Lafayette Writers' Studio

As writers of fiction, non-fiction, and memoir, we have stories we want to tell. Maybe it’s about a unique character, or a fantastic series of events, or an incredible locale. But our stories need a transformative arc — a message that will move readers on deeper levels. As writer / teacher Vivan Gornick says: "The situation is the context or circumstance, sometimes the plot; the story is the emotional experience that preoccupies the writer: the insight, the wisdom, the thing one has come to say." Sometimes the real story can elude us for many drafts and years. In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore tools and prompts for finding our “why” for telling and excavating the meaning from our stories.

For many girls, the end of childhood marks the moment we begin to minimize our wants and curtail our feelings. It is when we begin to alienate our bodies, even our minds. This generative workshop for writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, will offer a space to define girlhood for yourself and shed a light on your own experience as female or female identifying. We’ll work to peel back the layers on what it meant to be female in the past, while also reflecting on this current moment in time. Exceptional works of literature around girlhood will guide our conversation including excerpts by Melissa Febos, Maya Angelou, Jo Ann Beard, Nicole Graev Lipson and Michelle Herman.

What these writers share is a commitment to discovering on the page what they think and feel and believe. Such examples will inspire our writing as we work to bring our own experience of girlhood and womanhood to the forefront.

In this class, we’ll discuss how to create and sustain a successful literary Substack newsletter, one that reflects your personality and interests, as well as attracts subscribers beyond your network of fellow writers, friends, and family. We’ll explore how to attract (and ideally hold onto) paying subscribers and examine different ways writers have found success on Substack, from written posts with or without video and audio content, to podcasts and livestream conversations between Substack writers and guests. You’ll leave understanding how to get started with Substack and why doing so might further your connections with writers and readers alike.

In today’s world of short attention spans and shorter quantities of free time, many of us feel drawn to writing and reading short pieces. In this class we will examine very short forms of creative nonfiction and try our hand and writing a few of our own. Please bring index cards or similarly sized slips of paper as well as a notebook or other writing materials.