Bonnie Friedman, MFA
We start to write thinking that we want to explore a certain thing. But often we discover that something else – something murkier or scarier or simply not quite fully understood – is actually the real subject of our essay or story. Revision allows us to open up this interesting terrain. “First drafts are for learning what your novel or story is about,” said Bernard Malamud. “Revision is working with that knowledge to enlarge & enhance an idea . . . Revision is one of the true pleasures of writing.” He also said that “In the first draft I find out what happens, in the second I make it inevitable, and in the third I work on language.”
In this workshop we will look at powerful ways to open up your first draft and then give shape to your work in revision. Specifically, we’ll be increasing the number of tools you have at your disposal. We’ll look at how to identify (and then develop) the core conflicts and tensions in a personal essay or story, how to cultivate one’s ability to write from the senses, the contrasting force of scene and of reflection, and ways to use the Aristotelian principle of reversal and recognition. We’ll look at examples by master writers, do a few focused exercises, and discuss work submitted in advance.
My goal is for you to leave the workshop excited to write liberated first drafts and honed, courageous revisions.
Saturday, October 7, 2023
1:00 – 5:00 PM ET by Zoom
Click HERE to Register and Pay
Registration Fee: $250
Limit 10 participants
BONNIE FRIEDMAN, MFA, is the author of the best selling Writing Past Dark: Envy, Fear, Distraction, and Other Dilemmas in the Writer’s Life, which has been anthologized in six different writing textbooks. She is also the author of the memoir The Thief of Happiness, and, most recently, Surrendering Oz: A Life in Essays, which was longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel award in the Art of the Essay. A three-time Notable Essayist in The Best American Essays, her work has been selected for inclusion The Best American Movie Writing, The Best Writing on Writing, The Best of O., the Oprah Magazine, and The Best Buddhist Writing. Her personal essays have appeared in The New York Times, Ploughshares, Image, Th
Cancel by September 22 for a full refund minus a $50 cancellation fee. No refunds after September 22.