Class

Descriptive Language

Descriptive language is a writer's most powerful tool for creating what John Gardner called the best fiction—a vivid and continuous dream. Readings and writing exercises will focus on the importance of specificity, how to deftly work with adverbs and adjectives, describing with all five senses, and how to effectively communicate emotion. We will experiment with making the strange familiar and the familiar strange. We will read and discuss excerpts from the work of writers such as Jesmyn Ward, Lucia Berlin, Isaac Babel, Arundhati Roy, David Mitchell, and Chekhov.

Come prepared to write! Both writers of fiction and nonfiction will leave with a stronger sense of what constitutes excellent writing and how they might achieve it themselves.

We will read and discuss excerpts from the work of Philip Levine, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Arundhati Roy, Sarah M. Broom, Mariana Enriquez and Chekhov.

All Classes listed on the Loft website take place in Central Time.

Instructions for Accessing This Online Class

In order to access live class meetings, you must have the Zoom application downloaded to your computer. You will also need a WiFi/Internet connection throughout the duration of your scheduled meeting and a computer with audio and video capability. The information to join your Zoom classroom will be provided in your confirmation email upon registration. Please check spam folders if you do not see this email upon registration. For more information on how to use Zoom, please see our training manual here.