The Art of Storytelling [Durham, NC]
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $340 — Sliding-scale tuition options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select. To pay in installments, choose to pay with PayPal at check out.
Instructor: Michelle Dove | 5-weeks | Fridays April 11-May 9 | 6:30-8:30 PM | In-Person, 719 N Mangum St, Durham, NC
We often ask about the meaning of a story, but stories are not explanations. The whole story is the meaning. There is no plot. With short stories as our texts, this writing workshop and discussion-based course will examine the choices we make as writers at the sentence and structural levels, with the goal of illuminating what makes a story satisfying or complete. Together we will ask the questions: What makes a short story different from a novel? How do you know what to put into a story and what to leave out? What makes dialogue realistic? And what, pray tell, is relevant detail?
In this course, you will read and write short stories and will have the option to workshop one original story with the class. As you write you will learn to investigate the relationships between the written story, the world outside the story, the reader and the author. Our analysis will focus on the recursion of language and structure to bring about the “swerve”—i.e. the inevitable conclusion—for every work we encounter. Along the way we will discuss how modern fiction writers engage the writing process and read essays and interviews to not only expand our understanding of how fiction interacts with truth, but to internalize how a story requires room for the reader to experience drama.
Susan Steinberg, Sandra Cisneros, Amelia Gray, Edward P. Jones, Amber Sparks, Amy Hempel, Javier Marias, Miranda July, Roxane Gay, and Sheila Heti are some of the authors we will likely read.
We welcome repeat students for this course!
—
This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing the full-tuition or mid-level tuition tier in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All scholarship needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $340 — Sliding-scale tuition options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select. To pay in installments, choose to pay with PayPal at check out.
Instructor: Michelle Dove | 5-weeks | Fridays April 11-May 9 | 6:30-8:30 PM | In-Person, 719 N Mangum St, Durham, NC
We often ask about the meaning of a story, but stories are not explanations. The whole story is the meaning. There is no plot. With short stories as our texts, this writing workshop and discussion-based course will examine the choices we make as writers at the sentence and structural levels, with the goal of illuminating what makes a story satisfying or complete. Together we will ask the questions: What makes a short story different from a novel? How do you know what to put into a story and what to leave out? What makes dialogue realistic? And what, pray tell, is relevant detail?
In this course, you will read and write short stories and will have the option to workshop one original story with the class. As you write you will learn to investigate the relationships between the written story, the world outside the story, the reader and the author. Our analysis will focus on the recursion of language and structure to bring about the “swerve”—i.e. the inevitable conclusion—for every work we encounter. Along the way we will discuss how modern fiction writers engage the writing process and read essays and interviews to not only expand our understanding of how fiction interacts with truth, but to internalize how a story requires room for the reader to experience drama.
Susan Steinberg, Sandra Cisneros, Amelia Gray, Edward P. Jones, Amber Sparks, Amy Hempel, Javier Marias, Miranda July, Roxane Gay, and Sheila Heti are some of the authors we will likely read.
We welcome repeat students for this course!
—
This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing the full-tuition or mid-level tuition tier in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All scholarship needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $340 — Sliding-scale tuition options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select. To pay in installments, choose to pay with PayPal at check out.
Instructor: Michelle Dove | 5-weeks | Fridays April 11-May 9 | 6:30-8:30 PM | In-Person, 719 N Mangum St, Durham, NC
We often ask about the meaning of a story, but stories are not explanations. The whole story is the meaning. There is no plot. With short stories as our texts, this writing workshop and discussion-based course will examine the choices we make as writers at the sentence and structural levels, with the goal of illuminating what makes a story satisfying or complete. Together we will ask the questions: What makes a short story different from a novel? How do you know what to put into a story and what to leave out? What makes dialogue realistic? And what, pray tell, is relevant detail?
In this course, you will read and write short stories and will have the option to workshop one original story with the class. As you write you will learn to investigate the relationships between the written story, the world outside the story, the reader and the author. Our analysis will focus on the recursion of language and structure to bring about the “swerve”—i.e. the inevitable conclusion—for every work we encounter. Along the way we will discuss how modern fiction writers engage the writing process and read essays and interviews to not only expand our understanding of how fiction interacts with truth, but to internalize how a story requires room for the reader to experience drama.
Susan Steinberg, Sandra Cisneros, Amelia Gray, Edward P. Jones, Amber Sparks, Amy Hempel, Javier Marias, Miranda July, Roxane Gay, and Sheila Heti are some of the authors we will likely read.
We welcome repeat students for this course!
—
This class will take place in person at Night School Bar in Durham. Night School requires that students refrain from attending in-person classes when sick. For more on our class policies, see our FAQ. Instructors will also follow this policy. If your instructor is sick, class may be moved to online for a session or rescheduled to the week following the final scheduled session at the instructor’s discretion.
Sliding Scale: Night School Bar pays instructors and staff a living wage. We ask that people who make above the living wage threshold for their area strongly consider choosing the full-tuition or mid-level tuition tier in order to support our own living wage program. For Durham, NC, where we are located, the living wage threshold is $49,000 for an individual. All scholarship needs are self-assessed, and we will never request or require proof of need.
Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.