Here’s the thing… I’m the writer that I am because of three teachers. The first was at a summer writing camp that my mom sent me to when I was in seventh grade. I don’t remember the teacher’s name, but I do remember a bunch of the exercises she taught us. I still have the manuscripts I turned in with her notes on them. She shaped my fiction by giving me the tools to critically evaluate technique at an early age.
When I was in college, I went to the Center for Puppetry Arts and interned there. Peter Hart was in charge of the program and the way he taught puppetry introduced me to the idea that if you learn the techniques so you can do them without thinking, then they won’t get in your way when you’re trying to do the art. He taught me to examine process and break it apart until I understood it thoroughly enough that could explain it to someone else.
In 2005, I took Orson Scott Card’s Literary Boot Camp and it absolutely shaped me as a writer. Regardless of anything else, this man is a brilliant teacher and gave me tools to understand what I had been doing instinctively. I went into the workshop feeling like I backed into good stories by accident and came out feeling like I understood structure and could write them on purpose.
So now we come to the classes I’m teaching.
A big part of the reason I’m teaching is because I profoundly believe that learning to understand the process gives you the ability to level up. So I’m trying to structure these courses to give you tools that you can wield the same way I learned the principles of puppetry under Peter Hart. I want to help people understand the technique so that those techniques don’t get in the way of making the art.
I teach the class online because I know that not everyone can take six weeks off, or even a week off work, much less afford to travel somewhere. I want the darn thing to be affordable because when I needed this most was when I didn’t have a lot of disposable income. Since people have varied schedules I teach my short story class in two formats: eight weeks or a weekend intensive
The eight week class is Wednesday nights and is good for people who need time to absorb ideas and a little more time to practise them between sessions.
The intensive is a weekend course that covers exactly the same material and is good for people who tend to overthink things.
Both have exactly the same content and the same classroom time. The only quantitative difference is the amount of homework. In the eight-week course, you’re responsible for reading and critiquing the assignments of all of your classmates. In the weekend intensive, I use a rotating schedule so you only have to read two classmates’s work per session. I’ll be honest that I think the intensive works better, but it is intense.
Now… the waiting list.
So, I schedule these when I have a hole in my calendar. That means I often don’t know that I have time to do it until about a month before the session. There are only eight spots in each class. When those fill, everyone who registers after that goes to a waiting list.
When I offer the next class, I give the waiting list first crack at registration. This is why sometimes the classes have sold out before registration opens. So if you want to get into a class, make an attempt to register because then you’re on the waiting list. Sometimes I only offer a class to the waiting list, because my goal is to get everyone who wants to take the class into a session.
Why? Because a workshop made a difference for me.
Question… Are these classes at a set location, or can they be done online? I’m in Arizona, so I was just curious.
They are taught online.
Awesome, thank you. I will have to sign up, I think.
If I were to end up on a waiting list, could I hold that spot until you offered another eight-week class? (I work weekends, so the intensive is out.) Happy to wait until you actually offer another one, if not.
Yes. Basically, what happens is that I send out an email saying that I’m opening a class and the waiting list gets first dibs. If it’s a class that you don’t want to register for, you still stay on the list.
I only take you off the list if you get into a class or ask to be removed.
Excellent, thanks!
I’m going to get on your waiting list after people register for your intensive class tomorrow, if after sleeping on it I decide intensive really isn’t for me. I’m tired of saying “I don’t do short stories”. If I learn to do them well and then decide I don’t like short stories, that’s one thing. But “can’t” isn’t in my vocabulary any more.
Good. I’m glad to hear it. One of the things we talk about is how to scale an idea to short story length.
I’ll note that a lot of the tools relate to novels, even though I’ve got the instruction geared to writing short fiction.
Is there any way I could make a partial payment tomorrow and pay the rest later? I’d love to do this, but $250 all at once is a bit more than I could handle on such short notice… I understand if that isn’t an option.
Sorry, I wish I could. Just wait till it fills and sign up to get on the waiting list. I usually give a couple of weeks notice.
Argh. Well, at least now I know why it suddenly said sold out. So it will let us “register” even though we can’t register? I know I can’t do the intensive; I’d break myself. 🙁
Yes, it will let you sign up for the waiting list.
I would love to sign up for your 8-week class however 7-8 pm CT is 1-2 am in Italy. I would not be able to be awake/aware enough to benefit from your time. Would you please consider creating a different type of class online, one that could be attended at any time of day, any time zone? Something along the line of Craftsy.com perhaps? Thanks for offering the classes. If nothing else, when I return from Italy, late 2016, I will hope you are still offering them.
In my last class, we had a woman from Finnland. It was 4 am for her. She took a nap and then woke up to take the class.
Sorry, a big part of class is the interaction. I can write lessons and do videos, but it’s not the same thing.
Thanks for the fast reply. I’m know I’m not bright enough at 1 am to be of value to the class or myself, even with a nap. I’ll hope for a class after we move back to the USA. Appreciate the honesty.