Attention Twin Cities: Two Classes by Friends of DCWYTBMA

I know both Frank and Eric and can vouch for their radness. For those of you who are looking for a class this summer you can do no better.

The Search for Story: Writing Narrative Nonfiction

To be a successful nonfiction writer these days, it’s not enough to know how to type, to have a blog, or to be able to put an article together. To write powerfully in today’s media environment, you need to be able to tell great stories. In this class, we’ll look at the evolution of narrative nonfiction and New Journalism. We’ll review some of the master nonfiction writers and learn how to apply narrative techniques in profiles, travel stories, features, and essays. Advanced or professional writers only. Please submit two writing samples (maximum of 5,000 words per sample) or clips to Loft Education by Friday, June 19 (not postmark deadline). Accepted students notified by July 1.

Frank Bures is an award-winning writer whose work has been featured in Harper’s, Esquire, Outside, Mother Jones, and other magazines. His work was included in the Best American Travel Writing 2004, received a Lowell Thomas Award in 2007, and will be included in the Best American Travel Writing 2009. He is a contributing editor at Poet & Writers and the Travel Channel’s WorldHum.com.  More at frankbures.com

Short-Short Stories

Short-shorts can lean toward fables, sketches, jokes, parables, meditations, and anecdotes; they may be narrative or lyric. “Part of the fun of writing them is the sense of slipping between the seams,” says Stuart Dybek. The form resists definition, which may be why short-shorts go by a variety of names: flash, micro, sudden, and quick fiction. Because of their brevity (typically 1,000 words or less) and often experimental nature, they provide a great opportunity to work on elements of craft: tone and voice, in particular. We’ll do exercises to generate material, discuss work by authors like Calvino, Oates, Boyle, and Saunders, and workshop student stories. Small copy fee payable to teaching artist.

Eric Vrooman’s short fiction has appeared in the Kenyon Review, Minnesota Monthly, the Cream City Review, Passages North, Ninth Letter, and elsewhere. Before completing an MFA in fiction at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, he was a literary agent for the Lazear Agency. He has taught creative writing at Tulane University and Gustavus Adolphus College. He is currently at work on a collection of nontraditional form fiction (short-shorts, primarily).