In this generative workshop for writers at all levels, we will explore how fiction can cast its gaze forwards and examine the future, in all its uncertainty and possibility.
From climate change to flying cars, from robot overlords to virtual reality, from mass-surveillance to colonies on Mars, the future holds both worry and possibility, anxiety and hope. The only thing that is for certain: we are creating the future now, in every choice we make. How can fiction engage with the questions and uncertainties of the future in ways that enrich our present? How do we write textured visions of the future when our present feels increasingly dystopian? How can speculative fiction interrogate our current choices and encourage the construction of a more just, equitable, and beautiful world for all living things? In this workshop, we will do weekly writing exercises and prompts to unearth our own questions, anxieties, and hopes for the future, generating material that participants can use for current or future projects. In addition to these exercises, participants will each have the opportunity to submit a longer piece of speculative fiction for feedback. We will also read and discuss short stories by Ted Chiang, Zadie Smith, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Deborah Eisenberg, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, George Saunders, and Diane Cook to unpack their techniques, such as character-driven world-building, unreliable point of view characters, and plot structure. We will work to apply those same techniques to our own work, and use those craft elements as a basis for our feedback to one another.
This workshop will take place online.
You must have the Zoom app downloaded and a reliable internet connection to access your class meetings. You will receive the information to access your Zoom classroom one week before the start of your workshop — check your spam folders if you don’t see it!
Tuition: $215 or $180 for Cabin Members
Dates: Tuesdays from 6:30 - 8:30 PM MDT on the following dates:
March 29th, 2022
April 5th, 2022
April 12th, 2022
April 19th, 2022
April 26th, 2022
May 3rd, 2022
This workshop is taught by: