November 14th, 2011
"Only a few of us are going to be willing to break our own hearts by trading in the living beauty of imagination for the stark disappointment of words."
—Ann Patchett
Welcome to the latest installment of the Grub Street Rag, a newsletter of the Boston literary scene brought to you every Monday from the final round of the Glass Half Full Vs. Glass Half Empty Competition at Grub Street's world headquarters. As always, if you are receiving this email in horror, please advance to the bottom of the page to unsubscribe yourself.
Today we are thrilled to announce the Novel Incubator, a year-long program designed for students to revise their novel drafts in a dynamic, meaningful and unique way. The Novel Incubator is an MFA-level program open to ten novelists who will work together over forty weeks, from May 2012 – May 2013, as part of a comprehensive craft-based study of the novel form and a thoughtful introduction to the publishing world. Two veteran Grub Street instructors, Lisa Borders and Michelle Hoover, both award-winning published novelists, will guide students through deep revision of their books while facilitating master-level workshops, craft lectures and discussions, one-on-one consultations, directed reading, analytical essays on the novel form, some studio time, and two full weekend Muse and the Marketplace conferences.
We know of no other program like the Novel Incubator in the country and are excited to offer it as an affordable complement or alternative to a traditional MFA. For much of 2011, Grub Street has (somewhat secretly) piloted the program with our two instructors and a class of ten students, who together have shaped and sharpened the curriculum and format. Because of this, we are confident that our approach will greatly benefit novelists at the revision stage and provide them with the necessary grounding, intensive study, small-group support network, industry connections and time to revise their novels effectively and approach publication smartly and realistically.
There are many more details. We urge you to learn more about the program, to attend our Incubator Open House on Thursday, December 8th at 5:30PM at Grub HQ, and to spread the word to anyone you know who might want to apply. The application reading period begins January 2nd, 2012 and closes February 15th, 2012. If you have any specific questions, please email Chris at chris@grubstreet.org.
Can you believe it? Winter 2012 is upon us! We have a record 110 evening, morning, afternoon, and weekend workshops to choose from, as well as more daytime seminars in every genre.
Brand-new this winter are classes in playwriting, humor writing, short film writing and production, self-publishing, haikus, sex non-fiction, the middle of novels, networking skills, social media, and even the art of search engine optimization (SEO). To see the complete list of winter offerings (and to search for the ideal class for you), go to http://www.grubstreet.org/index.php?id=402. The online registration process is very easy, but if you have questions or need help selecting a course, please call 617.695.0075 and any of our staff will be happy to assist you.
Viva the DIY/Small-Press Revolution!
How to Make Your Prose Sing (and Why It Should)
How to Write Riveting Scenes
The Basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Writers
Teen Writing Camp: Workshopping Your Writing
Legal Issues in Self-Publishing and eBook Publishing
The Who What Where and Why of eBooks
Humor Writing
Writing the Big Moments
Building Your Platform
Screenwriting II: Beyond Hollywood Structure
Prose Studio
So You Want to Be a Writer?
What Kind of Kids’ Writer Am I?
The Non-Fiction Book Proposal
How I Met My Narrative
Social Media Trends in Author Promotion
Mastering Twitter: Beginning Course for Authors
Screen and Stage...to the Page! Using the Techniques of Playwrights and Screenwriters to Write Pop Fiction
Developing the “I”: Perspective & Voice in Memoir
Playwriting I
Meditation and Writing
Teen Writing Camp: Generating New Writing
The Happy Middle
Yoga and Writing
Crafting Your Voice
Using History and Research to Enrich Your Narrative
Writing the Dark, Messy Matter
Muse and the Marketplace 101: Hone Your Networking Skills Before the Big Conference
The Sex Writer: Erotica and Sex Nonfiction
Fiction II: Revising With Intention
Writers Breaking Rules: Playing with Form in Creative Nonfiction
Cheers,
Whitney, Sonya, Eve, Chris, Rowan and Sean
In addition to our ongoing workshops, Grub Street offers numerous writing-related events around town. See our website for a long-term view of all we do.
SEMINAR: Friday, November 18th, 11:00am-2:00pm, Writing Suspense: You Know It When You Feel It
Suspense is that feeling that makes it impossible to put a book down and shut off the light. It’s that essential ingredient that turns a work of fiction into a “page turner.” In this 3-hour workshop we’ll talk about what makes suspense work.
Instructor: Hallie Ephron
Sorry, this class is sold out. Join the waiting list.
TEEN WRITING: Saturday, November 19th, 11am-1pm OR 2-4pm, Young Adult Writers Program (YAWP)
Do you like to write poems, lyrics, stories, novels or screenplays? Join Grub Street’s Young Adult Writers Program (YAWP), a FREE creative writing workshop for Boston-area high schoolers. Our students, age 13-18, come from a wide variety of schools in the Boston area, and enjoy cool writing exercises, mingling with fellow young writers, snacks, and an optional open mic. After four great years YAWP has already been recognized by the Boston Globe as Boston's hub for writing teenagers.
This Saturday, there will be three sessions to choose from in the morning and afternoon: Graphic Novels, Poetry, Fiction. YOU MUST BE AGE 13-18 TO REGISTER-- NO EXCEPTIONS. See website for full details and to register.
FREE, Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND SEMINAR: Saturday, December 3rd, 10:00am-5:00pm, Basics of the Personal Essay
Looking to translate all those meaningful experiences and insights into a personal essay? In this class, we will spend time both free writing and studying various approaches towards shaping our material into essays. You can expect to leave here at the end of the day with one completed draft and a number of ideas for future essays.
Instructor: Ben Berman
$115/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND SEMINAR: Saturday, December 3rd, 10:00am-5:00pm, Jumpstart Your Blog
A blog can be a great way to market yourself, build an audience, and exercise those creative impulses. Whether you're looking to breathe life back into an already established blog or have been wanting to start one and need a push, this class will offer guidance for writing posts others will want to read. You'll learn what makes a successful blog, read examples from the blogosphere, and begin crafting a plan that will include ways to build your audience. You'll also practice different types of posts with in-class writing exercises that will be workshopped in large and small groups. The goal is to leave with some solid beginnings (possibly finished posts), inspiration, and a strategy for success.
Instructor: Amy Marcott
* 4 spots left* $115/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND SEMINAR: Saturday, December 3rd, 10:00am-5:00pm, Structure as Solution: Form and the Personal Essay
The personal essay comes in many different forms, and each of these forms offers its own advantages to the writer. In fact, the choice of structure can help save the essayist, pushing her ideas to greater depth and complexity. Changing the structure of an essay can even help disguise its weaknesses and enhance its strengths. But how do you know what structures are out there, and which would help your essay? Appropriate for both the experienced and aspiring essayist alike, the seminar will cover the wide array of structures established essayists like Didion, Lopate, and Ballantine use to, in the words of Aldous Huxley, “look at the world through the keyhole of anecdote and description." A reading packet will be distributed, containing both how-to craft articles and examples of the form both classic and modern. We’ll use this packet to practice identifying what structures—and “keyholes”—are at work in different essays. Then comes the fun part: using the essay ideas you bring in, we’ll practice brainstorming how an essay idea might look if realized through different structures. With this exercise, one vague idea can turn into the inspiration for several tightly crafted kernels of essays just waiting to be realized.
Instructor: Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
* 4 spots left* $115/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND WORKSHOP: Saturday-Sunday, December 3-4th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Advanced Writing for Radio
In this advanced workshop you will learn not only how to write a radio piece but we'll pay special attention to how to get it accepted for air. You will learn how to write for the ear, the rules of broadcast style and how to pitch public radio editors and producers. This class will pay extra attention to how to refine a pitch and how to distinguish a workable idea from a not-so workable one. Students should plan to come to class with a solid idea or first draft of a radio piece. No prior experience in radio is necessary, nor any prior Grub Street classes. This workshop is open to all. Taught by an instructor who was a producer for NPR's nationally syndicated program "The Connection” and a six-and-a-half-year producer for CNN.
Instructor: Jennifer Mattson
$220/$195 members, Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND SEMINAR: Saturday, December 3rd, 10:00am-5:00pm, Writing the Non-Fiction Book Proposal
Learn all the elements that are critical to putting together a successful non fiction book proposal. Come armed with a laptop (or pen and paper) and be prepared to work on the spot and share ideas. We will brainstorm elevator pitches, get started on killer bios, and begin stitching together a marketing platform that will make your book irresistible to agents and editors. In addition, you will see examples of great and not-so-great drafts and learn how to make important decisions about what to include and what to leave out. You will come away with a clear plan for achieving your goals from an insider with years of experience working with agents, publishing executives, book publicists and and a cross section of local and national media.
Instructor: Katrin Schumann
$115/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND SEMINAR: Sunday, December 4th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Jumpstart Your Writing: Creative Non-Fiction Focus
This one-day weekend version of one of our most popular courses has a very clear mission: spend the day writing. Through a series of fun directed writing exercises, we will explore the terrain of creative non-fiction (no five-paragraph essays here!) and some poetry: mining for material, constructing characters and settings, shaping vivid dialogue, understanding point of view, exploring the many forms of non-fiction today, and finding your voice. We will discuss the process of writing and the strengths and weaknesses of the work we produce in class. We will read and discuss some short published non-fiction pieces and poems in regards to craft, then write exercises inspired by the texts. A supportive and generative experience for both new and practicing writers.
Instructor: Judah Leblang
$115/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND SEMINR: Sunday, December 4th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Workshop your Website or BlogDo you have a website and/or blog but want to learn ways to enhance the design and content? Looking to broaden your reach or boost your professional appeal? This class will offer a venue for receiving feedback on your online presence. Along the way, you’ll learn strategies for more effective design, navigation, usability, search engine optimization, and content. We’ll also do some writing exercises to help your work stand out.
Note: this seminar is only for those who already have a designed website or active blog. Submit the URL(s) of your website and/or blog to rowan@grubstreet.org by noon on Tuesday, November 29th. If you have a blog, also submit two of your best posts that could be discussed in class. The instructor will prepare thorough critiques of each site before class so submitting URLs as early as possible is appreciated. Amy Marcott is a web writer and editor at MIT who blogs frequently and assists with web redesigns and incorporating new technologies into online strategies.
Instructor: Amy Marcott
$115/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND SEMINAR: Sunday, December 4th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Jumpstart Your Memoir
One of our most popular courses has a very clear mission: to get you started on your memoir. Through a series of fun directed writing exercises, we will explore the terrain of memoir writing: mining for material, constructing characters and settings, shaping vivid dialogue, understanding point of view, and finding your voice. We will discuss the process of writing and the strengths and weaknesses of the work we produce in class. We may read and discuss some short published texts in regards to craft, then write exercises inspired by the texts. A supportive and generative experience for both new and practicing writers.
Instructor: Grace Talusan
* 4 spots left* $115/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ.
WEEKEND SEMINAR: Sunday, December 4th, 10:00am-5:00pm, Writing Literary Darkness Tastefully and Effectively
Writing a dark domestic drama but can’t quite make the conflict pop? Penning a tale of the supernatural that wants to be taken seriously? Inhabiting a villain or scoundrel who refuses to be plausible? This content-rich one-day weekend workshop is geared towards writing from the dark side without the melodrama or the fatal constriction of genre. By looking at the dark successes of some of our best writers, and through lively in-class exercises in everything from non-linear narrative structure to writing first-person unreliability, you will become a seasoned hand in writing violence, both physical and emotional, creating nuanced, relatable villains, mastering the finer points of dark and uncanny description, and making the dark hopes and desires of your characters seethe upon the page, among other strange things not dreamt of in our philosophy.
Instructor: Adrian Van Young
* 1 spot left* $115/$95.00 members, Grub Street HQ.
Be sure to check out our website for a comprehensive view of upcoming events.
Grub Street wants to promote YOU! Please send events for consideration to whitney@grubstreet.org. Bonus points and undying gratitude for submitting your event info in the same format as the events below. Our apologies in advance if we cannot fit you in. Please note that we do the best we can to evaluate requests, and do privilege requests from members, but cannot be held responsible for the quality of these events and programs or the legitimacy of contests. We expect that readers will do their own due diligence before sending their work or their money to any individual or organization
--PARTY: TONIGHT, Monday, November 14th, 2011, 5:30 – 7:30pm, Denis Leary Hosts Ploughshares 40th Anniversary Celebration
Don’t miss this chance to mingle with Boston’s literary luminaries and exciting celebrity guests and celebrate one of the most important magazines in the country. You will hear short readings and tributes from Alice Hoffman, Sue Miller, Wally Lamb, Andre Dubus III, Dennis Lehane, Pamela Painter, Joan Parker (for Robert B. Parker), Ming Tsai, Cam Neely and many others. Before the readings, enjoy an intimate cocktail reception with the presenters. All proceeds will benefit Boston-based Ploughshares. Hosted by the inimitable Denis Leary!
$50 program tickets/$250 VIP tickets, Paramount Theatre, Boston. More details and tickets here: https://www.pshares.org/subscriptions/40yearsevent.cfm#reserve
--READING: Wednesday, November 16th, 1pm, Kathy Handley
Grubbie Kathy Handley reads from her novel, Birds of Paradise, and collection, A World of Love and Envy.
FREE, UMass Boston Bookstore, 100 William T Morrissey Blvd.Campus Center, Boston, MA
--BREAKFAST: Wednesday, November 16th, 8am, Books for Breakfast
Join 826 Boston and One Laptop Per Child Founder & MIT Media Lab Co-Founder Nicholas Negroponte before heading to work on November 16th for a lively, thought-provoking breakfast. A limited number of tickets are still available.
$100/seat includes a catered breakfast. Ned Devine's, 1 Faneuil Hall Market Place, Boston, MA 02109. RSVP and purchase yours today!
--READING/TALK: Thursday, November 17th, 7:30 pm
Author Daphne Kalotay will discuss her novel Russian Winter, followed by a reception and book signing, as part of the Thursday Author Series.
FREE, Concord Free Public Library, 120 Main Street, Concord, MA 01742
--PANEL: Saturday, November 19th, 11-1pm, Self-publishing: Speaking from Experience
Technology has improved to the point that self-publishing is now a viable, affordable option. The challenge is in distribution.
Six authors will share why and how they self published. Free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
www.wnbaboston.org Sponsored by
Women’s National Book Association/Boston
And
National Writers Union.
FREE, Coolidge Corner Branch Brookline Public Library,
31 Pleasant St., Brookline
(Green line T or metered parking)
--READING: Monday, November 21st, 8pm, Richard Hoffman
Richard Hoffman reads from his new poetry collection, Emblem, with John Hodgen, whose latest poetry book is Heaven & Earth Holding Company. This reading is part of the Blacksmith House Poetry Series. For the complete series schedule, visit ccae.org/events/blacksmith.html.
$3, Blacksmith Poetry House, 56 Brattle St., Cambridge.
--WRITING SPACE: The Writers' Room
Are you looking for a quiet place to write? The Writers’ Room of Boston is a nonprofit organization located on State St. in Downtown Boston and and is currently accepting new members. Their mission supports the creation of literary and other written works by providing 24/7 access to an affordable, quiet, and safe workspace. All writers, whether published or not, are encouraged to apply. The minimum residency is three months; membership costs $300 per quarter. Please visit at www.writersroomofboston.org for more information or contact info@writersroomofboston.org.
Welcome to the end of the e-mail, where like a weekend of bacon, we offer you the chance to win a prize. This postal official, better known for his novels, woke up every day at 5:30am and wrote a thousand words an hour for two and a half hours before going to work. Email your answer to whitney@grubstreet.org. The first correct respondent wins a Starbucks gift card for a coffee treat.
Last week's trivia: Novelist and short story writer Zane Grey also considered being a professional baseball player and was famous for being able to catch baseballs barehanded. He was also, according to our winner, a dentist! Winner: Eve Ross Roberts.