Generative Fiction Workshop with Meg Wolitzer: Manuscript Triage

This four-day workshop will be offered as a part of Catapult and WME’s Writer’s Winter Break this coming January 2020

“I find it really helps to be able to articulate, as specifically as possible, a pressing problem you’re having in your writing. Once it can be described in detail, solutions do arrive. And, as it turns out, those solutions might not just apply to the current short story or novel chapter, but might be (excitingly) applicable to future work as well.” – Meg Wolitzer

A unique blend of workshop, generative writing prompts, and mentorship, this course will provide a rare opportunity for participants to get a tailored, rigorous look at how they can improve on a specific fiction manuscript, while also encouraging them to write, write, write.

On the first day, each participant is expected to bring in one page of their own writing, one page of published work that they love, and a one-to-two-page description of a specific problem they would like to tackle in their manuscript. From there, each participant will have the chance to get feedback from Meg and the rest of the class on their work, particularly on how to specifically address the writing problem they’d like to focus on. Participants will be given tailored exercises, prompts, and on-the-spot feedback after reading work aloud. The four-day course will be intense but encouraging, with the twin goals of helping participants solve the writing problems they’ve been dealing with and generate new, even more powerful work.

Workshop spots are first-come, first-serve. To apply for this workshop, please enroll in Writer’s Spring Break by December 15th and complete the registration form sent to you by Catapult staff. Workshops and related programming take place January 22nd through 26th, 2020, at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

– Tailored help from Meg Wolitzer on addressing specific issues in your writing

– Detailed, personalized prompts and exercises to help you generate new writing and/or to revise your manuscript

– A chance to get specific feedback on your work from fellow dedicated writers

COURSE EXPECTATIONS:

– On day one, participants must bring in one page of their own writing, a page of published work that they enjoy, and a one-to-two-page description of an issue that they’d like to focus on in their own manuscript

– Participants are expected to generate new and/or revised writing over the course of the four-day workshop

– Participants are expected to provide constructive verbal feedback on each other’s work

Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times bestselling author of The Interestings, The Ten-Year Nap, The Wife, and other books. Her latest novel, The Female Persuasion, was named to various Notable and Best Books of 2018 lists, including in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, People, Glamour, and Kirkus Reviews. She was the guest editor of The Best American Short Stories 2017, and has also published books for young readers, including To Night Owl From Dogfish, co-written with Holly Goldberg Sloan. Wolitzer is currently a faculty member in the Stony Brook Southampton MFA program, where she co-directs BookEnds, a one-year, non-credit intensive in the novel. The recent, critically-acclaimed film based on her novel The Wife starred Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce.

Questions? Please email us at classes@catapult.co