If I were to create a series of workshops on storytelling for the public I would plan eight workshops to be held twice a week for four weeks that would cover elements of creative nonfiction. I would house these workshops in a local coffee shop that had space for author’s to share their work, sort of like an open mic event. Each week the workshop would meet twice. The first meeting of the week would cover content and the second meeting would result in the application of the content discussed. Attendees of the workshop would apply their new knowledge and skills to their own creative nonfiction writing and present their short stories via an open mic performance that would result in a writing workshop focused on positive critiques.
I believe creative nonfiction is a really important genre, and it’s something everyone (seriously everyone) can write. I enjoy reading creative nonfiction like Leslie Jamison’s The Empathy Exams. I also grew up reading my grandmother’s creative nonfiction. She has been published in multiple Chicken Soup books and writes a blog, too. Her stories are creative renditions of her memories and experiences. I’ve learned a lot about my family through her stories, especially about her grandparents and parents, my great-great and great-grandparents whom I never had the chance to meet.
Back to planning my workshop, I would explore four areas during my content days. My first content day would be titled “Why storytelling?” We would discuss why people write creative nonfiction and why storytelling is important. Creative nonfiction has many purposes. Some people might write creative nonfiction for personal, therapeutic reasons. This would probably occur in a diary or journal and would not be published. Some people might want to write about their personal memories and family traditions and stories for autobiographical reasons or to pass these traditions and stories on to future generations. These kinds of nonfiction pieces could remain in the family or could be published. Others might write creative nonfiction because they want to teach the world about something and think the relaying their personal experience is the best way to do so; this form of creative nonfiction is published in places like op-ed pages, blogs, and anthologies of essays. We’d also discuss the basics of narratology, like how humans learn through narrative.
My second content workshop would be titled “Who’s Who? The Narrator and Author.” During this workshop, we would discuss the difference between the narrator and the author because these ideas get complicated when the author is telling a story in which they are involved. We would discuss the various kinds of narrators and how each kind impacts the narrative discourse and a reader’s response. Also, we would discuss the difference between author and implied author. I would encourage the workshop attendees to speak about the implied author when critiquing their peers’ personal creative nonfiction pieces.
My third content workshop would be titled “Constructing the When and Where: Narrative Time and Story World.” During this workshop, we would discuss (you guessed it) narrative time and story world. This would most likely also turn into a conversation about plot, too, because time and place are so heavily involved in plot. It is important to talk about narrative time and how readers naturalize time gaps to show that writers do not have to include every single little detail of an event for it to make sense in a creative nonfiction piece. A discussion about story world would include a discussion about description and how to successfully get your reader engaged in and with that world. That would be easy seeing as this is nonfiction and writers would not need to ask their audience to suspend belief for fantastical reasons.
My fourth and final content workshop would be titled “Now What? How to share your story (if you want to!)” and would involve a discussion about publishing. I would bring in editors from various magazines that publish creative nonfiction pieces that can give insight on how to pitch stories and have success in publishing. I would also bring in a blogger to talk about blog platforms and how writers can be successful through the use of blogs. I feel like this would be the ultimate form of application and a great way to end a workshop series over storytelling. Especially since those in attendance would be writing throughout the workshop and have pieces that would be ready (or close to ready) to share with the world.
I would get people to come to my workshops through advertisements through the hosting coffeeshop. I would also send information to nearby colleges, high schools, and retirement homes. I would like to have a wide age range among atendees because everyone’s story deserves to be told.
Comments
Post a Comment