Iowa Summer Writing Festival


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Workshop Descriptions & Instructors Lee K. Abbott Marilyn Abildskov Mary Allen Kate Aspengren Thomas Fox Averill Nancy Barry Timothy Bascom Kyle Beachy Linda Bendorf Venise Berry Bruce Bond Jericho Brown Michael Dennis Browne Thomas K. Dean Amber Dermont Janet Desaulniers Kelly Dwyer Hope Edelman Sarah Fay Hugh Ferrer Geoffrey Forsyth Patricia Foster Cecile Goding Douglas Goetsch Megan Gogerty Eric Goodman Vince Gotera Ann Harleman Christine Hemp Jim Heynen Rick Hillis Charles Holdefer Jeremy Jackson Richard Jackson Rebecca Johns Cheryl Fusco Johnson Wayne Johnson Daniel Khalastchi Carolyn Lieberg BK Loren Dora Malech Peter Markus Malinda McCollum Fritz Mc Donald James McKean June Melby Gordon Mennenga Sharelle Byars Moranville Michael Morse Alicia Rebecca Myers Marc Nieson Shannon Olson Lon Otto Juliet Patterson Kiki Petrosino Mark Jude Poirier Sarah Prineas Elizabeth Robinson Anjali Sachdeva Sarah Saffian Leslie Schwartz Sandra Scofield Mary Kay Shanley Carol Spindel Elizabeth Stuckey-French Ned Stuckey-French Karen Subach Mary Swander Peter Trachtenberg Nick Twemtow Anthony Varallo Mary Vermillion Kris Vervaecke Michelle Wildgen Bart Yates	Advanced Novel: Stretching the Scene One-Week Workshop June 20–25 Writing beyond Realism (Even If Just Momentarily) Weekend Workshop June 26–27 Frontloading: The Crucial First Chapters of Your Novel One-Week Workshop July 18–23 Even Shorter Short Story Weekend Workshop July 24–25 Biography Advanced Novel: Stretching the Scene One-Week Workshop June 20–25 It is the burning question behind any scene: how to balance dialogue, action, and description? The answers, of course, depend on the desired tone and effect of the scene, along with its role in the book overall. This workshop will investigate the finer points of scene-building for novelists. Throughout, we will read each real-time scene as a kind of gateway to narrative, training our eyes for departure and return points and finding the best ways to integrate further information (sometimes exposition, sometimes other) into your action. We will read and consider examples of great and distinctly not great dialogue to answer questions like, how much is too much? When should it come, and how should it be broken up? Should it be stylized or realistic? Which is which? In-class exercises and assignments will hone our ear for the rhythms of sharp, rich dialogue. Each participant will workshop one scene from a larger work they bring from home. Writing beyond Realism (Even If Just Momentarily) Weekend Workshop June 26–27 Had he never seen the ghost of his father, Hamlet might have lived into old age, suspicious of his uncle, but likely more at peace. Or, had the guards and others not seen the ghost with Hamlet, we could write his behavior off as mere madness. Either way, Shakespeare’s most famous ghost is remembered less for being “unrealistic” and more for the way he sets the plot in motion. In this generative class (not a workshop), we will consider the risks and potential rewards of stepping outside the strict confines of realism. How can we reconcile phantoms, figments, and apparitions with an otherwise natural, realistic story? Class time will be spent examining how authors have incorporated the “fantastic” into their prose, along with generating and sharing new work. Frontloading: The Crucial First Chapters of Your Novel One-Week Workshop July 18–23 This workshop will focus on the openings of novels, as well as the question of volume: how much plot, exposition, and character development can, or should, early chapters contain? Taking famous openings as examples, we’ll consider a novelist’s options in these crucial “first impressions.” Students will be expected to arrive with completed drafts of opening chapters, along with synopses of the novels from which they are taken. These will be workshopped with an eye for what they are doing well, and what they need to do better. Even Shorter Short Story Weekend Workshop July 24–25 How short, exactly, is very short? And if brevity is the soul of wit, does that mean short-shorts are merely jokes? Certainly Hemingway aimed higher with his famous six-word story: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” In this class, we’ll stray beyond six words but stay well south of 1000, focusing our energy on perhaps the fastest growing niche of the fiction market, the “smoke-long” flash stories designed to take as much time to read as to smoke a cigarette (we will not be smoking in class). Through readings, writing exercises, and discussion, we will confront the endless possibilities presented by this wee little form. Biography Kyle Beachy’s debut novel, The Slide, was published in 2009 by The Dial Press. Hailed as “Suspenseful, erotic, and terribly sad,” it is a ghost story, a love story, and a story of the American Midwest. He received his M.F.A. from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. He teaches writing and literature at The School of the Art Institute and the Graham School at The University of Chicago. His short fiction and essays have appeared most recently in Knee-Jerk, Hobart, decomP, and on the Featherproof Triple Quick iPhone application.

	Site Map \| Welcome \| Workshops by Session Date \| Workshops by Instructor Workshops by Genre \| Registration & Housing Information \| Registration Form Sponsored by the Division of Continuing Education Iowa Summer Writing Festival C215 Seashore Hall The University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242 Phone 319-335-4160 FAX 319-335-4743 iswfestival@uiowa.edu Last updated on February 5, 2010