Class

Writing Experimental Essays

Experimental essays sometimes contain leaps and jump cuts, multiple topics knit together, variations on themes, repetition as if a song or poem, borrowed structures, or imagined outcomes. In this class, we will explore strategies to generate text for your own experimental essay.

In this class, we will read, discuss, write, revise, and repeat through a variety of traditional and untraditional practices.
We will expose ourselves to a variety of experimental essays to deepen our understanding of what is possible. In-class discussion of texts will focus on writers deepening their own understanding of what the experimental essay is and what impact (and on what communities) it has had and might have. We will read texts (and parts of texts) by Claudia Rankine, Sei Shōnagon, Cathy Park Hong, Kiese Laymon, Lily Hoang, Maggie Nelson, and others. The instructor will provide prompts and activities to encourage writers to deepen their own understanding, present their findings, and consider peer’s ideas on their own terms.

This class focuses on generative writing and revision, and learners may share up to three pages with the instructor for written feedback each week. We will read each other’s work and provide information about what we notice in it. This class is best suited towards students who have experienced some sort of marginalization. It is suitable for all writers interested in creative nonfiction.

This class takes place in-person, at the Loft at Open Book; we encourage participants to be fully vaccinated and masked in the interest of everyone’s safety. Please see the Loft’s website for the most up to date information about the Loft’s COVID policies.