A generative workshop focusing on following intuition and playfulness to create work that surprises even the writer. In this class we will discuss the idea of writing from the uncomfortable place of “not-knowing,” writing fiction from nothing. The object of the class is to generate ideas, begin writing, and leave with new fragments or full story ideas to work with.

We will discuss the work of Joy Williams, Rachel B. Glaser, and David Lynch, among others. My hope is that we will begin to write during the class, allowing ourselves to feel free to experiment. Students should leave with the belief that the surreal, the strange, can inform a piece of realistic fiction, deepening and complicating the world they are trying to create. They will also learn tools for generating work when they are stuck or are having trouble coming up with ideas.About the Instructor

Richard Mirabella is a writer and civil servant living in upstate New York. His short stories have appeared in Story Magazine, swamp pink, American Short Fiction, wigleaf, and elsewhere. His first novel, Brother & Sister Enter the Forest was a New York Times Editor’s Choice, named a best book of the year by Harper’s Bazaar, and has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award.

Finding the Strange – Writing Fiction that Surprises, 1 Session with Richard Mirabella