Chelsea Biondolillo
Online

Two Sundays
10:00 am to 12:00 pm (Pacific)
December 2 and 16, 2018

Research can be a writer’s best friend and worst enemy. It can provide needed context and depth to an essay, but it can also start with a simple question like “do cats really always land on their feet?” and somehow turn into two hours spent watching Wild Animal Kingdom outtakes on YouTube. During this generative two-day seminar, we’ll look at ways to structure research tasks so they work for us, rather than against us, and how to incorporate the results of research gracefully into our prose.

In the first meeting, we will talk through effective methods for turning interviews into scenes and for adding background and historical information without stopping the flow of your narrative. During the second meeting, after a two-week break to write, we will discuss how much imagination a writer can use while still calling their reportage "nonfiction," and participants will have the opportunity to workshop their essays in progress. This seminar is open to nonfiction students of all levels.

This class will meet online in real time using the Zoom platform. We will contact you with details.

Enrollment limit: 8 students
$130 new; $120 returning