The Sun in California

Most writers keep some sort of journal. We will focus on creating narrative purpose with journaling and using it to reflect on essays and short stories in progress. John Steinbeck’s rule was: “A great and interesting story is about everyone or it will not last.” To practice this, we will intentionally reduce the “I” in journaling and vary the point of view, moving from the myopic to the communal. Doug will share his own journaling process as it relates to his memoir “Winter Wheat.”

Every writer needs a trove of tricks to outsmart the inner critic and remain open to new ideas. We will explore some of Danusha’s favorite methods of getting the mind going, creating new associations, and making the most of the mind’s games. Also: Why you shouldn’t believe in writer’s block, and why every poet needs a timer. Be prepared to surprise yourself.

Procrastination issues? Writer’s block? Hard time finishing? Overwhelmed with ideas but struggling to shape your writing? We will practice four simple, effective strategies for writing “in flow.” Everyone will leave class with methods for deepening one’s practice, an understanding of why it’s wise to work in a series, and instructions for how to design a writing life in which the focus is on play. This is a workshop you can easily take home with you.

Revising Yourself, Revising Others
Sparrow
NONFICTION

Every published essay is the product of long hours of revision, but how can one distinguish valuable sentences from worthless ones? Small Happiness is Sparrow’s self-help book about finding satisfaction in daily life. He will describe the process of editing that led to the final manuscript and offer exercises in revision and rewriting.

Poet Richard Hugo claims, “All truth must conform to music,” for in music, he argues, we find a fuller, stronger truth. By attending to language, we not only write in more effective, vivid ways, but we discover what it is we really mean to say. We will discuss four techniques for attending to language and crafting evocative prose. Please bring an essay or story in progress, though prompts will also be given at the session.

“What to leave in, what to leave out?” writes Bob Seger. (Yes, that Bob Seger.) Whatever you think of his music, he’s hit upon a question all writers must ask. How does one provide just the right amount of detail without saturating the text with too much? We will focus on a few examples, use our own styles to purposefully overwrite, and then practice editing to find the right balance. Come prepared to be painstakingly (if only temporarily) specific.

How do we praise? Where is beauty hidden in the ugliness? How can I invoke compassion for my subject? The answers are not what we might think. We will learn tricks that can help us use opposites to create a heightened sense of beauty in our writing, as well as to complicate the way we talk about the undesirable. You will come away with tools to create more credibility and texture in your writing.

Poetry can be meaningful, satisfying, and uplifting, but also difficult and mysterious. Perhaps we walk (or run) away too quickly when confronted with a poem that seems challenging. We will learn simple strategies for approaching poetry with more confidence and skill and learn to become better readers of not just poetry but any kind of writing. Being better readers makes us better writers, too. We will close with writing prompts and suggestions for jump-starting your prose-writing practice with poetry.

The purpose of art is to tell secrets without getting caught. One way to accomplish this is to tell just a piece of the story. In “My Jets Cap” Sparrow tells the family secret of how his father can lose his temper — in this case at Sparrow for playing under the grandstand at a Columbia Lions football game. We will explore how to use memoir and short-story writing to reveal forbidden truths.

Though we live in a world of chain stores, on-screen communications, and cross-country airplane travel, we ignore the power of place at our peril. Place and landscape shape and reshape us; they offer us foundation and refuge. We will raise our awareness of place and try to harness its power in our writing.

It’s a concern most writers have had: How do I write honestly about my family — our flaws, dysfunctions, and even crimes? We will learn to balance the negative with the positive and think about our family members as multi-dimensional people, capable of change and as vulnerable on the page as we all are in life. Doug will facilitate writing exercises and share tips that have kept his own family from disowning him — at least, so far.

What do a poem and a ritual have in common? How is writing and reading poetry a kind of sacred act? How can we invite the heightened awareness that comes with the sacred into our work? We live in a culture with few rituals, yet we crave transcendence. We will learn to go beyond the ordinary in our writing, not through loftiness but by digging into the dirt of the actual. Memoir and fiction writers welcome.

Flash fiction and micro memoir are powerful stories in tiny packages. We’ll hone our ability to compress, focus, and write taut narratives. We’ll also learn how character, plot, and crisp use of detail combine to create rich subtext. Very short works depend on strong opening lines and stunning last ones. We’ll explore strategies that can easily be applied to other kinds of writing. Prose poetry will also be addressed.

How does one write about evil? (This is particularly difficult if one is not a Protestant minister.) An essay is not a sermon, and readers don’t want to be lectured to, but they are highly curious about evil. How do we oppose evil as writers, while admitting that we are attracted to the selfish and cruel? We’ll discuss how “Embarrassed to Be an American,” Sparrow’s account of his 2016 campaign for president, confronts modern cruelty.

Too often unapproachable or absent, our fathers are our first gods. How have we known them? How might we know them now? And are we ready for our fathers to fall from their thrones and become the human beings they are? We will think and write about our own fathers in the hopes of leaving with the beginnings of a number of personal pieces, and perhaps a fuller understanding of these men.

Friday: Check-in begins at four in the afternoon. Dinner is followed by the Into the Fire Opening Session and a reading featuring Sun authors.

Saturday: Workshops will begin after breakfast and run until 9:30 PM, with breaks for lunch and dinner. Individual meetings with Sy Safransky will run throughout the workshop sessions on Saturday.

Sunday: A panel discussion (topic to be announced) will be held after breakfast, along with a reading by Sy Safransky and then the closing session. Lunch will follow at 12:15. We’ll depart afterward.