Gallowclass Workshops
POINT OF VIEW MASTERCLASS
“The house of fiction has many windows, but only two or three doors. I can tell a story in the third person or the first person, and perhaps in the second person singular, or in the first person plural, though successful examples of these latter two are rare indeed. And that is it. Anything else probably will not much resemble narration; it may be closer to poetry, or prose-poetry.”
– James Wood, How Fiction Works.
Perspective. Point of View. PoV. This is one of the first choices a writer makes when a writer sits down to tell a story, and it’s one of the subjects of writing I get asked about a lot. This workshop will use specific and directed writing exercises to help writers develop their awareness of how their choices in which perspective to use as the doorway into a story can affect the reader’s experience of the story in fundamental and drastic ways. Come learn how to take control of your narrative, and don’t leave anything to chance.
SETTING AS CHARACTER
“One does not simply describe a barn, then. One describes a barn as seen by someone in some particular mood…”
John Gardner, The Art of Fiction
The greatest fiction succeeds because the writer understands that relationships drive the narrative. Relationships between characters are relatively easy. Relationships between characters and settings are a bit more challenging. In this workshop, we’ll explore settings as characters, and how they can change and develop across the arc of a story. If the point of fiction is for the characters to go on journeys and become changed, that should include settings as well.
FLASH FICTION BOOT CAMP
“Brevity is the soul of wit…”
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
I’ve written over 700 flash fiction stories. In 2016 and 2020 I wrote a flash fiction story for every day of the year. I’ve come to learn that flash fiction presents great challenges as a medium, and they provide amazing opportunities for writers to develop their skills in ways they might not in longer fictional forms. This month-long class will take students on a journey into this incredibly potent fictional form and push their imaginations to the limits.
POETRY FOR GENRE WRITERS
“Although [fantastic fiction] borrows images and cadences from poetry, it is almost never poetic.”
Michael Moorcock, Wizardry and Wild Romance
Fantasy was born from the mythic traditions of epic poetry. Ray Bradbury told writers to read poetry every day. More and more writers are writing spectacular poems about the nerd experience. This class will explore awesome and evocative poetry as a jumping point for students to writing their own poetry, creating poetic forms for their own imaginative worlds, and learn how to mine poetry to improve upon their fiction writing.
