We are proud to present the 2019 Winter Wheat Workshops. Please use the list below or the attached document: WW2019WORKSHOPS to make your selections when registering.
SESSION A (2:30-3:45 pm, Friday, November 1):
*AB Throughout Friday’s sessions, Prairie Margins will host an open sensory exploration room. A quiet space will also be made available.
A1. FICTION “Writing about Your Hometown or an Authentic Hometown for Your Character” with Michelle Bellman
Description: In this workshop, we will break down what makes up where we come from (landmarks, memories, visuals) and how to translate this into our writing. We will work on creating a scene in the workshop.
A2. FICTION/CNF “Disability Looks Like: Body Awareness, Chronic Pain, and Writing Disabled Characters” with Aryanna Falkner
Description: This workshop will focus on disability representation in creative writing, specifically in contemporary fiction and non-fiction. During this workshop, we will look at current depictions of physical disability, challenge our own preconceived notions of disability, and hone an awareness of our own bodies as we practice writing disabled characters.
A3. MULTIGENRE “Borrowing and Stealing: A Workshop of Sharing Ideas through Gift Exchange” with Brenna Hosman
Description: T.S. Eliot said, “Good writers borrow; great writers steal.” But where do we, as creative writers, draw the line between this “stealing” and outright plagiarism? When does inspiration from other writers become theft? Is there a right way to go about sharing or borrowing your ideas within a literary community?
A4. POETRY “Performing Poetry: The Audience Is Listening” with Matt Miller and Cassandra Caverhill
Description: With various critical lenses and a dynamic workshop, we’ll examine the power of setting and situation as applied to poetry, discovering how constraint informs artistic decisions at the microphone. Included are techniques for preparation, style, and execution.
A5. POETRY “Reusing + Rearranging Words: A Workshop on Visual and Collage Poetry” with Alison Mejias Santoro
Description: Visual and collage poetry allows for writers to work closely with different mediums of the printed word and images. This process often leads to a creative spark in writing where writers learn to create their own poetry through the patchwork of words, phrases, and images.
A6. POETRY “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Sonnet: Form and Flexibility” with Yosef Rosen
Description: The sonnet is one of Western verse’s most recognizable and enduring forms. But how far can the form bend before it breaks? Can a sonnet be a sonnet without its hallmark structure? Participants will explore examples of contemporary sonnets, then write one—minus at least one formal aspect.
SESSION B (4:00-5:15 pm, Friday, November 1):
*AB Throughout Friday’s sessions, Prairie Margins will host an open sensory exploration room. A quiet space will also be made available.
B1. POETRY “The Audience Is Listening, and Answers” with Cassandra Caverhill and Matt Miller
Description: Participants should bring at least one poem to read/perform, open-mic-style. Cassie, Matt, and other participants will provide feedback and help hone the performance process. Readers need not have been present at session A to participate.
B2. FICTION “Myths and Legends: Making the Old New” with Kari Hanlin
Description: In this workshop, we will discuss the renewed engagement fascination with “old” stories and determine strategies for moving past mere adaptations. Participants should come to this workshop with a fascinating myth, legend, or archetype in mind, but samples will also be provided. Wooden stakes, silver, and holy water optional.
B3. CNF “Family Tree: Lyric Essays on Life & Loved Ones” with Jamie Lyn Smith
Description: Got family? This workshop is for you. Writers in this workshop will read Latifa Ayad’s award-winning prose-poem, “Arabic Lessons” and use it as a model for blending genres in creative nonfiction/memoir. We’ll complete a series of pre-writing exercises focusing on the notion of “family” and engage lyric and narrative strategies to compose a piece of flash nonfiction. At the end of the workshop, participants will have the opportunity to share their writing with other participants.
B4. FICTION “Transcending the Mundane: Using Motif to Create Depth and Nuance in Fiction” with Matthew Stewart
Description: This workshop will demonstrate how to incorporate motif, allowing writers to write richer, more nuanced prose; it also gives them tools for thinking about their work more abstractly. Attendees should feel free to bring in drafts to develop in workshop, but prompts will also be provided to generate new material.
B5. POETRY “Poetry and Contemporary Music” with Julie Webb
Description: What makes music poetry? or poetry music? As more musicians are lauded for their contributions to American letters, we explore poetry’s relationship with music. We will think about rhyme, refrain, and poetry of the line in this workshop, including talking about songs that move us.
B6. POETRY “Ekphrasis: Writing Poetry about Art” with Turner Wilson
Description: A brief survey of ekphrastic poetry and a workshop to create your own poetry reflecting on visual art.
SESSION C (9:30-10:45 am, Saturday, November 2):
C1. POETRY “Crafting the Senses: How to Feel Your Way Through Poetry” with Jenna Bazzell and Margaux Griffith
Description: How do you bring to life people, places, things, and even feelings? We will compare and contrast effective and ineffective examples integrating sensory details and language and work through how to purposefully craft more tailored images. Be prepared for an interactive session and time to write.
C2. MULTIGENRE “Shift Your Perspective: Yoga and Revision” with Amanda McGuire Rzicznek
Description: We will expand our perspectives as we explore familiar yoga poses through a fresh lens. After our yoga practice, we will examine old work in a new light. Discover how stretching the body unlocks the mind and creates space for revision. Please bring a yoga mat and writing that needs insight.
C3. FICTION “Crafting Opening Lines: How to Hook Your Reader from Line One” with Chad Merrell and Angela Kramer
Description: Focusing on ideas such as conflict, character, and description, this workshop will help fiction writers create opening sentences that grip the reader.
C4. MULTIGENRE “A Caffeinated Cruise into Writing” with Preston Smith and Neeru Nagarajan
Description: We will offer samples of a variety of teas and a few coffees, after which we will both free-write and write from effervescent prompts. Poets and fiction writers alike are welcome to indulge with us, and sharing at the end is welcome but never required.
C5. POETRY “Line Breaks: Mimesis and the Power of Poetry” with Cloe Watson
Description: We’ll start with a presentation of poems that use line breaks for mimetic effects and follow with a discussion about how the mimetic effects further the tension in the poems. Time for free-writing and then presentation for those who choose to share their poems.
FULL C6. MULTIGENRE “Pulling out of Thin Air: Breaking the Myth of Writer’s Block” with Jessica Zinz-Cheresnick
Description: In this workshop, we will discuss what keeps us from writing when we know we want to, know we should, and know that we need to be writing. In response to that discussion, we will WRITE. The workshop will guide attendees in generative prompts, ways to avoid the pauses in writing, and ways to force inspiration and get pen to paper. This workshop will be mostly focused on generating. I hope that you will then uncover something wonderful for your own work, something to share at Winter Wheat, or something to share with your students, fellow writers, or any other human beings.
SESSION D (11:00 am-12:15 pm, Saturday, November 2):
D1. FICTION “Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Getting Your Short Story Collection Ready to Publish” with Liz Breazeale
Description: How do short story collections get published? It’s the Writing Fairy, right? We all wish! In this session, we’ll cover the basics of revising and preparing a short story collection manuscript for submission and, eventually, publication—both in practical and artistic terms.
D2. POETRY “Hospice Poetry Workshop” with Alan Harris
Description: In this workshop, I will explain what Hospice Poetry is, and discuss the purpose, audience, and collaborative opportunities with hospice and nursing home patients. We will review popular thematic topics such as “I Remember” Poems, “Where I Have Come From?” Poems, Place Poems, Relationship Poems, Hobby Poems and more.
D3. POETRY “References & Recall in Poetry” with Anne Garwig Lucas and D.A. Lucas
Description: From ancient mythologies to fairy tales to contemporary pop culture, references and allusions can be great generative resources for poets. In this workshop, we will sample a range of poetry which includes references and discuss techniques for weaving them into our own work.
D4. MULTIGENRE “New Wine in Old Bottles: Writing a Retelling” with Jennifer Pullen
Description: Angela Carter, when discussing writing fairy tale retellings, said: “I am all for putting new wine in old bottles, especially if the pressure of the new wine makes the old bottles explode.” In this workshop we will practice rewriting old stories, in fiction or poetry, giving old tales new meanings.
D5. FICTION “Processing Your Process: Strategies for Fiction Writers” with Woody Skinner and Bess Winter
Description: This workshop will explore various approaches to the fiction writing process. Participants will examine the writing practices of a range of published authors, consider the relationship between process and form (flash fiction, short stories, and novels), reflect on their own writing habits, and experiment with new approaches through process-focused exercises.
D6. FICTION “Prejudiced Fictional Characters Readers Are Forced to Empathize With” with Eric Wasserman
Description: In this workshop, participants create flawed fictional characters but will also craft their situations or personal backgrounds so readers have unexpected empathy for them. We explore imperfect characters possibly deserving sympathy, rendering them with unflinching truth and honesty.
SESSION E (3:00-4:15 pm, Saturday, November 2):
E1. POETRY “The Manuscript Whisperer: Advice for Creating and Publishing Your Poetry Collection” with Mary Biddinger
Description: This session will offer practical guidance for writers hoping to transform a bundle of poems into a focused book or chapbook-length collection. We will also discuss the process of researching publishers and shepherding a collection through the process, from submission to production and promotion. Audience Q&A will follow presenter’s remarks.
E2. FICTION “How to Query Literary Agents” with Joe Celizic
Description: The manuscript is finally finished … but now what? For writers seeking representation for their novels and book-length manuscripts, this workshop will discuss the agent querying process, including some practical advice on the content, structure, and layout of a query letter, and a chance to workshop your own queries.
E3. FICTION “Writing Animal Characters in Fiction” with Nick Gardner
Description: In this workshop we will be thinking of the roles of animals in fiction both as symbols and as more fleshed-out characters. We will discuss the use of animals and their agency in contemporary works and then spend some time writing our own animal characters and discussing what we wrote.
E4. POETRY “Ecopoetics and the New Nature: Writing Poetry in an Age of Environmental Crisis” with Jacob Hall
Description: This panel will survey the history of ecopoetics as an emerging field. We will read poems from contemporary ecopoets and discuss the theoretical premises under which they operate. We will then spend time crafting our own poetry that searches for a new relationship with nonhuman nature and for ways to address the ecological crises of 21st century life.
E5. POETRY “Let Your Letters Do the Heavy Lifting: Composing Sound-Driven First Drafts” with Katie Hartsock
Description: Poems enchant readers with image, lyric thought, and music; but how can poets actually generate images and new lines of thinking by prioritizing sonic repetitions? We’ll examine a few poems with spectacular sonic effects before completing a two-part writing exercise guiding writers to compose, and then revise, sound-driven first drafts.
E6. MULTIGENRE “Creative Expression for Health, Healing, and Hope” with Harley King
Description: In this workshop, participants learn to connect with their health challenges and explore their pain and illness through writing exercises. Writing is a powerful tool that helps with the healing process and shows people the road to hope. Participants share their powerful and inspiring stories with others in the class.
E7. MULTIGENRE “Weird Images for Weird Writing” with Ali Miller
Description: In this generative workshop, we’ll do some exercises in order to come up with some weird and/or unfamiliar images and then incorporate them into fiction or poetry!
SESSION F (4:30-5:45 pm, Saturday, November 2):
F1. MULTIGENRE “The Writing Life: Expectation vs. Reality” with Liz Breazeale, Jackie Cummins, and Laura Walter
Description: Being a writer is all about composing effortless drafts in your secluded cottage before greeting fans on a nationwide book tour and cashing royalty checks, right? Well, no. We’ll break down the expectations and realities of the writing life, including: the writing process, revision, submission, rejection, publishing, distraction, and more.
FULL F2. MULTIGENRE “The Handmade Book” with Abigail Cloud
Description: I was once asked, while I hand-sewed a book’s pages, “Why would you need to do that?” The true answer is you don’t, but it sure is satisfying. In this workshop we’ll examine some historical binding methods, with the help of the BGSU Center for Archival Collections, and then practice one of our own.
F3. FICTION “Brainstorming the Novel” with Lawrence Coates
Description: With an eye toward the upcoming NaNoWriMo, novelist Lawrence Coates will lead a discussion / workshop on conceiving and developing your novel idea. The presentation will feature an outline of the seven basic plots, some guided exercises that can be shared, and some questions that can be used to strengthen your idea or the manuscript you’re currently working on.
F4. Not Available
F5. CNF “Metaphor, Body, Self” with Dani Easterday and Bridge staff
Description: In this creative nonfiction workshop, participants will read Claire Myree’s essay “A Woman’s Glory” (Bridge, 2019) and walk through a series of prompts encouraging writers to “dig deep” into the idea of how the body represents and presents a framing of the self both inside and outside the mind. Participants will have about 20 minutes to compose the beginning of a “body conscious” essay examining identity, and the option to share what they wrote at the end of the session.
F6. FICTION “Building an Image: Experimental Syntax in Fiction” with Jessica Klimesh
Description: This workshop will first examine published examples of creative risk (i.e., unconventional prose) in fiction, focusing on syntactical experimentation. Then, guidelines for syntactical experimentation will be provided and discussed. Lastly, participants will be given prompts/time to write, with an opportunity to share their newly generated experimental fiction and receive feedback.
F7. MULTIGENRE “Genre Schmenre: Creative Work Outside Expected Forms” with Sherrel McLafferty
Description: Writing can take many forms outside the short story and verse. What does a grocery list look like post break-up? How can a newspaper tell the story of a town? In this workshop we will generate answers to these questions and many more.