The Muse & The Marketplace 2020: Full Schedule

9:00am EDT

1I: Moral Villains and Sinning Heroes: Creating Complex Characters

Limited Capacity full

Heroes sin and villains are occasionally good. Struggles of good vs. evil are happening within, so why not write our characters that way? This two-day course will look at various technical approaches to building realistic characters in fiction, challenging the binary form. Characters are as complex on the page as they are off the page, and we will explore this tension through theory, discussion and a writing exercise.

Speakers

Wayétu Moore

Author, SHE WOULD BE KING

Wayétu Moore’s debut novel She Would Be King was named a best book of 2018 by Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Entertainment Weekly & BuzzFeed. Her writing can be found in The Paris Review, Frieze Magazine, Guernica, The Atlantic Magazine and other publications. She’s a graduate... Read More →

Friday April 3, 2020 9:00am - 10:00am EDT
Beacon Hill Room - 4th Floor

Block 1, Lecture with Q&A

Session Track Fiction

10:15am EDT

2G: It’s All in the Details

Limited Capacity filling up

How do we write fiction and creative non-fiction that makes our readers feel love, hope, dread, sadness, and the whole range of emotion embodied in our work? While pacing, setting, and structure all come into the play, one of the most powerful (and often overlooked) techniques for any writer is the use of specific and significant details. But too much detail can backfire, and too little can take the reader out of the "dream."

In this session, we will learn how to use details effectively so our readers share our characters’ emotional worlds. We’ll look at how specificity, filtering, and use of the active voice can build meaning for the reader. We’ll discuss examples from R.O. Kwon, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Toni Morrison and end with a short writing exercise that will help us apply what we’ve learned.

Speakers

Marjan Kamali

Author, THE STATIONERY SHOP

Marjan Kamali was born in Turkey to Iranian parents and spent her childhood in Kenya, Germany, Turkey, Iran and the United States. She is the author of the novels The Stationery Shop (Gallery/Simon&Schuster), which was an Indie Next Pick, one of Newsweek’s Best Summer Books, and... Read More →

Friday April 3, 2020 10:15am - 11:30am EDT
Beacon Hill Room - 4th Floor

Block 2, Lecture, Discussion Class, Guided Writing

Session Track Fiction, Nonfiction

1:45pm EDT

3B: The Conversation Without Answers: Writing Better Dialogue

Limited Capacity full

Dialogue is a convenient way to provide exposition and advance plot. But when writers concentrate only on these aims, the dialogue they write barely resembles the way people really talk. In this session, we’ll focus on how conversations -- with their interruptions, non sequiturs and misunderstandings -- can be used to characterize speakers and bring their relationships to the next level. We’ll look at transcripts from real conversations, as well as excerpts from published fiction that will include “Tomi” by Kali Fajardo-Anstine and “Our Lady of Peace” by ZZ Packer, among others. And we’ll use a series of writing prompts to try out techniques right in class.

Speakers

K Chess

Author, FAMOUS MEN WHO NEVER LIVED

K Chess is the author of Famous Men Who Never Lived (Tin House Books, 2019). Her writing has appeared in The Chicago Tribune’s Printer’s Row Journal, PANK, Salon, Tor.com and other outlets. Her short stories have been honored by the Nelson Algren Literary Award and the Pushcart... Read More →

Friday April 3, 2020 1:45pm - 3:00pm EDT
Beacon Hill Room - 4th Floor

Block 3, Discussion Class, Guided Writing

Session Track Fiction, Nonfiction

3:30pm EDT

4F: The Oversight Draft: From Manuscript to Publishable Draft

Limited Capacity filling up

What keeps a finished manuscript from being accepted for publication, or from catching a judge's eye or attention, or from being read all the way to the end? How do you know when your manuscript is truly done? From flat plots to false dialogue. thin and under researched scenes, we will discuss the most common mistakes that keep a finished manuscript from being ready for publication and then offer suggestions about how to address these issues in an "oversight" draft.

Speakers

Amina Gautier

Author, THE LOSS OF ALL LOST THINGS

Amina Gautier, Ph.D., is the author of three award-winning short story collections: At-Risk, Now We Will Be Happy and The Loss of All Lost Things. At-Risk was awarded the Flannery O’Connor Award, The First Horizon Award, and the Eric Hoffer Legacy Fiction Award. Now We Will Be... Read More →

Friday April 3, 2020 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT
Beacon Hill Room - 4th Floor

Block 4, Lecture with Q&A, Discussion Class

Session Track Fiction, Nonfiction

9:00am EDT

5F: Getting Read, Noticed, and Understood on Sensitive Topics in Impossibly Polarized Times

Limited Capacity seats available

Learn to take the heat and take charge when taking a stand on hot-button issues, like politics, culture, gender, and race. This skill is more important than ever in today's polarized climate. Silence is a temptation, but not an option. Mary C. Curtis, award-winning journalist, columnist and essayist, will share how to add your voice - and change the narrative - to the never-ending debate on issues that matter, while keeping your sanity and the worst of the critics at bay, and offer tips on how to craft writing that is marketable to a variety of publishing outlets, no matter their particular persuasion. Yes, there are ways that may not get readers or editors to agree, but may lead them to grudging respect. Bring an idea and be prepared to explain it, defend it, and get readers to care. Walk away with a one-page sheet of never miss writing essentials.

Speakers

Mary C. Curtis

Columnist, Roll Call

Mary C. Curtis, a columnist at Roll Call, is an award-winning journalist and educator based in Charlotte, N.C., and Washington, D.C. She has contributed to NBC News, NPR, The Washington Post, CNN, The Root, ESPN's The Undefeated and talks politics on WCCB-TV in Charlotte. Curtis... Read More →

Saturday April 4, 2020 9:00am - 10:00am EDT
Beacon Hill Room - 4th Floor

Block 5, Lecture

Session Track Publishing & Promotion, Nonfiction

10:15am EDT

6L: A Nice Problem to Have: A Guide to Types of Publishers and How to Choose Between Them

Limited Capacity seats available

Description coming!

Speakers

Jonah Straus

Literary Agent, Straus Literary

Jonah Straus is founder of Straus Literary, a boutique literary agency based in San Francisco with an office in New York. He specializes in literary fiction, journalism, history, narrative nonfiction, and the culinary arts.Jonah got his start in publishing in the warehouse of Atrium... Read More →

Saturday April 4, 2020 10:15am - 11:30am EDT
Beacon Hill Room - 4th Floor

Block 6, Lecture with Q&A

1:45pm EDT

7C: Structure, Risk, and Meaning in Memoir

Limited Capacity full

What drives the writer of personal narrative is often an impulse to speak where there has been silence. Early drafts may be guided by intuition, a gravitational pull towards what lies unresolved. And yet sooner or later, the work requires structure. Far from being strictly architecture, structure is a means to learn more about what possibilities lie hidden in the stories of our lives. This session will address the process of finding a structure that isn’t merely an organizing principle, but rather calls forth theme and stakes, and how considering structure can help the writer crack through to deeper, riskier layers of meaning. Several recently published memoirs will be discussed, and participants will leave with strategies and exercises to help them deepen and re-energize their own work. Our aim will be experimentation and discovery.

Speakers

Alex Marzano-Lesnevich

Author, THE FACT OF A BODY

Alex Marzano-Lesnevich is the author of The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir (Flatiron Books), which received a Lambda Literary Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the Grand Prix des Lectrices ELLE, and the Prix France Inter-JDD, an award for one book of any genre in the world. Named... Read More →

Saturday April 4, 2020 1:45pm - 3:00pm EDT
Beacon Hill Room - 4th Floor

Block 7, Lecture

Session Track Nonfiction

3:30pm EDT

8L: Essentials of Pitching

Limited Capacity filling up

Description coming!

Speakers

Kerry D'Agostino

Literary Agent, Curtis Brown, Ltd.

Kerry D’Agostino is a literary agent at Curtis Brown, Ltd. She received her bachelor’s degree in English from Bowdoin College, her masters in Art in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and her certificate in publishing from the Columbia Journalism School. She... Read More →

Saturday April 4, 2020 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT
Beacon Hill Room - 4th Floor

Block 8, Lecture with Q&A

10:15am EDT

9E: Scene CPR

Limited Capacity seats available

The writer Sandra Scofield describes a “pulse” – that spark that makes the story come alive – as a vital element to all scenes. But what is a “pulse,” and how can a writer ensure each scene has one? How can we write in such a way that our characters come to life, that a scene breathes emotion and urgency, while moving the plot forward and keeping tension taut?

Using published examples and exercises, we will look at the scene both as a discrete unit with its own internal dynamics, and in terms of its function in the plot of a novel or memoir. You will come away from this class with a checklist to help you determine whether a given scene in your manuscript passes the pulse test – and if not, how to bring it to life.

Speakers

Lisa Borders

Author, THE FIFTY-FIRST STATE

Lisa Borders’ second novel, The Fifty-First State, was published by Engine Books in 2013. Her first novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land, was chosen by Pat Conroy as the winner of River City Publishing’s Fred Bonnie Award, and received fiction honors in the 2003 Massachusetts Book Awards... Read More →

Sunday April 5, 2020 10:15am - 11:30am EDT
Beacon Hill Room - 4th Floor

Block 9, Lecture, Discussion Class

Session Track Fiction, Nonfiction

11:45am EDT

10H: Micro-Level Revision: On Writer Tics, Filler Words, Grammatical Habits, and Other Sources of Slow Prose

Limited Capacity filling up

The difference between your manuscript getting a “yes” or a “no” is often in cutting what Cormac McCarthy and William Faulkner’s editor called “extraneous baggage.” In this interactive class, author and former Atlantic staff editor Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne will help you torch your manuscript of the filler words that junk up stories and slow prose.

Through instructor examples and a brainstorming session, we will establish a list of words and then strike out on the prowl, using Find and Replace as our weapon. Together, we will flush out those tic words and brainstorm cuts or replacements. Bring your computer and a willingness both to share your words and laugh at the instances of their use! You will leave with a cleaner manuscript and a toolkit for line-editing that will have you one step closer to being ready to submit, whether to an agent, an editor, or the reading public!

Speakers

Elizabeth Shelburne

Author, HOLDING ON TO NOTHING

Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne grew up reading, writing, and shooting in East Tennessee. After graduating from Amherst College, she worked at The Atlantic Monthly. Her nonfiction work has been published in The Atlantic Monthly, Boston Globe, and Globalpost, among others and her short... Read More →

Sunday April 5, 2020 11:45am - 12:45pm EDT
Beacon Hill Room - 4th Floor

Block 10, Guided Writing, Lecture with Q&A, Discussion Class

Session Track Fiction, Nonfiction