Stories offer readers the chance to undergo a process of change. What process of change are you offering to your potential readers? How do you entice them to start and continue reading your story? How can your story structure get to the heart of what you want to reveal? In three sessions of three hours each, this class will guide and support you in building a story structure that can carry you to the end of your manuscript. We’ll examine the meanings our stories hold for us, spin out inner and outer journey arcs, try several methods of structuring these (chronological or non), and break them down into scenes. Guided in-class writings will enable you to get some key scenes on the page. I’ll also offer guidance on any other concerns you bring. Handouts will supplement our meetings. Fiction and nonfiction writers of all levels welcome.

Maximum enrollment: 3. Fee for three 3-hour meetings: $600.

This tiny workshop offers profound support for your writing life. Each month, you’ll submit up to 15 pages that we’ll read with care and respond to on paper, and in our three-hour workshop, we’ll explore and discuss both writers’ work in depth. I’ll model the practice of close reading to help you reach a heightened awareness of what’s on the page and not on the page. You’ll learn to better verbalize and understand your reactions to others’ work. I’ll offer specific craft guidance and exercises tailored to your manuscript. I’ll write in-depth feedback on your manuscript and mail it to you after. We’ll start with three meetings, with the option to continue. (A current one has been ongoing for years.)

Maximum enrollment: 2. Fee for three meetings: $1185 ($395 per).

Have you got a short story that doesn’t yet do what you want it to? Let’s find and examine each moment of slight or major change. These moments are like bread crumbs along a path. Closely tracking them is a powerful way to explore a story’s arc and momentum.

We’ll start with two meetings, with the option to continue. Each month, you’ll submit a story of up to 15 pages (about 3750 words), and we’ll read and comment prior to the three-hour workshop. In our meeting, we’ll find these moments of change, with each writer’s story getting at least an hour of focused discussion. Some questions we’ll consider include whether these central moments influence what happens before and next, and whether something else might emerge if the path is followed with more attention. I’ll bring in specific craft guidance and exercises to heighten awareness and skills.

Maxiumum enrollment: 2. Fee: $790 ($395 per class).