In this 90-minute workshop with writer, editor, and teacher Jill Christman, we’ll study published excerpts from nonfiction that takes on the hard stuff with artfulness and clarity; think together about what makes certain material feel difficult to us as individual writers; explore craft techniques for approaching difficult material (such as playing with point of view, finding language in research, or rooting the writing in a place that feels sturdy and safe); and then try out some of the skills we can use to transform our own hard stories into literature.

At the end of this workshop, writers will:

• Build a framework for thinking about what makes their own difficult material feel hard;

• Possess nuts-and-bolts techniques to use in crafting these hard stories into art;

• Receive a list of authors to read and continue their study.

• Be given a copy of IF THIS WERE FICTION: A LOVE STORY IN ESSAYS, which will be shipped by Second Flight Books the week of 7/8.

Who is the Instructor?

Jill Christman is the author of If This Were Fiction: A Love Story in Essays (2023 Foreword INDIES Silver Winner) and two memoirs, Darkroom: A Family Exposure (winner of AWP Prize for CNF) and Borrowed Babies: Apprenticing for Motherhood. Her essays have appeared in many anthologies and in magazines such as Brevity, Creative Nonfiction, Fourth Genre, Iron Horse Literary Review, Longreads, and O, The Oprah Magazine. A 2020 NEA Literature Fellow, she teaches at Ball State University where she is a senior editor of River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative and Beautiful Things. Visit her at jillchristman.com, riverteethjournal.com, and on the site formerly known as Twitter @jill_christman.

When is this class offered?

This one-session class is offered live, on Zoom, Tuesday, July 16 from 7-8:30 p.m. EST. It is open to writers of all levels.

If this date and time does not work for your schedule, do not fret! All students will receive a recording of the session within two business days as well as ancillary course materials. All students who register for this class will receive a copy of IF THIS WERE FICTION: A LOVE STORY IN ESSAYS, which will be shipped by Second Flight Books the week of 7/8. Students who register for the course after this date will have their books shipped the week of 7/22/24.