RBWG Classes Winter, 2019
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.
To register and pay:
- Please register first with Maribeth at fischer.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.
- To pay, mail a check to: Rehoboth Beach Writers Guild, P.O. Box 1326, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971.
Click here for scholarship information.
MIXED GENRE
The Writers’ Tool Box (Saturdays)
Sign up for one session or take them all. You pay only for the specific session(s) you want.
WHEN: Saturdays, 10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
WHERE: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (behind Big Fish Grill), Rehoboth
COST: $55 per session for RBWG members; $65 for non-members
Session One: Jan 26
Bring Your Dialogue to Life: How understanding basic dialogue techniques can make all the difference--Sarah Barnett
"In the right hands, dialogue can move things along in a way that will leave you breathless."--Anne Lamott
Dialogue advances and enlivens your story, develops characters and can transform a static scene into a dynamic "happening." In this workshop we'll discuss how and when to use dialogue. We'll study examples of effective dialogue and practice adding lively dialogue to our own work.
Session Two: Feb 9
A Crash Course in Submissions--Sarah Barnett
"Writing means sharing. It's part of the human condition to want to share things - thoughts, ideas, opinions.
--Paulo Coelho
Proud of your just finished essay or short story and wondering where to submit it? In this class we'll discuss the process of submitting work for publication—resources, cover letters, bios, reading fees, contests, simultaneous submissions, etc. With some useful tools at hand, you'll be prepared for submitting your best work in 2019.
Session Three: Feb 16
Writing a Great Query Letter (when you don’t have many—or any—publications) --Maribeth Fischer
"The happy ending isn’t really the point here, though…it’s that he [my agent] read my work in spite of my having broken
every rule in the book..."
--Robin Black, “How (Not) to Query” from the book Crash Course: Essays From Where Writing
and Life Collide
In this session we’ll talk about the huge difficulty that many of us encounter: how to query an agent about a book we have spent years working on when we don’t have the things we are often told we must have: social platforms, long lists of publications or awards, renowned writers recommending us. What can we do to grab an agent’s attention? Participants do not have to have a finished book to begin thinking about the query letter; in fact, ideally, writers are thinking about agents long before they finish the book.
*******************************************
Experiments in Creative Writing--Maribeth Fischer (eight weeks)
When: Mondays 3:00-5:00 p.m.: Jan 21, 28, Feb 4, 11, 18, 25, Mar 4, 11
Where: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (Behind Big Fish Grille), Rehoboth
Cost: RBWG Members $360; Non-members $400
"In our zeal to set up narratives with momentum, in our urgency to get to the point, I worry that we might be sanding
off the edges of our stories, filtering out a certain kind of delicacy or complexity, using our GPS to calculate the most
expedient route and preemptively rejecting certain kinds of narrative trajectories as too ambitious, too dangerous, too
ridiculous, too bonkers to attempt. What remains to be said? We won’t learn the answer unless we risk flailing, playing
the serious game of experimentation."
--From “The Paradoxical Usefulness on Non-Utilitarian Motion, AKA Play,” Karen
Russell, Associated Writing Program Keynote Address 2015
You know you want to write something—short story? Novel? Essay? but you aren’t really sure what. You might not even have a specific subject in mind. Still… you long to write something…
In this eight week 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 “collage” essay/ story; an essay or story written from a plural (we instead of I) perspective; a dramatic monologue; a story or essay based on photos and more… Along the way, we’ll study examples of great writing that use the structures and techniques we are trying to imitate, and we’ll experiment as well with unique methods of description. Participants will complete a short assignment each week and will receive feedback from Maribeth on every assignment.
*Participants should be comfortable with the workshop method—giving and receiving constructive critiques.
Sign up for one session or take them all. You pay only for the specific session(s) you want.
WHEN: Saturdays, 10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
WHERE: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (behind Big Fish Grill), Rehoboth
COST: $55 per session for RBWG members; $65 for non-members
Session One: Jan 26
Bring Your Dialogue to Life: How understanding basic dialogue techniques can make all the difference--Sarah Barnett
"In the right hands, dialogue can move things along in a way that will leave you breathless."--Anne Lamott
Dialogue advances and enlivens your story, develops characters and can transform a static scene into a dynamic "happening." In this workshop we'll discuss how and when to use dialogue. We'll study examples of effective dialogue and practice adding lively dialogue to our own work.
Session Two: Feb 9
A Crash Course in Submissions--Sarah Barnett
"Writing means sharing. It's part of the human condition to want to share things - thoughts, ideas, opinions.
--Paulo Coelho
Proud of your just finished essay or short story and wondering where to submit it? In this class we'll discuss the process of submitting work for publication—resources, cover letters, bios, reading fees, contests, simultaneous submissions, etc. With some useful tools at hand, you'll be prepared for submitting your best work in 2019.
Session Three: Feb 16
Writing a Great Query Letter (when you don’t have many—or any—publications) --Maribeth Fischer
"The happy ending isn’t really the point here, though…it’s that he [my agent] read my work in spite of my having broken
every rule in the book..."
--Robin Black, “How (Not) to Query” from the book Crash Course: Essays From Where Writing
and Life Collide
In this session we’ll talk about the huge difficulty that many of us encounter: how to query an agent about a book we have spent years working on when we don’t have the things we are often told we must have: social platforms, long lists of publications or awards, renowned writers recommending us. What can we do to grab an agent’s attention? Participants do not have to have a finished book to begin thinking about the query letter; in fact, ideally, writers are thinking about agents long before they finish the book.
*******************************************
Experiments in Creative Writing--Maribeth Fischer (eight weeks)
When: Mondays 3:00-5:00 p.m.: Jan 21, 28, Feb 4, 11, 18, 25, Mar 4, 11
Where: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (Behind Big Fish Grille), Rehoboth
Cost: RBWG Members $360; Non-members $400
"In our zeal to set up narratives with momentum, in our urgency to get to the point, I worry that we might be sanding
off the edges of our stories, filtering out a certain kind of delicacy or complexity, using our GPS to calculate the most
expedient route and preemptively rejecting certain kinds of narrative trajectories as too ambitious, too dangerous, too
ridiculous, too bonkers to attempt. What remains to be said? We won’t learn the answer unless we risk flailing, playing
the serious game of experimentation."
--From “The Paradoxical Usefulness on Non-Utilitarian Motion, AKA Play,” Karen
Russell, Associated Writing Program Keynote Address 2015
You know you want to write something—short story? Novel? Essay? but you aren’t really sure what. You might not even have a specific subject in mind. Still… you long to write something…
In this eight week 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 “collage” essay/ story; an essay or story written from a plural (we instead of I) perspective; a dramatic monologue; a story or essay based on photos and more… Along the way, we’ll study examples of great writing that use the structures and techniques we are trying to imitate, and we’ll experiment as well with unique methods of description. Participants will complete a short assignment each week and will receive feedback from Maribeth on every assignment.
*Participants should be comfortable with the workshop method—giving and receiving constructive critiques.
FICTION
Taking the Plunge II: Exercises in Fiction Writing--Maribeth Fischer (eight weeks)
When: Fridays 2:00-4:00 p.m.: Jan 18, 25, Feb 1, 8, 15, 22, March 1, 8
Where: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (Behind Big Fish Grille), Rehoboth
Cost: RBWG Members $360; Non-members $400
Participants do not have to have taken “Taking the Plunge I” to enroll in this course. Like Part I of this class, this course is designed for those who are taking that leap from their previous world of business/technical/legal/academic writing (whatever you did in your career) and are finally writing the novel or short stories you’ve dreamed of writing. We’ll continue tackling all the basics—developing characters into dynamic and compelling people, and putting those people into unique situations that will evolve into plot. We’ll continue tackling dialogue—something most people—no matter how much writing they’ve done in their career—have never actually learned to write, and we’ll look at how setting grounds the reader in the fictional world. Each week there will be assignments to hone another aspect of fiction writing, which is a vastly different kind of writing than what many of us have practiced in our careers. This is not a workshop, so instead of spending most of our class time commenting on others’ work, we’ll be analyzing our own work, and doing hands-on exercises that illustrate key concepts of fiction writing. Each week writers will be giving Maribeth their completed assignments for individual suggestions.
When: Fridays 2:00-4:00 p.m.: Jan 18, 25, Feb 1, 8, 15, 22, March 1, 8
Where: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (Behind Big Fish Grille), Rehoboth
Cost: RBWG Members $360; Non-members $400
Participants do not have to have taken “Taking the Plunge I” to enroll in this course. Like Part I of this class, this course is designed for those who are taking that leap from their previous world of business/technical/legal/academic writing (whatever you did in your career) and are finally writing the novel or short stories you’ve dreamed of writing. We’ll continue tackling all the basics—developing characters into dynamic and compelling people, and putting those people into unique situations that will evolve into plot. We’ll continue tackling dialogue—something most people—no matter how much writing they’ve done in their career—have never actually learned to write, and we’ll look at how setting grounds the reader in the fictional world. Each week there will be assignments to hone another aspect of fiction writing, which is a vastly different kind of writing than what many of us have practiced in our careers. This is not a workshop, so instead of spending most of our class time commenting on others’ work, we’ll be analyzing our own work, and doing hands-on exercises that illustrate key concepts of fiction writing. Each week writers will be giving Maribeth their completed assignments for individual suggestions.
CREATIVE NONFICTION
Creative Nonfiction: Memoir, Story-Telling, Essay--Judy Catterton (five weeks)
When: Tuesdays, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.; Jan 22, 29, February 5, 12, 19
Where: Judy’s Kings Creek Home
Cost: RBWG Members $225; Non-members $250
Maybe you have family anecdotes that you’d like to refine into stories. Or you want to preserve in writing the memories of each stage of your life. Or you want to express your opinions about a subject. This class will help you tell your stories: tell them straight, tell them slant, tell them honest, tell them so others will see you and maybe also see themselves. Perhaps, you’ve already started a memoir and are looking for ways to add to it or make revisions. Or maybe, you want to write short vignettes, for you children or grandchildren’s eyes only. Maybe you’re interested in stand-alone essays that describe events that actually happened to you that may be of interest to friends and/or family. This class will offer you an opportunity to experiment in how best to tell your true stories. This class is for writers of all levels of experience. Writers will critique each others’ work, offering concrete and constructive suggestions.
Writing the Ordinary--Maribeth Fischer (eight weeks)
When: Wednesdays 3:00-5:00 p.m.: Jan 23, 30, Feb 6, 13, 20, 27, Mar 6, 13
Where: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (Behind Big Fish Grille), Rehoboth
Cost: RBWG Members $360; Non-members $400
"The world is grim right now. Problems are dire. It’s rotten, catastrophic. But also filled with wonders, joys, amazing
places and things, heroic behaviors. Pratfuls and ridiculosity… --David Quamman, Creative Nonfiction, Spring 2017
Often people take memoir classes because they have specific stories they want to tell—about a significant person or an event, about something that happened to them. In this class, however, participants will search for topics to write about in the ordinary, in the everyday. We will write about the small moments, about the things we love to do—biking, shopping in thrift stores, doing yoga, reading. We’ll look at the use of journals, which Anthony Doerr said should be “a love letter to the world,” and look at the literary journal River Teeth’s “Beautiful Things” column. We’ll try to capture “A day in a life,” and be inspired by the collecting of data about ordinary things—tracking in a given week the number and variety of “thank you’s” that we’ve encountered, or examples of kindness. The goal will be to hone our writing skills by writing what we know well. Each week we’ll have a different reading and exercise that forces us to study the ordinary and write about it, while meeting the challenge of how to make compelling essays out of every-day topics.
When: Tuesdays, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.; Jan 22, 29, February 5, 12, 19
Where: Judy’s Kings Creek Home
Cost: RBWG Members $225; Non-members $250
Maybe you have family anecdotes that you’d like to refine into stories. Or you want to preserve in writing the memories of each stage of your life. Or you want to express your opinions about a subject. This class will help you tell your stories: tell them straight, tell them slant, tell them honest, tell them so others will see you and maybe also see themselves. Perhaps, you’ve already started a memoir and are looking for ways to add to it or make revisions. Or maybe, you want to write short vignettes, for you children or grandchildren’s eyes only. Maybe you’re interested in stand-alone essays that describe events that actually happened to you that may be of interest to friends and/or family. This class will offer you an opportunity to experiment in how best to tell your true stories. This class is for writers of all levels of experience. Writers will critique each others’ work, offering concrete and constructive suggestions.
Writing the Ordinary--Maribeth Fischer (eight weeks)
When: Wednesdays 3:00-5:00 p.m.: Jan 23, 30, Feb 6, 13, 20, 27, Mar 6, 13
Where: Lutheran Church of Our Savior (Behind Big Fish Grille), Rehoboth
Cost: RBWG Members $360; Non-members $400
"The world is grim right now. Problems are dire. It’s rotten, catastrophic. But also filled with wonders, joys, amazing
places and things, heroic behaviors. Pratfuls and ridiculosity… --David Quamman, Creative Nonfiction, Spring 2017
Often people take memoir classes because they have specific stories they want to tell—about a significant person or an event, about something that happened to them. In this class, however, participants will search for topics to write about in the ordinary, in the everyday. We will write about the small moments, about the things we love to do—biking, shopping in thrift stores, doing yoga, reading. We’ll look at the use of journals, which Anthony Doerr said should be “a love letter to the world,” and look at the literary journal River Teeth’s “Beautiful Things” column. We’ll try to capture “A day in a life,” and be inspired by the collecting of data about ordinary things—tracking in a given week the number and variety of “thank you’s” that we’ve encountered, or examples of kindness. The goal will be to hone our writing skills by writing what we know well. Each week we’ll have a different reading and exercise that forces us to study the ordinary and write about it, while meeting the challenge of how to make compelling essays out of every-day topics.
ONLINE CLASSES
Write a Short Story from the First Line--Sarah Barnett (six weeks)
When: Mondays, Jan. 21 to Feb 24
Cost: RBWG Members $270; Non-members $300
"When you read a short story, you come out a little more aware and a little more in love with the world around you."
--George Saunders
In this six-week tutorial, each participant will choose an opening line from which to develop a short story with the goal of submitting that story to The First Line journal. The First Line normally offers one opening line per quarter, with all stories starting with the specified first line that cannot be changed in any way. For next year there are approximately 20 choices of first lines in each quarterly deadline grouping—May 1, 2019; Aug 1, 2019; Nov. 1, 2019. Details at: https://www.thefirstline.com/index.htm . Weekly assignments will focus on elements of short story writing, such as dialogue, character development, setting and writing in scenes.
Listing It--Ethan Joella (four weeks)
When: Feb 4, 11, 18, 25
Cost: RBWG Members $180; Non-members $200
"Did children still marvel within as the holidays wheeled past in a slow pinwheel galaxy of altering candies, cards and
artifacts, of back-to-school tablets, footballs, Halloween masks, pumpkins, turkeys, pine trees, tinsel, wrappings
reindeer, Santas, and stars..." --John Updike, "Henry's Variety Store"
Lists are a powerful tool for writers. Susan Sontag swore by them as did Ray Bradbury. Kim Addonizio and Elizabeth Strout use them often. In this session, we will look at how lists can deepen setting, can tell us more about a character's personality in a paragraph than sometimes a whole chapter will, can convey motivation and conflict, and can anchor and structure a poem or essay. We will look at examples of helpful lists in poetry and prose, and we will make our own new lists. Try this four-week tutorial out if you want to deepen existing projects or if you're looking to create something entirely new.
Let’s Not Get Too Sentimental (poetry)--Gail Comorat ( four weeks)
When: Jan 16, 23, 30, Feb 6 NOTE: Final assignment due 2/13/19
Cost: RBWG Members $180; Non-members $200
“Sentimentality is the only sentiment that rubs you the wrong way.”--W. Somerset Maugham
As poets, we write about what we know which usually involves our families, and too often we drift into the overly sentimental. How do we write about love, especially when it concerns our parents, spouses, children, or even our pets without making them sound too precious? In this online class we’ll read poems about these very subjects and look at ways poets avoid the trap of “emotion in excess.” We’ll look at sentimental poems, talk about “trigger” words writers use to make poems too obvious, and find ways to “luxuriate in the specifics” in our own poems without the complications of sentimentality.
Poetry for Troubled Times--Gail Comorat (three weeks)
When: Feb 13, 20, 27 NOTE: Final assignment due March 6
Cost: RBWG Members $135 Non-members $150
"When we have lost the ability to speak, poetry still knows how to scream. When we have become overwhelmed with
the world and its unkindness, poetry still offers a haven."--Nikki Vanry
We need poems of hope in times of crisis and confusion. In this online class we will look at poems of protest, poems that are both loud and quiet. While these poems won’t fix the world, many offer hope and might help us understand and see viewpoints of others. Example poems will lead us to write poems of our own about such subjects as politics, refugees, and personal hopes.
Writing the Literary Longform Essay--Maribeth Fischer (six weeks)
When: Jan 21 -Feb 25
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 a longform essay each week and write a short response of what techniques or styles they might “borrow” from the essay as well as what they do not like. The goal here will be 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.
When: Mondays, Jan. 21 to Feb 24
Cost: RBWG Members $270; Non-members $300
"When you read a short story, you come out a little more aware and a little more in love with the world around you."
--George Saunders
In this six-week tutorial, each participant will choose an opening line from which to develop a short story with the goal of submitting that story to The First Line journal. The First Line normally offers one opening line per quarter, with all stories starting with the specified first line that cannot be changed in any way. For next year there are approximately 20 choices of first lines in each quarterly deadline grouping—May 1, 2019; Aug 1, 2019; Nov. 1, 2019. Details at: https://www.thefirstline.com/index.htm . Weekly assignments will focus on elements of short story writing, such as dialogue, character development, setting and writing in scenes.
Listing It--Ethan Joella (four weeks)
When: Feb 4, 11, 18, 25
Cost: RBWG Members $180; Non-members $200
"Did children still marvel within as the holidays wheeled past in a slow pinwheel galaxy of altering candies, cards and
artifacts, of back-to-school tablets, footballs, Halloween masks, pumpkins, turkeys, pine trees, tinsel, wrappings
reindeer, Santas, and stars..." --John Updike, "Henry's Variety Store"
Lists are a powerful tool for writers. Susan Sontag swore by them as did Ray Bradbury. Kim Addonizio and Elizabeth Strout use them often. In this session, we will look at how lists can deepen setting, can tell us more about a character's personality in a paragraph than sometimes a whole chapter will, can convey motivation and conflict, and can anchor and structure a poem or essay. We will look at examples of helpful lists in poetry and prose, and we will make our own new lists. Try this four-week tutorial out if you want to deepen existing projects or if you're looking to create something entirely new.
Let’s Not Get Too Sentimental (poetry)--Gail Comorat ( four weeks)
When: Jan 16, 23, 30, Feb 6 NOTE: Final assignment due 2/13/19
Cost: RBWG Members $180; Non-members $200
“Sentimentality is the only sentiment that rubs you the wrong way.”--W. Somerset Maugham
As poets, we write about what we know which usually involves our families, and too often we drift into the overly sentimental. How do we write about love, especially when it concerns our parents, spouses, children, or even our pets without making them sound too precious? In this online class we’ll read poems about these very subjects and look at ways poets avoid the trap of “emotion in excess.” We’ll look at sentimental poems, talk about “trigger” words writers use to make poems too obvious, and find ways to “luxuriate in the specifics” in our own poems without the complications of sentimentality.
Poetry for Troubled Times--Gail Comorat (three weeks)
When: Feb 13, 20, 27 NOTE: Final assignment due March 6
Cost: RBWG Members $135 Non-members $150
"When we have lost the ability to speak, poetry still knows how to scream. When we have become overwhelmed with
the world and its unkindness, poetry still offers a haven."--Nikki Vanry
We need poems of hope in times of crisis and confusion. In this online class we will look at poems of protest, poems that are both loud and quiet. While these poems won’t fix the world, many offer hope and might help us understand and see viewpoints of others. Example poems will lead us to write poems of our own about such subjects as politics, refugees, and personal hopes.
Writing the Literary Longform Essay--Maribeth Fischer (six weeks)
When: Jan 21 -Feb 25
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 a longform essay each week and write a short response of what techniques or styles they might “borrow” from the essay as well as what they do not like. The goal here will be 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.
