Workshop Overview

One of the most common pieces of writing advice is “write what you know.” In this workshop, we’ll explore unique avenues to mine the known aspects of our experiences and surroundings; talk about the role of fact and detail as a rich source of inspiration in fiction; and learn how to take a kernel of truth and expand it into a fictional world replete with rich characters and settings. Yet writing what we know isn’t the only way to access our stories…

In the second half of the workshop, we’ll take the inverse approach and explore writing what we don’t know, guided by experimentation and curiosity. Together we’ll explore the important role that mystery plays in writing fiction—how the unknown or unanswerable can inspire new work, how to write beyond our initial impulses to arrive at new discoveries, and how to nurture our writerly obsessions. Some of the questions we’ll ask together across the workshop include: What awaits us beneath the surface of the familiar? How can detail and facts deepen and electrify our writing? Can I reintroduce myself to myself? Where do wondering and uncertainty bring us that known terrain cannot? Above all, the workshop will guide participants in paying close attention to ourselves and the world as an access point to greater creativity.