Workshop Descriptions & Instructors

Marilyn Abildskov
Mary Allen
Kate Aspengren
Thomas Fox Averill
Nancy K.Barry
Timothy Bascom
Kyle Beachy
Karen Bender
Linda Bendorf
Maudy Benz
Venise Berry
Bruce Bond
David Bouchier
Michael Dennis Browne
Maggie Conroy
Mary Cross
Thomas K. Dean
Amber Dermont
Janet Desaulniers
Kelly Dwyer
Hope Edelman
Josh Emmons
Jill Esbaum
Sarah Fay
Hugh Ferrer
Katie Ford
Geoffrey Forsyth
Cecile Goding
Douglas Goetsch
Sands Hall
Christine Hemp
Jim Heynen
Rick Hillis
Charles Holdefer
Richard Jackson
Rebecca Johns
Cheryl Fusco Johnson
Wayne Johnson
Daniel Khalastchi
Carolyn Lieberg
BK Loren
Peter Markus
Fritz Mc Donald
James McKean
Gordon Mennenga
Sharelle Byars Moranville
Michael Morse
Barbara Robinette Moss
Marc Nieson
Shannon Olson
Diana Ossana
Lon Otto
Juliet Patterson
Kiki Petrosino
Mark Jude Poirier
Leslie Carol Roberts
Anjali Sachdeva
Sarah Saffian
Sam Samuels
Sandra Scofield
Mary Kay Shanley
Robert Anthony Siegel
Carol Spindel
Karen Subach
Mary Vermillion
Kris Vervaecke
Ashley Warlick
Michelle Wildgen
Bart Yates

Sam Samuels

The Feature Article, or Write What You Don’t Know
One-Week Workshop
July 5–10

Writing the Query: A Feature Article in Miniature
Weekend Workshop
July 11–12

Biography

The Feature Article, or Write What You Don’t Know
One-Week Workshop
July 5–10
“Write what you know,” we’re told. But if your goal is to write nonfiction feature articles, “what you know” and “what they’ll publish” aren’t always the same thing. As a wise editor once said, “Magazines want writers to get out there and bring in the story.”

That’s what we’ll do in this course: go “out there” and bring stories in. We’ll examine what makes good material for a magazine feature. You’ll bring ideas of your own from home, and we’ll brainstorm more. We’ll talk about the skill of interviewing, travel, and other ways to research a story. And we’ll practice the art of transforming your research into a compelling article using all the wit and observation of the essay writer’s craft.

Rather than critiquing a piece you’ve brought from home, the course will focus on developing a new article from the idea stage to completion. Our week will mirror the process of writing a feature for publication, from getting the assignment on Monday, to researching and writing mid-week, to sharing a final draft on Friday.

Writing the Query: A Feature Article in Miniature
Weekend Workshop
July 11–12

You have a brilliant idea for a feature-length nonfiction article. You know the perfect magazine for it. Don’t write it yet.

First get the magazine to assign you the article. To do that you must write a compelling proposal, a letter that in the magazine world is quaintly called “the query.” If yours is a mere business letter, it’s likely to get a very businesslike rejection. The query is a piece of writing unto itself, an informed and impassioned mini-essay. Not a seven-course meal, but a tiny, irresistible hors d’oeuvre packed with flavor and the promise of bounty yet to come. It’s the rare editor who will take the time to read a fully-written article submitted by a new writer—but a good query will hold their attention and might get your work published.

In this workshop, we’ll discuss how to find good feature material, choosing wise places to send your query, and crafting the query itself. Bring plentiful ideas, and come away with a query or two that you’re ready to send out.

Biography
Sam Samuels has written for The New York Times, Smithsonian, Discover, Sierra, FamilyFun, and Real Simple, among others. Recent articles have covered the Loess Hills of western Iowa, a weekend retreat at a monastery, and a guy who likes to build igloos. He’s also written about invasive earthworms, how it felt when his small child got a part in a big movie, the world’s largest scale model of the solar system, and coffin-building monks.

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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 10, 2009