Creative Writing Master Classes: Fall 2017

The Nonfiction Writing Program

CREATIVE WRITING MASTER CLASSES
Free, One-Shot, 2-Hour Classes Open to Everyone!
Presented by: The Nonfiction Writing Program
Reserve your spot! Register for classes at https://nwpmasterclassesfall2017.eventbrite.com 
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Drop It Like It’s Plot: Experimental Prose
Pump your prose with alternative and sustainable fuels.   
Saturday, October 28th, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., 201 BECKER
How does a story function without a sequence of events? Let’s observe the narrative contortions and backflips that storytellers have used to bypass the traditional arc of rising and falling action. Students will write as they witness how emphasis on language, structure, voice, and ideas, can generate new and vital sources of momentum. You will leave with a number of innovative techniques for driving a story forward. Given that true stories rarely unfold with coherence, this class is especially valuable to writers of nonfiction.
 Instructor: Dina Peone is a graduate student in the Nonfiction Writing Program who teaches The Art and Craft of Personal Writing. 
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Fight or Write? Breaking Down the Beauty of Face Punching
“If this life is not a real fight, in which something is eternally gained for the universe by success, it is no better than a game of private theatricals from which one may withdraw at will. But it feels like a real fight.” - William James 
Saturday, October 28th, 12 p.m. – 2 p.m., 201 BECKER
Why is fighting such a significant part of the human identity? There is no narrative without conflict. From Plutarch to Kendrick Lamar, writers have been reflecting on the importance of hand-to-hand combat for centuries…and now it’s your turn. In this class, we will enter the ring with some of the most celebrated names in combat sports literature and discover ways to use the language of violence for our own writing. We will watch footage and listen to interviews from famous fighters and analysts about the emotional and physical cost of what it means to lay it all on the line, as we spar with ways to write the beauty behind breaking faces. By the time you leave, you will have both a vocabulary of violence and writing techniques to attack the page as you tap into your inner word warrior with a new appreciation for conflict.
 Instructor: Julie Kedzie is a fight analyst, trainer, and former UFC fighter with over fifteen years of professional experience in combat sports. She is pursuing an MFA in Nonfiction, can take a punch, and continues to work as a color commentator in Mixed Martial Arts.
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Punk Rock to Pokemon: Writing Your Subculture
Show the ins and outs of your cliques and cults
Saturday, October 28th, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m., 201 BECKER
We all have that one weird interest. Maybe you love beekeeping, or are fascinated by Korean soap operas. We know that subcultures -- groups of people bound together by shared interest -- have their own languages. But what else sets them apart from a culture at large? What are the rituals, beliefs, and behaviors that make a subculture worth engaging in? From rappers, ravers, and role-players, to bronies, beatniks and bodybuilders, we’ll study some of the best writing about subcultures, and generate our own writing about human passion, infusing our fascination and skepticism with empathy and generosity as we go.
Instructors: Taney Kurth has written about everything from American Sign Language to antique consignment stores to video games tournaments. Robert Peck is an avid birder, a Redditor and a Pokemon master. His writing has appeared on Cracked.com and in newspapers from California to Connecticut.
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Is It Over Already?? Creating Heroes and Villains You Never Want to Leave
Saturday, November 4th, 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., 201 BECKER
Have you ever fallen in love with a fictional character? What drew you into them? What elicited such strong feelings? We will “close-read” novel and film excerpts to learn how writers from contemporary romantic comedy, literary fiction, and graphic fiction build characters we love to hate or hate to love. We will look to Tia Williams’ The Perfect Find, Jorge Luis Borges’ La Muerte y la Brujula (Death and the Compass), and Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke among others as our guides. We will learn how to build complex character profiles that move beyond biography to explore our character’s attitudes toward their environment and what motivates their relationships and behaviors. By discerning the most memorable character attributes, we will learn how to develop a character in a single sentence. You will leave this master class having written a convincing and engaging character arc in just two short pages.
Instructors: Tiffany Tucker and Aracely Mondragon are MFA candidates in the Nonfiction Writing Program. Tiffany writes tragic comedies about growing up on Chicago’s South Side and Aracely writes about queer xicanidad and journeys home. 
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Painting with Words: Writing about Visual Art 
Inside Every Critic Is an Artist…Discover Yours Here!
Saturday, November 4th, 1:30 p.m. – 4 p.m., 201 BECKER
Have you ever stood in front of a work of art and felt moved to create art of your own? Whether you feel moved to critique, create anew, or both, you may face the conundrum: how to translate images into words? This tricky business of translation has prompted some of the best art writing across time, from journalistic art criticism to vivid formal experiments with typography. This masterclass will guide you in the process of using images for inspiration, and will encourage you to think critically about the way you see, and read, the world around you. You will leave with sample excerpts from writers, three new pieces of your own writing, and an introduction to the world of contemporary art publications, with a template of do’s and don’ts for pitches. 
Instructor: M.K. Brake is a poet and essayist; she holds an MFA in Poetry from Louisiana State University and is currently pursuing an MFA in nonfiction from Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program. She is the author of The Taxidermist’s Girl (Dancing Girl Press, 2016).
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All Master Classes are held in the Becker Communications Studies Building (BCSB) at the University of Iowa:  <A HREF="https://maps.uiowa.edu/bcsb" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://maps.uiowa.edu/bcsb.</A>
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa–sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Corey Campbell in advance at corey-campbell@uiowa.edu.

Becker Communications Studies Building (BCSB)

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