Class

Finding Your Essay's Compass–Advanced Creative Nonfiction Workshop

Lyric essays can seem impenetrable at first, but when done well, they have a beating heart inside of them. For aspiring writers, gaining a better understanding of what makes writing lyric (or language based) can make all prose writing stronger.

This advanced creative nonfiction workshop is designed for writers of essays who are seeking to move their individual pieces to that next level. The class will spend the first four weeks with a mixture of lecture, discussion, and writing prompts. We'll first look at examples of published essays with innovative structures and poetic language. Through analysis of the published essays, participants can expect to take away a better understanding of essay structures—how form is used to both serve and uplift content—as well as a heightened attention to language at the sentence level.

In the remaining eight weeks, we will take the tools we've learned and apply them to workshop participant's essays in order to excavate each essay's own beating heart. A workshop is only as good as its participants, and workshopping nonfiction is an inherently vulnerable act, so students should come to class fully prepared and ready to participate in a supportive, inclusive, anti-racist, and anti-ableist manner.

Though the goals of the class are serious, this will be a dynamic, energetic, and fun virtual community. For the purposes of completing a manuscript for this class, in our allotted time together, students should aim to write a minimum of 1,000 words per week. If you cannot commit yourself to the full twelve-week plan, please reconsider whether this is the right class for you, and explore other Loft class options.

No class on March 26.

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.

Some classes use a supplemental Google Classroom page. Should your teaching artist use Google Classroom, you will be invited to join the classroom via email at least 24 hours in advance of your class (check spam folders if you are not seeing this invitation). Please note that Google Classroom requires a Gmail address to access the Classroom. If you do not have a Gmail account, the email invitation will be sent to the email address we have on file and will prompt you to create a free account or enter an existing account to join the classroom. If we are unable to send an email invitation to your non-gmail account, you will be contacted by a staff member to provide a Gmail address. If you do not have a Gmail account, you can create a free account here. Should you have concerns about this, please contact a Loft staff member at [email protected] or 612-379-8999. For more information on how to use Google Classroom, please see our training manual here.