Essay Master Class II: 4 Session Generative Workshop starting August 12
Mondays, 5-7pm Pacific Time, starting August 12
The essay is a unique form that allows—demands—thinking on the page. As such, it can be particularly difficult to write in isolation, unsure of the meaning of the choices you are making. (If you’ve ever gotten a few pages into a new essay and asked yourself What is this even about, you understand.) The essay asks questions, takes stands, dissects assumptions, offers resonances, and creates connections. To do these things at a high level is to be engaged in a process of research, obsession, and self examination.
Picking up where EMC I left off, this generative course looks at the form of the essay, considering its possibilities. How can you expand and restrict the form to create the container you desire? How can we go deep on a research dive without losing our tether to lived experience? How, after we accomplish all that, do we put the actual pages together and craft them into a coherent entity? As we conduct and process research, generate pages, and shape work, it can be invaluable to have a close community of other people who are doing the same thing.
In this 4 session generative seminar for writers who have experience with the essay, you will be guided through generative exercises, process feedback, and a craft-driven reading list that prioritizes writing time while recognizing that it is reading that often can best shape our work on the page. This class is capped at five writers and is designed to function as a month-long capsule creative community, to support you through an intense period of writing.
This class is geared toward writers who are experienced with the essay and/or have already studied with me, ideally in EMC I. Most of my classes are, by design, accessible to writers with all levels of experience, but this one is an exception. To be a good fit for this class, please either:
Have taken EMC I (I will be offering EMC I again in the Fall, if you’d like to get on the waitlist please email me)
OR
written at least one full length literary essay
Have workshopped at least one literary essay, or have taken another essay class with me previously
Have a well-formed idea, pages, or an early draft of what you want to work on during the class
Feel comfortable giving and receiving creative feedback (I will provide the framework for these discussions)
Have enough out-of-class time to work on your essay during the class period (August 12-September 2). “Enough” will differ from writer to writer, but I think roughly an hour a day (or the weekly equivalent) is a good minimum standard to work with.
If you’re uncertain whether this class will be a good fit for you, please feel free to email me to discuss.
Writers will leave this class with a deeper understanding of how to explore themes and ideas on the page, craft tools for research, generation, and revision, and a working draft of an essay. The class includes a 30 minute 1:1 feedback session with Margo.
This is a 4 session seminar. We meet on Zoom, Mondays, 5-7pm Pacific Time, starting August 12