​We explore and practice literary techniques used in such famous poem-letter exchanges as the celebrated “Envelopes of Air” between Ada Limón and Natalie Diaz. We will study and practice the sensory world of the natural and built environments among personal and community history. Our goal is to create an intimate connection with the reader that is emotionally, intellectually evocative and full of delightful surprises. The techniques are meant for all genres, so whether you're writing poetry, short stories, a novel, a play, a memoir or any genre or hybrid, you're sure to come away with new ideas.

​One of the quickest ways to establish character is through dialogue. Dialogue can reveal a character’s past, present, and future. So, what does your character have to say? More importantly, what does your character want to say and why should we listen? In this class, you’ll learn how to delineate between character voices, craft personalities, and explore the subtleties of subtext. 

​Resonance is the reverberation of sounds or images that can add richness to a poem. This effect can be created through such devices as repetition, alliteration, assonance, and through the use of word palates. In this workshop we will explore how one can use these different types of echoing to build stronger poems, especially in the process of revision.

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Since Charles Dickens's Bleak House was published in 1852, present tense in narrative writing has fallen in and out favor among readers and critics.

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James Joyce used present tense for Ulysses, and John Updike employed it in his "Rabbit" series of novels. Then in 1987, William Gass published his now infamous manifesto "A Failing Grade for the Present Tense."

Was Gass right? Does the present tense fail? If so, why? When can it work to use present tense? How do I master past perfect tense? Is it ever okay to switch tenses?

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Join us in this crash-course tutorial to learn the basics of verb tense every creative writer needs to know.