Classes with Chelsey Clammer

You have a story to tell, but what’s the best way to tell it? Should you write about your relationship with your mother in the first person point of view or second? What about tense? Past, present, future? And how about the actual structure and organization of the story? Is a clear chronology of events the best way to write about your life?

In this four-week class, participants will be provided with 2-3 essays to read every week that will get us to explore different narrative structures. We’ll also look at a number of craft techniques such as juxtaposition, narrative time, rhythm, subtext, and metaphor that can all influence the essay in subtle, yet very significant ways. The goal of this workshop is to discover how the way we decide to tell a story is just as important as the story itself.

The purpose of this group is to act as a writer’s book group. What that means is that we will read a book together and learn different writing craft techniques from it. This month, we will be reading Madness by Marya Hornbacher. Reading the memoir as a guide, we will explore how we can write about mental illness in a way that is insanely good! It can be hard to convey an unbalanced mental state to the reader in both a clear and vibrant way. How can we describe what the lethargy and hopelessness of depression that will interest and engage the reader? How to write coherently about a psychotic state? We will look at both the larger aspects of an essay (narrative arc, structure, etc.) and the smaller mechanical aspects of writing (pace, rhythm, etc.) to discover the ways we can creatively and clearly convey what goes on in ours and others’ brains.

The body is an unavoidable fact of our lives. As writers, we also know that the need to write is also an unavoidable fact of our lives. In this four-week class, students will read a variety of authors to explore the different ways that the body can be a part of our writing.

Participants will be provided with 2-3 essays to read every week that will get us to explore different narrative structures. We’ll also look at a number of craft techniques such as juxtaposition, tone, use of metaphor, integrating research, and gestures that can all influence the essay in subtle, yet very significant ways. The goal of this workshop is to discover how the way we decide to tell a story is just as important as the story itself.

Grief is an experience that never feels complete. Yes, you can explain the chronology of what led to someone’s death and its aftermath, but the way that we experience grief is both cyclical and fragmented. How could it not be? There is something missing from our lives now, and so it makes sense to write about grief in a way that reflects our experience of it. In this course, we will read Bluets by Maggie Nelson and a handful of craft and other literary essays that explore different ways to write about grief. We’ll look at the impact that metaphors and imagery have on grief narratives, and also focus on the importance of rhythm and pace to reflect our experience.

The purpose of this group is to act as a writer’s book group. What that means is that we will read a book together and learn different writing craft techniques from it. This month we will be reading Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson and engage in an online discussion about different craft elements of the book, what works and what doesn’t. The book will help to guide our discussions on how we can take a not-so-funny situation or experience (say, mental illness or bad relationships), and approach writing it in a hilarious way. This isn’t to belittle or undercut the challenging aspects of life, but rather to conceive of them differently—something that can bring even more readers to your work! We’ll look at how structure, word choice, organization, and narrative voice can help readers relate to our struggles through a spot-on, call-it-like-it-is, hilarious truth-telling essay.

Each week, book group members will have the option to post her response to one of the writing exercises and/or the latest draft of the essay she started at the beginning of the course. Members will give brief feedback on every person’s work, and the instructor will provide thorough comments and revision suggestions each week. The group will be coordinated using a private forum on a website.

Face Your Fears II: Women Writers Anonymous is a 6-week online creative nonfiction class in which all of the participants are anonymous (with the exception of the instructor). Students will face the stories and situations in their lives that they swore they would NEVER write about, and then not only write them, but also receive feedback based on craft, not content. Students will read assigned essays to see how authors have written about traumatic/shameful events. By the end of the class, students will have a complete draft of their brave essay, as well as the knowledge and skills to help them revise a personal essay in a more objective way. NOTE: this is not group therapy.

This is an updated version of the original class. There will be new readings and topics explored.