RBWG Classes Winter, 2020
DEADLINE to sign up for all classes beginning in January is Jan 5
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. As always, we are open to suggestions about classes you’d like to see offered. Please send suggestions to Maribeth at fischer.maribeth@gmail.com. To register and pay:
Click here for scholarship information. |
Weekly Calendar
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Class Descriptions
Fiction
Fiction Workshop ~ Maribeth Fischer (8 weeks)
WHEN: Mon, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Jan 20, 27, Feb 3, 10, 17, 24, Mar 2 and 9
WHERE: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (behind Big Fish Grill), Rehoboth
COST: RBWG Members $360 Non-members $400
This is a class for those who are working on a novel or a collection of linked stories and want the discipline of a writers group but also the encouragement and constructive critiques that will develop both character and plot (which often makes it easier to figure out what to write next). Whether you are ten pages into the novel/collection or 100, each week we’ll discuss your writing and offer suggestions to enhance the fictional world, making it and the characters both more believable and compelling. Each week, participants will be challenged to hone a specific issue in their writing (for instance, the use of unique gesture and action or a focus on the characters’ emotions), but for the most part, the goal will be to simply move the story forward. In addition to the in-class critiques, writers will be invited to give Maribeth 1,500 words of their writing each week for further comments.
WHEN: Mon, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Jan 20, 27, Feb 3, 10, 17, 24, Mar 2 and 9
WHERE: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (behind Big Fish Grill), Rehoboth
COST: RBWG Members $360 Non-members $400
This is a class for those who are working on a novel or a collection of linked stories and want the discipline of a writers group but also the encouragement and constructive critiques that will develop both character and plot (which often makes it easier to figure out what to write next). Whether you are ten pages into the novel/collection or 100, each week we’ll discuss your writing and offer suggestions to enhance the fictional world, making it and the characters both more believable and compelling. Each week, participants will be challenged to hone a specific issue in their writing (for instance, the use of unique gesture and action or a focus on the characters’ emotions), but for the most part, the goal will be to simply move the story forward. In addition to the in-class critiques, writers will be invited to give Maribeth 1,500 words of their writing each week for further comments.
Nonfiction
Diving into the Wreck: On The Art of Revision (or simply completing an essay!)
Maribeth Fischer (8 weeks)
WHEN: Fri, 3-5 Jan 17, 24, 31 Feb 7, 14, 21, 28, Mar 6.
WHERE: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (behind Big Fish Grill), Rehoboth
COST: RBWG Members $360; Non-members $400
Many of us have the start of an essay or work of memoir begun in another class. In writing it, we were happy, we got great feedback and suggestions, but once class ended, we lost the momentum. Or we started something, put it aside and simply couldn’t find our way back in. Or maybe we just need the motivation of a class and other readers to help us finish what we have begun. Either way, polishing any work toward completion, regardless of whether you’ve written two pages or twenty, involves revision.
Revision, sadly, is all too often a dreaded word when, in fact, it is at the heart of all excellent writing, and it’s where the true treasures in a work are often discovered. In this workshop, dive into the art of revision (which literally means to re-see) with new eyes so that the process becomes what it is meant to be: not a laborious matter of fixing what is broken but a process of searching for, finding, unearthing and saving what you have not yet explored in your writing. Participants will bring to the workshop the first 500 words of a piece of nonfiction that they want to develop/polish into a beautiful work. The class will start by identifying the strongest lines—even words—that might identify themes or “threads” to follow. We’ll look for places to develop setting, character and background, expanding the work week by week, and revising revising revising as we go. Each week, writers will write new sections in response to the class’s input so that by the end of our eight weeks, writers will have a complex, layered, descriptive and COMPLETED essay. (Writers who complete an essay before the eight weeks, can begin honing another)
Maribeth Fischer (8 weeks)
WHEN: Fri, 3-5 Jan 17, 24, 31 Feb 7, 14, 21, 28, Mar 6.
WHERE: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (behind Big Fish Grill), Rehoboth
COST: RBWG Members $360; Non-members $400
Many of us have the start of an essay or work of memoir begun in another class. In writing it, we were happy, we got great feedback and suggestions, but once class ended, we lost the momentum. Or we started something, put it aside and simply couldn’t find our way back in. Or maybe we just need the motivation of a class and other readers to help us finish what we have begun. Either way, polishing any work toward completion, regardless of whether you’ve written two pages or twenty, involves revision.
Revision, sadly, is all too often a dreaded word when, in fact, it is at the heart of all excellent writing, and it’s where the true treasures in a work are often discovered. In this workshop, dive into the art of revision (which literally means to re-see) with new eyes so that the process becomes what it is meant to be: not a laborious matter of fixing what is broken but a process of searching for, finding, unearthing and saving what you have not yet explored in your writing. Participants will bring to the workshop the first 500 words of a piece of nonfiction that they want to develop/polish into a beautiful work. The class will start by identifying the strongest lines—even words—that might identify themes or “threads” to follow. We’ll look for places to develop setting, character and background, expanding the work week by week, and revising revising revising as we go. Each week, writers will write new sections in response to the class’s input so that by the end of our eight weeks, writers will have a complex, layered, descriptive and COMPLETED essay. (Writers who complete an essay before the eight weeks, can begin honing another)
Mixed Genre
Opening Up: Using Research to Enhance Writing ~ Judy Catterton (3 weeks)
WHEN: Mon 10:30-12:30: Jan 13, 20 & 27
WHERE: Judy’s King's Creek house
COST: RBWG Members 135; non-members $150
This workshop will focus on the use of research to enhance stories, poems, essays, and novels. Research can also be used as a solution to writers’ block. If you're stuck with an essay or poem that won't lift itself off the page, looking up the etymology of a word or a phrase can be a fantastic way to bring fresh energy and language to the piece. Or perhaps there are examples from nature that might serve as a metaphor? Does the writing improve if you add context? For example, what else was going on at the same time of the story? Maybe the reader would like to know that your story takes place three years before Brown v. Board of Education was decided? Or that the day your protagonist was born was the day man first walked on the moon? Do the colors of the harbor scene look like a painting by Monet? In this class we will breathe new life into stories, essays, and poems by looking for places to open up the writing with the use of creative research.
Experiments in Creative Writing ~ Maribeth Fischer (8 weeks)
WHEN: Thu, 3-5 Jan 16, 23, 30 Feb 6, 13, 20, 27, Mar 5.
WHERE: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (behind Big Fish Grill), Rehoboth
COST: RBWG Members $360; Non-members $400
“No art ever came out of not risking your neck. And risk—experiment—is a considerable part of the joy of doing.”
—Eudora Welty, On Writing
In this course, we will experiment with various 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. Examples of things we will explore: a compare/contrast story or essay; a how-to essay that offers directions on anything and everything (how to put your parents in assisted living, how to fall out of love, etc., how to get over writer’s block) an essay or story written as a series of short letters or postcards; another that braids a personal story with research... even a dramatic monologue. Along the way, we’ll study examples of writing that uses these structures. Participants will be invited to complete a short assignment each week and will receive personalized feedback from Maribeth.
*Participants should be comfortable with the workshop method—giving and receiving constructive critiques.
WHEN: Mon 10:30-12:30: Jan 13, 20 & 27
WHERE: Judy’s King's Creek house
COST: RBWG Members 135; non-members $150
This workshop will focus on the use of research to enhance stories, poems, essays, and novels. Research can also be used as a solution to writers’ block. If you're stuck with an essay or poem that won't lift itself off the page, looking up the etymology of a word or a phrase can be a fantastic way to bring fresh energy and language to the piece. Or perhaps there are examples from nature that might serve as a metaphor? Does the writing improve if you add context? For example, what else was going on at the same time of the story? Maybe the reader would like to know that your story takes place three years before Brown v. Board of Education was decided? Or that the day your protagonist was born was the day man first walked on the moon? Do the colors of the harbor scene look like a painting by Monet? In this class we will breathe new life into stories, essays, and poems by looking for places to open up the writing with the use of creative research.
Experiments in Creative Writing ~ Maribeth Fischer (8 weeks)
WHEN: Thu, 3-5 Jan 16, 23, 30 Feb 6, 13, 20, 27, Mar 5.
WHERE: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (behind Big Fish Grill), Rehoboth
COST: RBWG Members $360; Non-members $400
“No art ever came out of not risking your neck. And risk—experiment—is a considerable part of the joy of doing.”
—Eudora Welty, On Writing
In this course, we will experiment with various 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. Examples of things we will explore: a compare/contrast story or essay; a how-to essay that offers directions on anything and everything (how to put your parents in assisted living, how to fall out of love, etc., how to get over writer’s block) an essay or story written as a series of short letters or postcards; another that braids a personal story with research... even a dramatic monologue. Along the way, we’ll study examples of writing that uses these structures. Participants will be invited to complete a short assignment each week and will receive personalized feedback from Maribeth.
*Participants should be comfortable with the workshop method—giving and receiving constructive critiques.
The Writer's Tool Box
Sign up for one session or take them all.
You pay only for the specific session(s) you want.
WHEN: Sat 10 a.m-12:30 p.m. (date for each class below)
WHERE: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (behind Big Fish Grill), Rehoboth
COST: $55 per session for RBWG members; $65 for non-members
You pay only for the specific session(s) you want.
WHEN: Sat 10 a.m-12:30 p.m. (date for each class below)
WHERE: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (behind Big Fish Grill), Rehoboth
COST: $55 per session for RBWG members; $65 for non-members
SESSION 1: January 11—Memoir ~ Rae Tyson
As a means of preserving your personal legacy, memoirs offer a powerful alternative. “Writing about one’s life is a powerful personal need,” wrote William Zinsser, the acclaimed teacher and writer. But crafting a good memoir can be a challenge. For some, the mere act of getting started can be a formidable task. This one-day workshop will help launch that memoir writing journey even if you have never written before or don’t consider yourself a writer.
SESSION 2: Jan 18—Book Cover Design: 8 Elements for Covers that Sell ~ Crystal Heidel
In this workshop geared towards any writer thinking about self-publishing a book (in any genre), designer and owner of Byzantium Sky Press, Crystal Heidel, will walk writers through the essential elements of cover design that all writers should understand when thinking about the cover for their particular book. The goal, of course, is to attract readers and not lose them before they even read the first page. Whether you plan to design your own cover, work with an artist friend, or hire a designer, these tips and tools—dealing with everything from why your name should not be larger than the title, to color choices, use of image and font style—will allow you to package, showcase, and market your book in the most compelling way possible.
SESSION 3: Feb 1—Meditation and the Art of Writing ~ Ellen Collins
Meditation and reflective writing both involve a turning inward, a sustained focus, and being present to whatever turns up. This is really what we do in FreeWrites, though most of the time we’re not aware of it. And then our FreeWrites get buried in our notebooks or on our hard drives, and we rarely return to them. In this class we will explore how a FreeWrite can be a more meditative process and ways we can use the FreeWrite as a springboard for new writing that will take us deeper into ourselves and our stories.
SESSION 4: Feb 8—Voices on the Page: The Art of Writing Dialogue ~ Maribeth Fischer
"Dialogue is NOT real talk; it is highly selective language that sounds like it could be real. Good dialogue is always more intelligent, wittier, more metaphorical and better argued than in real life." --John Truby, The Anatomy of Story
Dialogue is among the most misunderstood of writing tools. Even at the level of how to format and punctuate it, skilled writers often don’t know the basics. This makes sense in that most of us, unless we’ve taken creative writing classes that specifically taught this, had no reason—ever—to learn how to write dialogue. In addition to the basics, though, dialogue relies on very specific rules and techniques that make it a lot easier to write if one knows those rules—and yet, again, many writers have no clue about these craft issues. They write as they imagine people speak and sometimes they get it right, but it often feels like luck (and it is!) instead of being a skill that can be studied, honed and yes, perfected. In this workshop review the basics. (Did you know written dialogue is 50% shorter than spoken dialogue, and simply editing—just cutting words, no rewriting, no changing a single thing beyond cutting—can transform a bad dialogue into a good one?)
Session 5: Feb 29—Self Publishing 101—A Guide to Prepping Your Book for Print ~ Crystal Heidel
Once you have decided to self-publish, there are a number of steps and decisions that writers need to make. It’s not just a matter of uploading a file into the Amazon self-publishing vehicle; it’s not even a matter of simply sending your Word document to a friend or a book designer who knows how to do this. There are things the writer must address before this step. Byzantium Sky Press owner Crystal Heidel, who has uploaded and designed numerous books for Guild authors interested in self-publishing, will offer writers a check-list of key issues necessary in the self-publishing process. These include such things as how to select a designer; why writers shouldn't try to design the interior of the book themselves; why writers shouldn't use Word for the final interior design; what fonts to use and why; how to order galley copies; how and where to purchase ISBN numbers, and how to apply these ISBN numbers to KDP (the new Createspace).
Online Tutorials
(each week, get new assignments and individualized feedback from the instructor)
Poetry 101: A Crash Course in Poetry Basics ~ Gail Comorat (Online, 4 weeks)
WHEN: Tue, Jan 7, 14, 21, 28
COST: RBWG members $180; non-RBWG members $200
Whether you’re just beginning to write poetry or even if you’ve been at it for a while, this online class is designed to help you with creating better line breaks, adding more music and metaphors to your poems. Do you need tension and leaps in your poetry? We’ll look at example poems with strong images and poems with titles that do the “heavy lifting” of the poem’s subject. Each week, you’ll complete an assignment that will cover a specific subject. Feedback will be provided and also answers to whatever questions you have about poetry. The final week we’ll talk about “re-vision” and take some time revising one of the assignment poems.
Writing the Literary Longform Essay ~ Maribeth Fischer (Online, 6 weeks)
WHEN: Mon, Jan 13, 20, 27, Feb 3, 10, 17
COST: RBWG Members $270; Non-members $300
"Essays like these might begin with uncertainties and curiosities. They also develop through questions. And when writers stumble across confusions and contradictions, rather than delete them, they wrap their arms around them."—Heather Lanier, “In Praise of Darkness” Poets and Writers. Sept/Oct. 2018
In this intense six-week class writers will read longform essays and work on a sustained piece of their own longform (over 2,500 words) literary nonfiction, with the goal of completing a polished and publishable piece. Writers will start with a single idea or topic of interest and through generative exercises, and suggestions, will expand this idea using detailed imagery, research, and metaphor. The goal is to discover what the essay is about incrementally as each week, the writer wrestles with and interrogates the topic. In addition, writers will be asked to read two longform essays and identify techniques or styles they might “borrow” from the essay. The goal will be to expand each writer’s repertoire of skills as well as knowledge of what long form is and what it demands that shorter works of nonfiction do not.
Self Checkout Lane: Exploring Your Life for Story ~ Ethan Joella (Online, 4 weeks)
WHEN: Mon, Jan 20-Feb 16
COST: RBWG members $180; non-RBWG members $200
Whether your goal is an essay, short fiction with autobiographical notes, or memoir-style poetry, in this online tutorial, you will examine who you are, what you have to say, and what that all means. In this four-week class with small assignments due each Sunday, you will study authors who draw from their personal lives in unique ways and look at what structure and storytelling format best complement your personal experiences. You will start out with low-stakes exercises in the first three weeks and then finish with one substantial piece at the tutorial's end.
Making Time to Write: Generating New Poems ~ Gail Comorat (Online, 4 sessions)
WHEN: Tue, Feb 4, 11, 18, 25
COST: RBWG members $180; non-RBWG members $200
Winter is the perfect time to make a commitment to your writing. Each week you will be challenged with three different prompts, a chance to write three poems, which means that over the course of four weeks, you’ll have the rough drafts of a dozen new poems! Each participant will send one assignment poem of his/her choice to the instructor weekly for feedback. We’ll experiment with writing poems from titles, using repeated phrases, persona, epistolary poems, and even a form poem here and there to help you stretch your typical writing style.
WHEN: Tue, Jan 7, 14, 21, 28
COST: RBWG members $180; non-RBWG members $200
Whether you’re just beginning to write poetry or even if you’ve been at it for a while, this online class is designed to help you with creating better line breaks, adding more music and metaphors to your poems. Do you need tension and leaps in your poetry? We’ll look at example poems with strong images and poems with titles that do the “heavy lifting” of the poem’s subject. Each week, you’ll complete an assignment that will cover a specific subject. Feedback will be provided and also answers to whatever questions you have about poetry. The final week we’ll talk about “re-vision” and take some time revising one of the assignment poems.
Writing the Literary Longform Essay ~ Maribeth Fischer (Online, 6 weeks)
WHEN: Mon, Jan 13, 20, 27, Feb 3, 10, 17
COST: RBWG Members $270; Non-members $300
"Essays like these might begin with uncertainties and curiosities. They also develop through questions. And when writers stumble across confusions and contradictions, rather than delete them, they wrap their arms around them."—Heather Lanier, “In Praise of Darkness” Poets and Writers. Sept/Oct. 2018
In this intense six-week class writers will read longform essays and work on a sustained piece of their own longform (over 2,500 words) literary nonfiction, with the goal of completing a polished and publishable piece. Writers will start with a single idea or topic of interest and through generative exercises, and suggestions, will expand this idea using detailed imagery, research, and metaphor. The goal is to discover what the essay is about incrementally as each week, the writer wrestles with and interrogates the topic. In addition, writers will be asked to read two longform essays and identify techniques or styles they might “borrow” from the essay. The goal will be to expand each writer’s repertoire of skills as well as knowledge of what long form is and what it demands that shorter works of nonfiction do not.
Self Checkout Lane: Exploring Your Life for Story ~ Ethan Joella (Online, 4 weeks)
WHEN: Mon, Jan 20-Feb 16
COST: RBWG members $180; non-RBWG members $200
Whether your goal is an essay, short fiction with autobiographical notes, or memoir-style poetry, in this online tutorial, you will examine who you are, what you have to say, and what that all means. In this four-week class with small assignments due each Sunday, you will study authors who draw from their personal lives in unique ways and look at what structure and storytelling format best complement your personal experiences. You will start out with low-stakes exercises in the first three weeks and then finish with one substantial piece at the tutorial's end.
Making Time to Write: Generating New Poems ~ Gail Comorat (Online, 4 sessions)
WHEN: Tue, Feb 4, 11, 18, 25
COST: RBWG members $180; non-RBWG members $200
Winter is the perfect time to make a commitment to your writing. Each week you will be challenged with three different prompts, a chance to write three poems, which means that over the course of four weeks, you’ll have the rough drafts of a dozen new poems! Each participant will send one assignment poem of his/her choice to the instructor weekly for feedback. We’ll experiment with writing poems from titles, using repeated phrases, persona, epistolary poems, and even a form poem here and there to help you stretch your typical writing style.
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