Class Description
You’ve done research, jotted notes, written descriptions you’ll likely use, and now have a sense that all this information can—or will—coalesce into a story. The question is how? In this six-hour class, we’ll look at the structures of different types of nonfiction stories—magazine profiles and other features, book chapters, essays—and identify the narrative drive, the quest or drama that pushes the reader (and the writer) through the story. We’ll do exercises that enable you to find your story’s driving force, which you’ll then use to create an outline for your piece. We’ll spend time specifically on identifying and crafting a strong bridge paragraph, and we’ll also work with some of the tools and techniques you can use to control your story’s pacing, including effective transitions, subheads, and white space.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. About 15 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin, you'll receive an email from your instructor with a link to join the class meeting!
Zoom Participation:
Students are not required to turn their camera on, but are encouraged to participate any way they feel comfortable through functions such as the live chat, emoji reactions, and unmuting the microphone. Learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
We ask that instructors enable closed captioning and send a transcript of the session after class. You can also enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting. If your instructor forgets to send the transcript, just send ’em an email!