Monthly Online Workshops

Praise for the Bending Genres Online Workshops

Surpassed my Expectations!

“Alina’s prose poetry workshop surpassed my expectations! I feel as though I were given a semester’s worth of in-depth instruction and several fabulous prompts I can use in the future. Alina’s style of teaching is both motivating and inspiring and her feedback excellent and encouraging. A great experience!”

—Kathy Fish

Extraordinary on So Many Levels

“Without question, this was one of the most fulfilling instructional courses I’ve ever taken. Alina Stefanescu was extraordinary on so many levels. Her materials were dense, varied, clear and thought-provoking.  She came at the craft in unusual ways that were invigorating and that at once opened up my creativity, unlocking ideas and phrasings that were fresh and new to me. As wonderful as all that was, Alina was so generous with her feedback on each and every piece, highlighting what worked and offering ideas to consider if I wanted to take the piece in a different direction. Bending Genres nails it time and time again with their workshops, and Alina’s took it to a screaming next level.”

—Len Kuntz

They Work.

“I have taken several of the Bending Genres workshops now, and I do it for one reason—they work. I feel very excited by the prospect of sinking in to a weekend of writing and learning so much about the craft of flash. I love the variety of teachers (all of whom are experts in the field) and to share my writing and the whole process. I’d say nearly all the stories I’ve written during the workshops have gotten published. Highly recommended.”

—Francine Witte

Gain a Writing Community

“Quite simply, I have produced and published work drafted in these workshops that doesn’t happen without them. And the best part is that I’ve gained a writing community from the Bending Genres workshops.”

—Rogan Kelly

Praise for the Workshop

“I’ve gained a writing community from the Bending Genres workshops.” —Rogan Kelly

“A great experience!” —Kathy Fish

“Extraordinary on so many levels.” —Len Kuntz

“Nearly all the stories I’ve written during the workshops have gotten published.” —Francine Witte

We are excited to welcome you to our active community!

Signup is easy. Click the “Register Now” button below the class you’d like to take. You’ll be directed to PayPal for the course fee (each class is $111), then you’ll receive a welcome message within 48 hours.

Upcoming Classes

March 20-22, 2020

Tommy Dean

Particular, Resonate, Concise: Writing the Micro 

April 24-26, 2020

Wendy Oleson

Found in the Forest

 

May 22-24, 2020

Tyler Barton

Artifact Lit: Exploring New Forms

 

December 6 – 8, 2019

Bud Smith

strange truth

In Bud Smith’s workshop, participants will write flash fiction or poetry based off prompts pulled from strange but true columns in lousy newspapers, rumors, urban legends, the plausibly implausible.

Bud will explain his method for weaving this odd material into a kind of unique realism. He will also explain the use and importance of off the cuff anecdote about family, coworkers, and interactions with society at large and how it can find its place in intimate works of fiction, and how those anecdotes can bring balance to surrealism.

This will be a workshop focused on idiosyncratic gut feeling, and the idea that there is no such thing as a bad idea. Participants will read craft essays by Bud Smith and others, and will be given a short reading and film list to pursue at their own leisure.

Participants will also receive constructive criticism on their work (multiple stories) and will be guided towards further revisions on that work with the goal of publication. Venues (literary magazines) will be suggested by Smith.

January 24 – 26, 2020

Len Kuntz

Writing what hurt you, writing what haunts you

Life is wonderful, but sometimes it’s not.  Sometimes life damages us, and quite often that harm comes from people we know, and maybe even love.  It can be a parent, sibling, teacher, friend, spouse, or a random stranger in a coffee shop.  With words or actions, others can unsettle our lives and leave us wounded.  In this class, we’re going to delve into the times we’ve been hurt as well as those experiences that still haunt us, and we’re going to use that as fodder to create some kickass writing.  I can’t wait to partner with you to generate work with emotional depth that will both pierce and fill your reader’s heart.

March 20 – 22, 2020

There’s the idea that anyone can write, especially something short, but it takes a special writerly sensibility to write with brevitic empathy, to build resonance in the crucible of a few words, to create dimensional characters who can enthrall and frustrate. Writing the micro (<400 words)  demands that the writer juggle diction and syntax without losing the effect of character, conflict, and setting. How do we create the feeling of story, the movement of narrative, the well-spring of emotion while using the parameters of short word counts?  

This generative workshop will take a prompt-based approach to look at different ways to write micro fiction/non-fiction. The prompts will be inspired by fierce and resonate examples from amazing writers who specialize in writing flash and micro stories. We will dig deeper into the writer’s craft decisions and word choices while targeting specific skills we can use to create our own micros. Using these elements of craft, we will create fresh micros full of resonate concision. Having these tools as part of our writing tool kit should enable us to let go of our inner tensions and feel freer to create poignant and exciting micros. 

Participants in this workshop will have the opportunity to create multiple micros and receive constructive, positive feedback from the instructor as well as their peers. Participants will have the opportunity to revise based on feedback with the goal of possible publication. 

 

April 24 – 26, 2020

In this generative, prompt-based workshop inspired by examples of contemporary, genre-defying work, you’ll find fairy tales, folktales, fables, fabulism, and the fantastic. Bring your non-realist narratives and be ready to break poetic lines like branches, stirring leaves and dropping cones. We’ll also construct sturdy blocks of prose strong enough for building houses and impervious to gusts of wolf. Come to play. Flounder and fly and forget about failure

May 22 – 24, 2020

Prose is written in a series of paragraphs. Poems, in a series of lines, stanzas. But is that it? Not if contemporary writers have anything to say about it. In the last ten years, great works of literature have been told via lists, powerpoints, tweetstorms, hotel reviews, recommendation letters, emails, youtube comments, .gifs—you name it. The first novels ever written were made-up diary entries. One of the best poems published last year was a flowchart. The number of forms your writing can take is endless. 

This generative workshop will explore a variety of modern, experimental forms for stories, poems, and essays. You’ll try writing that thing you’ve been working on in a totally new, totally odd way. You’ll try writing under formal restrictions that might bring out lines you never knew you had in you. This workshops is for stuck writers, brave writers, weird writers, and blocked writers. Join us!

Kathy Fish: Getting to the Heart of the matter: Creating Emotionally Charged Flash Fiction

November 9 – 11, 2018

What makes us have to tell the stories we don’t want to? Why do we select flash as the vehicle to use for this? What makes your flash uniquely your own? One of our most venerated teachers of flash, Kathy Fish, who teaches her Fast Flash workshops, will host this powerhouse course. It’s nearly full and you won’t want to miss out! Come prepared to write with a lack of sleep needed!

Currently sold out. Sign up for the waiting list by clicking the button below.

Bud Smith: How to Use a Rocket Pack

December 7 – 9, 2018

How do we clear up time in the average day, and use that window of time to get out of our own way so we can generate flash fiction/ short stories/ poems/ pieces of a novel? How can we arrive at a mindset where no idea is a bad idea, is a silly idea, is a worthless idea? This course will offer practical thoughts about how to write freewheeling first drafts, and how to approach the rewrites of those drafts in a more sober mindset. Participants will leave the workshop with at least two new pieces of work created, with the option to send a third piece to Bud Smith for closer comments on whatever their project is.

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