RBWG Classes, Summer, 2014
We have a full roster of summer classes. Some of these classes may also be offered online--please email if you are interested in an online version. Please note that in many cases the location of the class is TBA. Classes will be in a Lewes/Rehoboth location but we are still working on this.
Because we are committed to keeping our classes small and because we can only continue to do this if participants commit to and pay for all classes, we ask that you pay for the full class amount up front. If you are interested in a class and cannot pay for it up front, just send Maribeth an email and we’ll work out a payment plan. The classes are not yet listed on our PayPal page but will be shortly. .Click here for more information about RBWG class policies. As always, we are open to suggestions about classes you’d like to see offered. We are also seeking places to hold classes (in central Rehoboth or Lewes locations). This will be a real issue for us in the summer, so if you have suggestions about this, please email maribeth at fischer.maribeth@gmail.com
Scroll down to read more about classes being offered.
Registration and Payment To register for any class, email contactus@rehobothbeachwritersguild.com to specify which class you are interested in. Maribeth will respond to you by email within 2 days. Click on this link to pay using Pay Pal: http://rehobothwriters.com/rbwg-classes Note: Before signing up for a class on Pay Pal, please register first with Maribeth at fisher.maribeth@gmail.com to make sure that the class is running (at times we do not have enough participants to make the class work) or is not already filled. Maribeth will respond to you within a day. |
Jump Start a Short Story: Writing from the First Line (4 weeks) ~ Sarah Barnett We will get a head start on writing a short story in four weeks by starting with the first line offered by The First Line journal (www.thefirstline.com). Using as our text, Ron Carlson Writes a Story, we will follow the author through his process as he wrote one of his stories in one day. Topics we’ll cover include character development, dialogue, the “inner story” and techniques to keep the writer moving from one sentence to the next. The goal is for participants to have a completed story to submit to the journal’s Winter Issue (submissions due Nov. 1, 2014). More about Sarah |
Novel Explorations III: Writing Scenes (eight weeks) ~ Maribeth Fischer In this class, six of the eight assignments will involve the writing of a full scene, each of which will emphasize a different writing technique (taking Novel Explorations I or II a prerequisite--or emailing in a fiction writing sample). In one scene, you might be asked to have one character speaking a great deal--explaining something complicated, telling a story--hence, you’ll learn how to write dialogue that is very different than the dialogue used when two characters are having a conversation, volleying words back and forth. In another scene, you might be asked to have very little dialogue--relying heavily on action. Another scene might ask you to include four or five characters--how do you orchestrate this so that the reader isn’t confused about who is speaking? Each scene will advance the plot of your story while simultaneously teaching essential techniques crucial to the writing of your novel. More about Maribeth |
Advanced Novel Workshop ~ Maribeth Fischer You are at the point in your novel writing where you no longer want exercises--you just want to write the plot forward and you want feedback on specific scenes. This is an intense workshop where you will write 3000 words a week to turn in for feedback. For those who have either completed Novel Classes I, II, and III or who have completed a draft of a novel that they are now in the process of revising. More about Maribeth |
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Experiments in Creative Writing III (8 Sessions) ~ Maribeth Fischer You know you want to write something--but you aren’t sure what to write. OR you’ve started that memoir, that novel, that story and keep getting stuck, though you aren’t sure why... Numerous RBWG writers have used the exercises in this class to tell their memoir in a new way, to jump start their novel, or simply to take a leap and try something they’ve never done before. And RBWG numerous writers--many for the first time ever--have ended up with published pieces from these exercises. In this course, we will experiment with creative structures and techniques—a different one each week—any one of which could be the jumping off point into a more polished piece of writing. During these eight weeks, we will explore essays and stories told entirely through beginnings or written in the form of apologies. We’ll write an “I remember/don’t remember” piece and construct a story written in alphabetical order....We’ll use research, facts, and objects to help you tell YOUR story in a new and compelling way. Each week we’ll study examples of writing that uses the structures and techniques we are trying to imitate. Participants will complete a short assignment each week and will receive personalized feedback from Maribeth on every assignment. This course will work fine for you even if you didn’t take CW Experiments I or II--the material doesn’t build on that material) More about Maribeth |
Flash Prose: Micro Memoir and Fiction (3 weeks) ~ Ethan Joella Is less really more? The answer is sometimes yes (especially if you're preparing for a 300-word reading!). Whether you're into memoir, fiction or even prose poetry, or if you just want to try something completely different, this three-session workshop has something for everyone. In this class, we will work on our own micro pieces--work that is just a page or two, or paragraph or two, in length. By studying a range of examples and through quick exercises, you will be surprised at how much you can accomplish in a short amount of space. As one writer says, this type of writing has "its teeth bared and its claws extended." You can bring things you've been working on to pare them down, or you can create a couple of completely new pieces. Like summer, the class will be quick, casual, and fun. More About Ethan |
FEAR OF POETRY (five weeks) -- Gail Comorat and Ethan Joella Everything you want is on the other side of fear~Jack Canfield This is not your mother’s poetry class. We’re not going to talk about those poets you read in high school, the ones whose rhymed stanzas you had to memorize. This is a class for those who love to write but either have never written poetry and /or are not even sure they understand poetry. Maybe you do write poetry but want a refresher in some of the basics. Using example poems and exercises, we will guide you toward writing about those memories you can’t seem to shake but can’t seem to write. As Maria Mazziotti Gillan says, “I find that when I can shape my experience and memories into a poem, even the most painful becomes bearable.” We’ll find the courage to tell our stories in a new way. |
Experiments in Poetry IV (six weeks) ~ Gail Comorat and Ethan Joella “I wondered about the explorers who'd sailed their ships to the end of the world. How terrified they must have been when they risked falling over the edge; how amazed to discover, instead, places they had seen only in their dreams.” ~Jodi Piccoult, Handle with Care Don’t let the “IV” part fool you. There are no prerequisites for this class and its fine if you’ve never written poetry. Many people have started this class as non-poets and finished it with different skills to add to their writing tool belts. In this six-week class, we will focus on a specific type of poetry experiment each week. For example, poems of forgiveness and farewell, question poems, making abstracts concrete, one-sentence poems, letter poems, and form poems such as sweetelles and pantoums. We will look at a variety of examples and then the instructors will create a "homework" poem on this topic for the following week, which will be shared with the class. We will also do a variety of in-class exercises. Come experiment with us. |