Events

Writing a novel can be an incredible journey of self-discovery. It can also be quite a struggle as you trek through the middle chapters, re-write your outlines, and wonder if you will ever finish the thing. Not only is finding time to write difficult, but overcoming psychological blocks and narrative slumps takes patience and practice. In this workshop, students will generate new material each week based on prompts from the instructor. Additionally, students will read one novel over the course of the term. The text will be discussed and analyzed in order to better understand fictional elements such as character development, scene building, conflict, chapter structure, and narrative arc. Students will come away with a clear understanding of how these elements work in fiction, as well as strategies for employing them in their own writing. Each student will share 3 pages of writing out loud each week (in response to the weekly prompt). The focus is on support and feedback, rather than critique. This class is suitable for writers at all stages of the novel-writing process.

Write the book you want to see in the world–whether you’re working on your first novel or writing short stories, poetry, plays, graphic novels, or even fan fiction! In this immersive workshop, you can be yourself and write what you love alongside other teens who share common experiences in a community that is truly your own. You’ll also develop your writing voice, hone your craft, and gain confidence in your writing and reading your work aloud.

Each day will be filled with readings from LGBTQ authors and writing exercises designed to get you thinking and creating: How can you ensure your character is three-dimensional vs. a trope? How do you tap into language—what’s said and unsaid—to create drama and tension in your work? How can you take your five senses and wield them to create fictional worlds that truly come alive?

No matter where or how you identify along the full LGBTQ spectrum, including those who are questioning, you’re welcome in this workshop! Writing notebooks will be available, but feel free to bring your own. Scholarships are available for those with financial need. For writers age 13-18 ONLY.

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES:

GrubStreet is happy to be able to offer a limited number of full scholarships for our teen writing camps. To apply for a scholarship, please click the “APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP” link above, and complete the online form describing why you want to take the teen writing camp and detailing your financial need. Please wait to hear from our Scholarship commiittee before registering for the class, as scholarships cannot be applied retroactively. The deadline to apply for this scholarship is Friday, July 28th at 5pm.

A panel of authors answering your questions about the book publication process, from finishing your novel to finding an agent, dealing with editors from houses both large and small, launching your book, and everything in between. Moderator: Michelle Hoover, Brandeis Writer-in-Residence (The Quickening, Bottomland). Panelists: Bob Fernandes (A Big Box of YEAH!), Kelly Ford (Cottonmouths), Andrea Meyer (Room for Love), Louise Miller (A City Baker’s Guide to Country Living), Emily Ross (Half in Love with Death), and Jennie Wood (A Boy Like Me).

First drafts of novels can be messy, amorphous, and daunting. Sometimes, extensive critical feedback can be counterproductive before the first draft is finished, yet writers often find themselves losing focus without support and guidance. In class, we will do exercises, discuss craft issues—characterization, the protagonist’s desire, plot and outlining, point of view, voice, dialogue—and read short scenes from each other’s work, providing feedback in an environment that recognizes the specific challenges of the novel in progress. In the last class, all writers will be invited to submit twenty pages of their novels to receive a written critique from the instructor. Novels of all genres are welcome. Please bring the first page (double-spaced, 12-point font) of your novel to the first class.

One of Neil Gaiman’s writing rules is, “Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.” Like members of a project team, writers often become overwhelmed by the work required to carry a project to completion. In this interactive seminar, you will be guided through project management techniques that can help writers who struggle with focus or managing their time. We’ll talk about a different kind of setting: that which includes goals, priorities, and deadlines. We’ll also discuss common time management pitfalls, how to avoid them, and how to get back on track if you fall into them. You will leave the session with an action plan for how you can stay focused on the finish line, whether your goal is to complete a draft or a revision.

More writers are committed to diversifying their casts with LGBTQ characters. But the fear of “getting it right” remains a concern and a challenge. How can writers avoid problematic representations and common tropes? What challenges can one expect on the road to publication? Will writers get pigeonholed or labeled as just LGBTQ writers — is this a bad thing, should we care?

In this session featured at Boston’s 2017 The Muse and the Marketplace, authors of LGBTQ narratives will discuss some pitfalls and issues writers of these characters face, and offer advice for adding dimension to their characters without erasing important parts of who they are.

With Jennie Wood and Chris Goodwin.

One of Neil Gaiman’s writing rules is, “Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.” Like members of a project team, writers often become overwhelmed by the work required to carry a project to completion. In this interactive seminar, you will be guided through project management techniques that can help writers who struggle with focus or managing their time. We’ll talk about a different kind of setting: that which includes goals, priorities, and deadlines. We’ll also discuss common time management pitfalls, how to avoid them, and how to get back on track if you fall into them. You will leave the session with an action plan for how you can stay focused on the finish line, whether your goal is to complete a draft or a revision.

Join Trident in partnership with GrubStreet for a Pride month panel discussion about writing queer lives in both fiction and nonfiction with Chris Castellani, Garrard Conley, Kelly Ford, Catherine Guthrie, Brontez Purnell, and Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich.

Today’s the day! Cottonmouths is available for purchase in your local bookstore and online.

Harvard Book Store and GrubStreet welcome GrubStreet writing instructor and fiction author KELLY J. FORD for a reading from her debut novel, Cottonmouths—a tale of crime and desire amid small-town America’s meth epidemic.

Book sale and signings with local authors.

I’m manning the posts from 9:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (EST). Come hang with me. Ask questions. Make book and TV suggestions.

Event description: Who doesn’t love meeting cool authors, chat about books and win some awesome prizes? Come hang out with the members of the 17 Scribes, authors who have debut novels launching in 2017. On July 10th we’re spotlighting those who had a book launch sometime between April 1 and June 30th.

Join local authors Kelly Ford and Michelle Hoover for an evening of reading and discussion at Papercuts J.P.