2022 WRITING WORKSHOPS
Below is the schedule we had for the 2022 writing workshops:
(Note: in 2022 all workshops were in-person)
Morning Workshops: 9:00 - 10:30 a.m.
Tara Campbell: "A Little Weird Can Go a Long Way: Generating New Stories"
William Jones:“What is Afrofuturism and Why Is It Important?” (Afrofuturism Fiction)
Margaret Talbot: "The Art of the Interview" (Non-Fiction)
Afternoon Workshops: 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. (Registration Required)
Tope Folarin: “Are You Done Yet? On the Art of Revising” (Fiction)
Morgan Gendel: “Create the Next (Hypothetical) Sci-Fi TV Series” (Science Fiction)
Robert K. Musil: “Writing Comes Naturally: Catching the Wonders of Nature on Paper” (Fiction & Non-Fiction)
People could register for 1 Morning Workshop and/or 1 Afternoon Workshop.
Tara Campbell | FICTION
"A Little Weird Can Go a Long Way: Generating New Stories"
Writing compelling speculative fiction doesn’t always require the creation of a whole new world—a little weird can go a long way. In this 90-minute generative class, we’ll explore three ways of unlocking new stories: gleaning horror from unfinished business, crafting narratives from common expressions, and using deliberate paradoxes to create new ways of looking at the world. The class is suitable for a wide audience, from those who are new to speculative fiction, to experienced authors looking for a little burst of inspiration (or a break from that stalled WIP).
Tara Campbell is a writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, and fiction co-editor at Barrelhouse. She received her MFA from American University. Her work has appeared in SmokeLong Quarterly, Masters Review, Wigleaf, Jellyfish Review, Booth, Strange Horizons, and Escape Pod: Artemis Rising. She is the author of a novel, TreeVolution (2016), and four collections: Circe's Bicycle (2017), Midnight at the Organporium (2019), Political AF: A Rage Collection (2020), and Cabinet of Wrath: A Doll Collection (2021). Connect with her at www.taracampbell.com or on Twitter: @TaraCampbellCom.
Tope Folarin | FICTION
“Are You Done Yet? On the Art of Revising?”
When is a story finished? In this class we will discuss the principles of revision and the steps you can take to ensure that your work is polished and publishable.
Tope Folarin is a Nigerian-American writer based in Washington, DC. He won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2013 and was shortlisted once again in 2016. He was educated at Morehouse College and the University of Oxford, where he earned two Masters degrees as a Rhodes Scholar. His debut novel, A Particular Kind of Black Man (2019), won the Whiting Award for Fiction in 2021. He is on the Board of Directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.
Morgan Gendel | SCIENCE FICTION
“Create the Next (Hypothetical) Sci-Fi TV Series”
Novices and experienced writers alike will enjoy this informative and entertaining session, which will lead participants through the creative steps needed to write a new TV series. Suggestions from the group will supply the fundamental building blocks of World, Characters and Plot. Morgan Gendel will demonstrate how these can be fine-tuned for maximum dramatic impact, drawing on his experience as a Hugo Award-winning Hollywood writer and producer.
Screenwriter and producer Morgan Gendel is perhaps best known as the writer of the heartbreaking, fan-favorite Star Trek: Next Generation episode “THE INNER LIGHT,” for which he was awarded the Hugo Award for Science Fiction Writing. In addition to writing other episodes of Star Trek: TNG and Deep Space 9, he has written or produced 250 episodes of TV for series including the CW Network hit The 100, on which he served as co-executive Producer; Law & Order, which earned him an Emmy nomination; The Dresden Files, which he developed for the SyFy network; and many more.
William Jones | AFROFUTURIST FICTION
“What is Afrofuturism and Why Is It Important?”
Afrofuturism is described as, "a movement in literature, music, art, etc., featuring futuristic or science fiction themes which incorporate elements of black history and culture." This workshop will discuss the history and evolution of Afrofuturism. I will also discuss its purpose and need today. Participants will build a world and incorporate Afrofuturistic themes.
William Jones is the founder of Afrofuturism Network, a historian, educator, and self-described "comic book geek." He frequently speaks on the subjects of the history of black people in America, the image of black people in various forms of media, pop culture, and hip-hop music on various college campuses and at conferences both nationally and abroad. He is also the author of The Ex-Con, Voodoo Priest, Goddess, and the African King: A Social, Cultural, and Political Analysis of Four Black Comic Book Heroes (2016). He has been featured on several radio programs and podcasts where discusses both history and Afrofuturism.
Robert K. Musil | FICTION AND NON-FICTION
“Writing Comes Naturally: Catching the Wonders of Nature on Paper”
Musil shares the secrets of nature and environmental writing. Like Rachel Carson, Musil says, "You've been doing it since you were a kid who first said, 'Mommy, I am sad. I see a robin's egg. It is broken and blue.'" Designed for anyone who loves nature, or writing, and wants to explore how it is done, he will guide participants from seeing with fresh eyes to composing a fictional or non-fictional observation worth sharing.
Robert K. Musil is the President and CEO of the Rachel Carson Council, the legacy environmental organization envisioned by Rachel Carson and founded in 1965 by her closest friends and colleagues. He speaks widely at colleges and universities, leads RCC campaigns on global climate change and environmental justice, and is a leading advocate on Capitol Hill. From 1992-2006, he was the longest-serving Executive Director and CEO of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), winner of the 1985 Nobel Prize for Peace. He is a graduate of Yale and Northwestern Universities and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He is the author of Hope for a Heated Planet: How Americans are Fighting Global Warming and Building a Better Future (2009), Rachel Carson and Her Sisters: Extraordinary Women Who Have Shaped America’s Environment (2016), and Washington in Spring: A Nature Journal for a Changing Capital (2016). Musil’s forthcoming book is a new, annotated edition, with his Introduction and a Prologue by Deborah Cramer, of Rachel Carson’s Under the Sea-Wind, with illustrations, photographs, and updated marine science.
Margaret Talbot | NON-FICTION
“The Art of the Interview”
Conversations with other people are some of the most vital material for all kinds of nonfiction writing, from straightforward news reporting to memoir, biography, history and long-form story-telling. We'll consider the ethics, logistics, and creative challenges of interviewing, including how to get the best material for making people come alive on the page, and how to effectively incorporate quotes to reveal character. We'll interview each other and try our hands at writing up the results.
Margaret Talbot has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2004, and was formerly a Contributing Writer at The New York Times Magazine and Executive Editor of The New Republic. Her articles and essays have been anthologized in collections including The Best of the Best American Science Writing and The Art of the Essay. She is a recipient of a Whiting Writers Award and was a Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation. Her memoir/biography of her father, stage and screen actor Lyle Talbot, and his times, The Entertainer: Movies, Magic, and My Father’s Twentieth Century, was published in 2012. USA Today called The Entertainer a "fascinating social history of America...at the same time, a warm father/daughter story;" and according to Slate, "Talbot has woven a tale as romantic and vivid as any film could hope to be, while still seeing every bit of it plain. She is as clear-eyed about her father as she is about history—no easy feat." Her book profiling 1960s and 1970s radicals, By the Light of Burning Dreams: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Second American Revolution, written with her brother David Talbot, was published in 2021 by HarperCollins