Writers in Paradise

Faculty: Major Jackson

Please submit up to 10 pages of poetry.

Required format for writing samples:

1. All poems must be submitted as one document.
2. Font must be 12-pt Times New Roman, single-spaced.
3. All manuscripts must contain a header or footer with page numbers and author’s name.
4. Titles of each poem should appear in all caps and each new poem should start on a new page.

Faculty: Ann Hood

In this workshop, we will read and discuss published essays every day to examine what makes a good piece of memoir writing. We will then critique pages from your own memoirs and essays with an eye toward revision. 

Submit the opening 25 pages of a memoir-in-progress plus a 1-page synopsis. Synopsis should include the following: one brief paragraph summarizing the memoir and status of the project (i.e., unfinished first draft, completed first draft, completed draft which has undergone multiple revisions, etc.). If you are submitting a portion which appears later in the work (for example, pages 25-50), provide a detailed synopsis of the pages prior to your submission (e.g. pages 1-24).

Required format for writing samples:

1. Page numbers must be consecutive throughout.
2. Font must be 12-pt Times New Roman.
3. Margins must be 1 inch.
4. All manuscripts must be double-spaced including the one-page synopsis and contain a header or footer with page numbers and author's name.
5. No extra spacing between paragraphs except that which indicates transitions.
6. If you submit more than 26 pages (25 of manuscript + 1-page synopsis), the coordinator will cut as necessary.
7. Do not include title pages or dedications.

Faculty: Andre Dubus III or Stewart O'Nan

to read descriptions of Andre's and Stewart's workshop approaches, please click here.

Submit the opening 25 pages of a novel-in-progress plus a 1-page synopsis. Synopsis should include the following: one brief paragraph summarizing the novel and status of the project (i.e., unfinished first draft, completed first draft, completed draft which has undergone multiple revisions, etc.). If you are submitting a portion which appears later in the work (for example, pages 25-50), provide a detailed synopsis of the pages prior to your submission (e.g. pages 1-24).

Required format for writing samples:

1. Page numbers must be consecutive throughout the manuscript.
2. Font must be 12-pt Times New Roman.
3. Margins must be 1 inch.
4. All manuscripts must be double-spaced including the 1-page synopsis. All manuscripts must contain a header or footer with page numbers and author’s name.
5. No extra spacing between paragraphs except that which indicates transitions.
6. If you submit more than 26 pages (25 of manuscript + 1-page synopsis), the coordinator will cut as necessary. 
7. Do not include title pages or dedications.

Faculty: Les Standiford

This workshop will focus on the overall conception and structure of book-length projects, whether completed or in progress.  Discussion will center on the clarity and substance of the project and the efficacy of the opening, given the stated intention.

Submit the opening 25 pages of a novel-in-progress, work of narrative nonfiction, short story or memoir, plus a 1-page synopsis if a book. The focus of this workshop is on story structure regardless of genre.  

Required format for writing samples:

1. Page numbers must be consecutive throughout the manuscript.
2. Font must be 12-pt Times New Roman.
3. Margins must be 1 inch.
4. All manuscripts must be double-spaced including one-page synopsis when applicable. All manuscripts must contain a header or footer with page numbers and author’s name.
5. No extra spacing between paragraphs except that which indicates transitions.
6. If you submit more than 26 pages (25 of manuscript + 1-pg synopsis), the coordinator will cut as necessary. 
7. Do not include title pages or dedications.

Faculty: Madeleine Blais

Whether you are working on a personal story, an historical account, a biography, or some combination, your prose is going to need a narrative arc, which can be especially challenging in nonfiction.  Our group will work on ways to create an engine for your prose ---- on how to turn a situation into a story. Keep in mind that every piece of writing is a journey, and if the journey motif was good enough for Homer….

Submit either the opening 25 pages of a work in progress plus a 1-page synopsis or a self-contained article-sized piece of 25 pages or less (no synopsis required).  Synopsis should include one brief paragraph summarizing the status of the project (i.e., unfinished first draft, completed first draft, completed draft which has undergone multiple revisions, etc.).  

Required format for writing samples:

1. Page numbers must be consecutive throughout the manuscript.
2. Font must be 12-pt Times New Roman.
3. Margins must be 1 inch.
4. All manuscripts must be double-spaced including one-page synopsis. All manuscripts must contain a header or footer with page numbers and author’s name.
5. No extra spacing between paragraphs except that which indicates transitions.
6. If submitting from a longer work, please do not submit more than 26 pages (25 of manuscript + 1-pg synopsis).  The coordinator will cut as necessary. 
7. Do not include title pages or dedications.

Faculty: Debra Dean

Set aside narrow definitions of historical fiction: your story needn’t be a “bodice ripper” or set in ancient times. It needn’t feature real historical characters or events. For our purposes, historical fiction includes any fictional story set in a past that is recognizably and significantly not the same as our present. So, for instance, a story set in San Francisco in 1975—before Harvey Milk and before AIDS—could be historical fiction, as could a story set in the Miami of the 1980s, the era of the drug wars. 

Our time will be divided between reading and discussing excerpts of published fiction, doing some in-class writing, and workshopping student manuscripts, with the bulk devoted to the last.

Some of the topics we’ll address include: 

Making stories set in the past feel as vivid as our “now.” 

How to research and then how to keep that research from taking over the story.

Finding voices that sound authentic to the period but also appeal to modern readers.

Submit the opening 25 pages of a novel in-progress plus a 1-page synopsis or a short story of 25 pages or less (no synopsis required if submitting a short story).  Synopsis should include the following: one brief paragraph summarizing the novel and status of the project (i.e., unfinished first draft, completed first draft, completed draft which has undergone multiple revisions, etc.). If you are submitting a portion which appears later in the work (for example, pages 25-50), provide a detailed synopsis of the pages prior to your submission (e.g. pages 1-24).

Required format for writing samples:
 

1. Page numbers must be consecutive throughout the manuscript.
2. Font must be 12-pt Times New Roman.
3. Margins must be 1 inch.
4. All manuscripts must be double-spaced including one-page synopsis when applicable. All manuscripts must contain a header or footer with page numbers and author’s name.
5. No extra spacing between paragraphs except that which indicates transitions.
6. If you submit more than 26 pages (25 of manuscript + 1-pg synopsis), the coordinator will cut as necessary.   If submitting a short story, you may submit up to 25 pages.
7. Do not include title pages or dedications.

Faculty:  Ana Menendez

Writing Backwards: Starting at the Ending.

Writing seems like one of the most linear of art forms. It certainly feels that way for most readers, who begin with the first word and proceed, in orderly fashion, to the last. But for the writer, a short story may first take shape with an idea of an ending: an image, a sound, a moment towards which the narrative will eventually drive (even if, as E.L. Doctorow famously suggested, for most of that journey the writer will only see as far as the headlights.) We’ll take a light historical trip of our own through various fad-endings, including epiphanies, twists and resolutions. And we’ll study some of the most compelling examples of the form before diving into a short-story workshop that will concentrate on what reporters call “the kicker”: writing an ending that will resonate long after the story’s close.

Submit one short story (25 pages maximum). No synopsis necessary.

Required format for writing samples:

1. Page numbers must be consecutive throughout the manuscript.
2. Font must be 12-pt Times New Roman.
3. Margins must be 1 inch.
4. All prose manuscripts must be double-spaced. All manuscripts must contain a header or footer with page numbers and author’s name.
5. No extra spacing between paragraphs except that which indicates transitions.
6. If you submit more than 25 pages, the coordinator will cut as necessary. 
7. Do not include title pages or dedications.

Faculty:  Laura Lippman

Are there really "rules" for crime-writing? Only one: Keep the reader turning pages. Students interested in crime fiction will learn about the specialized challenges of pacing their stories, playing fair with readers and why less is often more when it comes to mysteries. 

Submit the opening 25 pages of a novel in-progress plus a 1-page synopsis.  Synopsis should include the following: one brief paragraph summarizing the book and status of the project (i.e., unfinished first draft, completed first draft, completed draft which has undergone multiple revisions, etc.). If you are submitting a portion which appears later in the work (for example, pages 25-50), provide a detailed synopsis of the pages prior to your submission (e.g. pages 1-24).

Required format for writing samples:

1. Page numbers must be consecutive throughout the manuscript.
2. Font must be 12-pt Times New Roman. 
3. Margins must be 1 inch.
4. All manuscripts must be double-spaced including 1-page synopsis. All manuscripts must contain a header or footer with page numbers and author’s name.
5. No extra spacing between paragraphs except that which indicates transitions.
6. If you submit more than 26 pages (25 pages of manuscript + 1-page synopsis), the coordinator will cut as necessary.
7. Do not include title pages or dedications.