[ Blaise Writers Workshop + Consulting provides a safe space for BIPOC + LGBTQ+ writers. Narrative nonfiction, articles, humor pieces, and poetry by current and former students have appeared in The New York Times, Modern Love, Blavity, Manifest Station, Refinery29, Dame Magazine, The New Yorker, McSweeney's, Elle.com, Rolling Stone, 11th Street Journal + elsewhere.
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[ Sudden Truths:
Writing Flash Memoir
+ Super-Short Personal Essay
Sponsored by Writing Workshops
*FULL*
6 weeks; Thursdays,
Beginning June 30th;
7:00 - 9:00 p.m. EST (Zoom)
Open to all. Limited to 8 writers.
How do you tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end in 250-1000 words?
We'll explore the ways in which the super-short form can enhance our writing practice, improve our skills, and make sense of our truths.
For guidance and inspiration, we'll look at works by writers and artists including Sonia Livingston, Henry Louis Gates Jr, Sam Kiss, Vivian Gornick, Susanna Kaysen, Carmen Maria Machado, and others.
We'll generate ideas through in-class writing, and discuss structure, pacing, narrative thread, and the revision process within the context of micro stories.
Writers will share their work and receive constructive peer and instructor feedback.
This class is sponsored by Writing Workshops:
$395
SPECIAL GUEST INSTRUCTOR
[ Writing on The Right Side of the Brain with Sibyl Kempson
5 weeks; Saturdays, July 9 - August 6;
11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. EST (Zoom)
Open to all. Limited to 8 writers.
This 5-week series led by Sibyl Kempson, encourages writers to reconnect to their own intuitive pathways of research, and in the testing of aesthetic frameworks and formal mechanics.
This process-based instruction helps clear away or brush aside anything that might be threatening to block your most authentic, original, visionary creative expression.
Build skills, push boundaries, and question inherited structures. Learn how to get out of your own way. What wants to come through you, into the world conversation?
Originally designed for playwrights and writers of other performance texts, this format is adjusted for scribblers and makers of all stripes. Yes, there will be homework! And yes, some scribblings will be shared!$450 / $410 - $420
*$30 off if returning for a second Blaise Workshop. $40 off for three or more.Sliding scale for BIPOC + LGBTQ+ writers.
Payment plans are also available.[ The Topography of Memory
6 weeks; Tuesdays, beginning July 26th; 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. EST (Zoom) Open to all. Limited to 8 writers.
*NEW*
Memory is fluid, faulty, and fallible. How is our writing both hindered and enhanced by the limitations of memory? How can we navigate the gaps in our recall? What do we do when the memories are vague or elusive?
In this workshop we'll shake the current foundation and excavate past and recent memories, unearthing core stories and important secondary events. What are the brain-encoded stories we need to tell?For neuroscientific insight and creative inspiration we'll draw from the work of Brian Broome, Gerald Walker, Wendy Fontaine, Danzy Senna, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Josh Korda, Sven Birkerts, Mary Karr, and more. We'll read short excerpts in class with some longer texts for homework. There will be writing prompts, sharing, and guided feedback.
$395
This class is sponsored by Writing Workshops.
[ Ties That Bind:
Writing About Family
in Personal Narratives
6 weeks; Wednesdays, August 17 - September 28, 700 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. EST (Zoom); No class on September 14th.
Invite only or by referral or writing sample. Limited to 8 writers
It's a slippery slope. Even the funny, affectionate family stuff can stab your insides and fray your wires. Over the course of 6 weeks, we'll consider how to (and how not to) write about bloodline, adoptive and chosen family, those still here or in the everywhere, in an honest unflinching way. We'll dig up the stories we need to tell and examine purpose, approach, perspective and narrative core, also looking at the outside story—the context of race, class, gender. We'll discuss how to write about trauma; not just our own, but the intergenerational trauma of others. There will be writing exercises, readings, and multiple opportunities to share work for feedback.$450 / $410 - $420
*$30 off if returning for a second Blaise Workshop. $40 off for three or more.Sliding scale for BIPOC + LGBTQ+ is available.
Payment plans are also available.RSVP by July 25.
[ One : One / Consulting
One-on-one work is for writers looking for personalized creative direction and guidance, whether you're working on a book or trying to finish stand alone pieces to pitch for publication.
During one-hour sessions (remotely or in person, as the pandemic allows), we'll identify your goals and projects, and develop a work plan. You'll receive extensive critical feedback and other forms of support catered to your needs.
In the quest for accountability and momentum, signing up for 3 sessions at a time is recommended.Sliding scale for BIPOC + LGBTQ+ writers is available. Payment plans are also available.
