Bread Loaf Craft Classes
Dear Fellow,
I’m writing to encourage you to propose either a 1 hour and 15 minute or 50-minute craft class to offer during the conference. Classes are limited to 25 participants and should focus on a specific issue related to craft. If your proposal is accepted, we can provide a stipend of $500.
Classes are meant to be interactive and hands-on, focused on craft rather than theory, and a balance to the hours the participants spend listening to us read and lecture. They are very popular. Most craft classes include an in-class writing exercise that allows students to grapple with a technical challenge.
You will see some examples from previous conferences below.
Please upload a document with your class title and description (the description is usually 75 to 100 words) via the online form. Please note your full name and e-mail address at the bottom of the description. I will then contact you in July to follow up.
In the meantime, please feel free to contact me if you have questions. Warm regards,
Lauren Francis-Sharma Assistant Director
A note about class stipends:
Middlebury College requires that we process your $500 stipend as an independent contractor. In order for your payment to be processed, fellows will need to complete two forms: W9 and a Limited Engagement Agreement. If your craft class is accepted, we will send you access to these forms before the conference.
See examples of craft classes from previous years below.
FICTION
Bodies at Rest and in Motion: Staging the Scene, with Marisa Silver
We often think that staging bodies within a scene — or blocking — is more the purview of film and theater than of literature. And yet, some of the most indelible scenes in stories and novels imprint on the mind because of their physical action. In a well-choreographed scene, the emotional subtext can be expressed through the positioning of bodies almost without the aid of dialogue or narrative interpretation. We will begin this class by defining what we mean by “staging” as opposed to other kinds of physical behavior, then we will talk about the tension between the author’s desire for bodies to move in certain ways and the way character defines the terms of that movement. We will talk about the uses and abuses of “shoe-leather.” And we will discuss how placing restrictions on movement is another form of staging. Scenes we will be discussing include: the beach scene in J.D. Salinger’s ”A Perfect Day for Bananafish”; the scene at the dress shop in ”Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage” by Alice Munro, the early scene in the classroom, the later scene where the narrator observes the storefront church, and the final scene in the music club in ”Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, the scene at the diner in “The Fourth of July” by Audre Lorde, and the dinner party scene in Rachel Kushner’s “Flamethrowers.”
POETRY
Changed, Changed Utterly: A Class on Revision, with Daisy Fried
This class will consider the mystery of poetry revision from several angles, by studying versions of well-known poems, through discussion, and perhaps also through a revision exercise. The class aims to be at least a little technically useful, and is also theoretical, in a down-to-earth way. Underlying questions: what are we trying to achieve through revision? Is revision something we can get good at, the way we can get more proficient at, say, writing sonnets, if we do a lot of it? Are there any actual revision techniques, and can they ever really work? Why might revision be a moral matter?
NONFICTION
Embellishment: Art and Artifice in Narrative Nonfiction, with Vicki Forman
Of all the devices a writer of narrative nonfiction can employ, the most tempting and often ill-advised is that of embellishment: the use of overly symbolic language or literary devices, taking liberties with one’s narrator or subject, and, finally, invention pure and simple. And yet despite these caveats, well-crafted embellishment can, in fact, give a piece of writing voice and shape and make the work soar. This craft lesson will examine the definition and boundaries of embellishment and explore how well employed adornments bring originality to the work. Students should come with an essay or short excerpt for a workshop exercise.