This is the Place: Mapping Memory and Home in Regional Writing

Writing about place and home that has "main character syndrome."

Details

Dorothy Allison once wrote that “Change, when it comes, cracks everything open.” Part of writing regionally means discovering the things that you thought you knew about your memory and perception are colored and distorted by the environment that shaped you. In regional writing, setting is key. How is home constructed in place narrative? Through application of all five senses? Does it require thinking of place as character?
Attendees will spend time in this session discussing the craft of place and regional writing in narrative works, essays, and pop culture/media. This will be a collaborative process; one that allows us to consider (and reconsider) questions of “home” when it comes to creative work. Readers will generate work in-session and take home prompts when the workshop is complete.

What you will learn

•To hone the craft of writing place scenes •To hone the craft of reading place scenes •To explore the nuances and intersections of how "home" works in various types of creative writing and in pop culture/media

Workshop takeaways

Students will leave with generated work, further reading, further writing prompts, and a better sense of how to read/write place and home in regional work

What you will be reading

Annie Dillard "Total Eclipse," Beth Kephart "The Craft of Writing," Kristen Arnett "The Problem with Writing About Florida," Louise Erdrich "Where I Ought To Be," Aram Mrjoian "The Spatialization of Fiction," Additional readings TBD

Additional info

This workshop will be recorded for the convenience of those unable to attend live. The recorded session will be emailed to participants the following day.