Grackle image by artist Anant Ronen.
Of course, the hardest part of writing a book is every part: making sense of an idea, translating ideas into words, fighting to see who the characters really are and what they need and want, rearranging words and scenes and images, doing this over and over again, draft after draft, and then beginning the arduous process of scouting agents for your work, sending query letters. This is a class for people somewhere in the middle part of this process. To be in this class, you should have at least 40 pages written (maybe not in order) by the time the class begins, and commit to writing ten pages a week. It is for people in the early drafts of their novels so that they can get the novel, or a solid draft, finished. Everybody will have 2 workshops.
In the first hour we will discuss questions the writers have, and we will have a writing prompt meant to help add scenes, ideas, and fill out a novel. The second hour is reserved for workshopping, 30 minutes per workshop. If there is only one person being discussed on a given week, we will spend more time writing. We’ll also have an informal snack/lunch so those skipping out on the workday don’t return hungry. We close out with a second writing prompt. Every week we will have one or two workshops, depending on how many people are in the class.
This is an in-studio (not online) class for writers who have not written to the end of their books yet, OR who are in the middle of an early draft’s rewrite. The novels we read encompass all the genres — including memoirs. This class will include weekly writing time, weekly workshopping, and time discussing the dead ends and corners writers find themselves in.
Early draft workshops will aim at helping writers make it through to the ending of their draft: to get the pages down, to untangle problems they have come up with, to talk out their problems in a group with readers that desperately look forward to reading to the end — to show themselves they can write to the end of a novel. We will focus on what is working well, what aspects of the story we find most intriguing, what questions we hope will be answered, and what the mystery is. Writers generally workshop around 15-35 pages per workshop.
Middle draft workshops will help writers seriously face problems of structure, character arcs, and forward momentum. They are not quite finished writing the first draft. We help reconceptualize the story that may have come out in fits and starts, with an eye for the end. We will discuss plot holes, sags in the pacing, and problems with characters who may seem one thing in the writers eyes but seem something else to early readers. Again, we will talk out problems the writers face as they iron out the flaws and problems they identified in their earlier drafts. They generally workshop around 60 pages in the first workshop, up to 60 pages in the second.
If you have taken this class multiple times you can choose to summarize portions of the book (say the beginning) and start the readers from a later section so you can get feedback on new material, and so you are inspired to keep writing.
Grackle Scratch included in this class is the opportunity to write with us in-studio during the Grackle Scratch hours on Tuesday & Thursday mornings between 10 and 1. We may include an online element and/or an evening time.
Feedback in this class will be based on three questions the writers provide ahead of time (about what they want help with) and a couple paragraphs the writer turns in explaining what they hope is acccomplished the pages they have turned it. This makes the response time less time consuming than in other formats, and allows students to read more pages. The workshop leader will provide a list of the kinds of questions a student might ask to give writers and idea.
This is not a class for people who have finished a completed draft. That class is called: THE FINISHED DRAFT and we are also offering that this semester.
Everybody offers something important because we engage with each other’s work seriously. This workshop has a lot of reading, but because they are all of the same piece of work, it is easier reading than if we read four different essays, for example. The longest bouts of reading are for the works in the last drafts, and the reading goes by very quickly. It won’t be more than 100 double spaced pages a week.
This class is limited to 10 students, and usually around 6 people sign up.
Georgina Key is an award-winning author and visual artist, recognized for her debut novel “Shiny Bits In Between” which won the Phoenix Award for Best New Voice in 2020. Born in England, she now resides in Texas and the Scottish Highlands, drawing inspiration from both locations for her writing and art. Her work often explores themes of resilience, the relationship between people and their environment, and the beauty of coastal landscapes. She has taught writing for over 30 years at community colleges, private writing organizations, and one-on-one mentorships. She is currently finishing her second novel.
