When it comes to writing stories that aren't true, where do you start? How do you get the image in your head onto the paper? How do you craft a place from thin air, let alone a person? How do you bring a character to life, make them do and say things, have compassion for them as you render them in three dimensions? In this two-part workshop, we’ll discuss the nuts and bolts of building a world on the page, engage in writing exercises that will help guide our stories through both craft and intuition, and uncover new ways to get excited (read: undaunted) by the invigorating practice of writing fiction. Registration is only requested once for this two-part workshop. The expectation is that participants will attend both sessions. If you can only attend one session, please note this in the "Special Needs" field. 

Part 1: People & Places 

This two-hour workshop will address character building and setting — how to make the people and places in our work feel alive. Between brief craft lessons, attendees will have the chance to create new work with prompts or exercises, and will leave the class with the beginnings of a world on their pages. There will be an optional opportunity to share their work with the group, as well as time at the end for questions and conversation.  

Part 2: Plot & Pleasure 

This two-hour workshop will confront two questions that are central to fiction writing: How do you tell a story in the most compelling way? (I.e. How do you deal with PLOT?!) And secondly: How do you continue to feel compelled by the work as you plod along through this plot? (How do you make the often painful process of writing…pleasurable?) Though these questions may feel distant from each other, this workshop will help writers discover a key link: that following your own pleasure may very well help you find your story. Between brief craft lessons, attendees will have the chance to create new work with prompts or exercises, as well as the optional opportunity to share their work with the group. There will be time at the end for questions and conversation. 

About the Instructor: 

MOLLY PRENTISS was born in Santa Cruz, California in 1984. She is the author of the novel “Tuesday Nights in 1980”, which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, and shortlisted for the Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine in France, as well as the 2023 novel “Old Flame”. Her writing has been translated into multiple languages. She has has been a Writer in Residence at The Blue Mountain Center, Vermont Studio Center and at the Workspace program the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and received the Emerging Writer Fellowship from the Aspen Institute. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the California College of the Arts. She lives in a one-room schoolhouse in Red Hook, New York, with her husband and daughter.