motivation, and narrative voice can help construct an engaging persona to tell your story. Effective plot structure, scene building, and dialogue can add shape and a rhythmic tension to your life events. In this two-day seminar, we will also explore other techniques generally considered to “belong” to fiction, such as the use of subplot, suspense, setting, and figurative language. A few readings will be discussed in the first meeting, and a short writing assignment will be due in the second.
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$170 for new students; $150 for returning students
This two-day seminar is open to students of all levels. It will be held in Los Feliz, where coffee, sparkling water, and light snacks will be served.
If you’re interested in signing up, please email enrollment@writingworkshopsla.***
POETRY
Mixed Levels Poetry (taught by Elline Lipkin in Glendale)
Tuesdays, 7:30 to 9:30 pm
February 10, 2022 to March 31, 2021
SOLD OUT!
This eight-week workshop will focus on how to cultivate a practice of poetry—on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis as students integrate awareness, writing, and observation into their lives. The instructor will introduce poems that celebrate the everyday and deepen attention through use of metaphor, simile, or other poetic devices as students investigate and practice craft techniques. Writing exercises will focus on building an ongoing practice, creating poetic community, and new uses for poetry. Weekly workshopping of poems will help students to understand the mechanics of how a poem works and more about their own creative process.
This course will take place in Glendale, where wine and sparkling water—and the occasional gourmet cheese—will be served.
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$390 for new students; $350 for returning students. (Payment plans available to returning students.)
If you’re interested in signing up, please email enrollment@writingworkshopsla.
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FICTION
Mixed Levels Fiction (taught by Karl Taro Greenfeld in the Pacific Palisades)
Tuesdays, 7:30 to 9:30 pm
January 20, 2022 to March 10, 2022
SOLD OUT!
This eight-week mixed-levels class is designed for both short story writers and novelists. For the first four weeks, you will do in-class writing exercises and discuss published short fiction and novel excerpts from a craft perspective. You will cover such topics as characterization, pacing, point of view, structure, voice, and scene, and there will be short take-home writing assignments designed to help you progress with your manuscript. In the final four weeks of the course, you will be expected to turn in either a short story manuscript or a novel excerpt (maximum 25 pages), to be critiqued by the instructor. Students will also share excerpts and works-in-progress with the group in a workshop environment designed to inspire and challenge every member of the class.
This class will take place in the Pacific Palisades, where wine and sparkling water—and the occasional gourmet cheese—will be served.
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$390 for new students; $350 for returning students. (Payment plans available to returning students.)
If you’re interested in signing up, please email enrollment@writingworkshopsla.
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Fiction I (taught by Kate Maruyama at Incarnation Community Center in Glendale) 2 SPOTS LEFT!
Tuesdays, 7:00 to 9:00 pm
February 10, 2022 to March 31, 2021
SOLD OUT!
This eight-week course will introduce beginning writers to the basic techniques of fiction writing such as characterization, dramatization, dialogue, point of view, and so on. In class, students will discuss published fiction from a craft perspective and do writing exercises designed to tackle particular techniques. Each week students will have short writing assignments to do outside of class, which will be turned in for feedback from the instructor. As this course is designed for beginning writers, there won’t be any formal workshopping. The class is also open to more experienced writers who simply want to brush up on the basics.
This class will take place in Glendale, where wine and sparkling water—and the occasional gourmet cheese—will be served.
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$390 for new students; $350 for returning students. (Payment plans available to returning students.)
If you’re interested in signing up, please email enrollment@writingworkshopsla.
***
Fiction II (taught by Diana Wagman in Silverlake)
Thursdays, 7:30 to 9:30 pm
February 19, 2022 to April 9, 2021
SOLD OUT!
This eight-week intermediate-level class is designed for both short story writers and novelists. For the first four weeks, students will do in-class writing exercises and discuss published short fiction and novel excerpts from a craft perspective. The class will cover such topics as characterization, pacing, point of view, structure, voice, and scene, and there will be short take-home writing assignments designed to help students progress with their manuscripts. For the final four weeks of the course, students will be workshopped in a serious environment meant to challenge and inspire every member of the class. Each student will have the opportunity to workshop either one short story manuscript or one novel excerpt (maximum 25 pages).
This class will take place in Silverlake, where wine and sparkling water—and the occasional gourmet cheese—will be served.
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$390 for new students; $350 for returning students. (Payment plans available to returning students.)
If you’re interested in signing up, please email enrollment@writingworkshopsla.
***
Novel I (taught by Seth Fischer in Mid-City/Beverly Grove)
Tuesdays, 7:30 to 9:30 pm
February 10, 2022 to April 14, 2021
SOLD OUT!
In this ten-week course, students will develop their novels and write the first 40 pages. Students will spend the first few weeks doing writing exercises and discussing craft and technique from a novelist’s perspective. All assignments, both in- and out-of-class, will ask students to think deeply about their projects and aesthetic goals. There will be a weekly page-count requirement to keep everyone on task. The final weeks of the course will be devoted to workshopping student novel excerpts in an intense yet compassionate environment designed to challenge and inspire all members of the class.
This class will take place in Mid-City L.A., where wine and sparkling water—and the occasional gourmet cheese—will be served.
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$420 for all students (Payment plans available to returning students.)
If you’re interested in signing up, please email enrollment@writingworkshopsla.
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Intensive Novel Workshop (taught by Margaret Wappler in Mt. Washington)
Thursdays, 7:30 to 9:30 pm
February 12, 2022 to April 16, 2021
SOLD OUT!
This ten-week advanced course is designed for writers who have finished, or who are close to finishing, the first draft of a novel and seek help revising it. Every week, the class will meet to discuss and critique student work. By the end of the course, each student will have received feedback from his or her classmates and instructor on 100 pages of a novel in progress. The instructor will provide general comments on the manuscripts submitted throughout the course; at the end of the class, students can choose between receiving a formal written critique from the instructor or meeting one-on-one to discuss revision options and strategies.
The emphasis over the course of these ten weeks will be solely on workshopping existing work. While students are allowed to revise and resubmit, no formal writing assignments will be given. This class requires a serious commitment from students: each week, students should be prepared to workshop 60 pages from their classmates.
This class will take place in Mt. Washington, where wine and sparkling water—and the occasional gourmet cheese—will be served.
Enrollment limit: 6 students by application only
$475 for all students (Payment plans available to returning students.)
This class is open to experienced writers only. To apply for entry, please email enrollment@writingworkshopsla.
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8-Week Fiction Writing Group
Section 1 (taught by Darcy Vebber in Hancock Park) 5 SPOTS LEFT!
Wednesdays, 7:30 to 9:30 pm
January 28, 2022 to March 18, 2022
Section 2 (taught by Amelia Morris in Echo Park) SOLD OUT!
Sundays, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
February 22, 2022 to April 19, 2021 (no class April 5, 2021)
In this course, students will have the opportunity to be a part of a fiction writers’ group facilitated by a published writer. Within a supportive environment, students will share new and in-process work, write from prompts, take home ideas for new stories, talk about writing, and ask questions about craft, creation, and process. We will form our own writing community, giving and receiving feedback from one another, all while having a good time. This is not a lecture class, nor will there be class assignments.
Section 1 of this group will take place in Hancock Park, where wine, sparkling water, and the occasional snack will be served, and section 2 will take place in Echo Park, where tea, sparkling water, and light snacks will be served.
Enrollment Limit: 8 students
$260 for all students
If you’re interested in signing up, please email enrollment@writingworkshopsla.
***
NONFICTION
Nonfiction I (taught by Chris Daley in Los Feliz)
Thursdays, 7:30 to 9:30 pm
January 22, 2022 to March 12, 2022
SOLD OUT!
In this eight-week course, students will read, discuss, and draft essays (or chapters) that will explore the genre(s) of personal narrative and memoir. The readings will be selected to stimulate thinking, exemplify different techniques and styles, and suggest techniques for engaging personal and creative expression. There will be in-class and homework exercises that address topics such as persona, audience, story, description, memory and truth, and ethical considerations specific to the genre. Students will have the chance to workshop their writing in a serious environment meant to challenge and inspire each member of the class.
This class will take place in Los Feliz, where wine and sparkling water—and the occasional gourmet cheese—will be served.
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$390 for new students; $350 for returning students. (Payment plans available to returning students.)
If you’re interested in signing up, please email enrollment@writingworkshopsla.
***
Nonfiction II (taught by Margaret Wappler in Silverlake)
Tuesdays, 7:30 to 9:30 pm
February 17, 2022 to April 7, 2021
SOLD OUT!
This eight-week intermediate course is designed for writers who are looking to continue their exploration of the memoir or personal essay genre. The students will have some familiarity with at least a few of the generic concerns of personal narrative, such as hybridity of form, dramatization, retrospective versus immediate point of view, ethics, and so on. There will be some assigned readings, but the class will focus on bringing projects toward completion through a process of drafting, feedback, and revision in a challenging but supportive environment. Weekly in-class and homework exercises will help students develop their craft, and a series of in-depth workshops in the latter half of the course will allow students to apply critical reading skills to their own writing. Aside from receiving one formal workshop for a longer piece, students will have the opportunity to submit short work for review every other week.
Since this course is designed for more experienced writers, previous enrollment in WWLA’s Nonfiction I course is suggested but not required.
This class will take place in Silverlake, where wine and sparkling water—and the occasional gourmet cheese—will be served.
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$390 for new students; $350 for returning students. (Payment plans available to returning students.)
If you’re interested in signing up, please email enrollment@writingworkshopsla.
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