Workshop Description: How to involve the reader from the first sentence—or at least the first few? How to imply tension and trouble without giving the whole narrative away? We’ll think about those questions through the matters of craft—voice, structure, focus, sonics, description—and a worksheet featuring the openings from some recently published queer books. There will be time for an exercise. Along the way we’ll work hard and have fun and be serious all at the same time.

Cost: donate what you can afford.

This workshop is a co-production of Reading Queer and the Wild & Precious Life Series. All workshops are designed as safe creative spaces for the LGBTQ writers and allies. We welcome all writers at all levels from around the world.

About Paul Lisicky: Lisicky is the author of six books including Later: My Life at the Edge of the World, one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020, as well as The Narrow Door: A Memoir of Friendship, Unbuilt Projects, and Lawnboy. His work has appeared in The Advocate, The Atlantic, Conjunctions, The Cut, Fence, The New York Times, The Offing, and elsewhere. His awards include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the NEA, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, among others. He has taught at Cornell University, New York University, Sarah Lawence College, the University of Texas at Austin, and elsewhere. He teaches in the MFA Program at Rutgers University-Camden and lives in Brooklyn.