This fall, The NOCCA Institute co-hosts four writing classes with the New Orleans Writers Workshop. The classes cover a range of topics that will interest authors of all sorts, from beginners to seasoned pros. Follow the links below to learn more and register!
Writing the Novel: Getting the Ball Rolling
Instructor: C.W. Cannon
9 Sessions: Wednesdays, 7-9 PM beginning September 19
Location: NOCCA Institute
Cost: $325 (Early bird price $299 if you sign up before Sept 1)
Course Description: This workshop is designed to help get a novel project started. Students will draft tentative outlines with an eye to building a compelling story arc, and work on opening chapters. As with short fiction, students will be encouraged to refine basics of scene, characterization, and dialogue, but the aim will be to craft building blocks of a larger, longer story. We will read essays and tips about fiction and novel craft, but the bulk of the class, as with any workshop, will be devoted to giving feedback for improvement to student chapter drafts, as well as concept and plot ideas as embodied in working synopses.
*This class is appropriate for more experienced writers.
Intermediate Fiction
Instructor: Tom Andes
Location: NOCCA
When: Thursday, 7-9 PM beginning September 20
Cost: $325 (early bird price $299 until September 1)
Course Description: This workshop is designed for experienced writers who want to deepen their understanding of craft and move their work closer to a finished, publishable state. The workshop will focus principally on fiction writers bring to class. We will also look at published texts that illustrate fundamental points of craft, including character development, dialogue, setting, voice, and story arc, and how these elements combine to create a singular effect in a piece of fiction.
*This class is appropriate for more experienced writers.
Scrutinizing the Self: The Art of the Personal Essay
Instructor: Adrian Van Young
Location: NOCCA Institute
Days: October 6-7
Time: 1:30-4:30
Cost: $150 (early bird price $140 until October 1)
Course Description: Exploring the self, as Virginia Woolf wrote, “is a matter of profound, mysterious, and overwhelming difficulty.” In this weekend seminar, we’ll do our best. Through analytical outlines, targeted writing exercises, group discussion and the examination of models from writers such as Roxane Gay, David Sedaris, and John Jeremiah Sullivan, we’ll map a course through the labyrinth of ourselves toward devising and beginning our own personal essays. Writers can expect to come away with not only their own creative non-fiction writing projects in the making, but also a reliable formula for making an idea for a personal essay stick.
*This class is appropriate for all levels.
Jumpstart: Writing from the Body
Instructor: Jessica Kinnison
Time: Mondays, 7-9 PM, October 15-November 5
Location: NOCCA Institute
Cost: $175 (early bird price $165 before Oct 1)
Course Description: Is it true that some people see art everywhere while others are blind to it? This class will explore why this narrative of “the creative” versus “the non-creative” is false. Writing from the body helps us tap into sensations and memories locked below the surface. Through targeted exercises, including breathing techniques, exploration of specific past experiences, and discussions of related readings, we will practice tuning into the energy of our bodies to allow a creative and generative flow to begin.
This class focuses primarily on generating new work or deepening existing projects with weekly opportunities for workshop.
*This course is appropriate for writers of all levels and working in all genres.
It is October 17 so I am too late for these courses. Do you have any starting in the near future?