An update from the thirty-fourth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday April 23, plus some of the output published below After the success we had discussing objects back in the fall session of 2021, we once again turned our focus to these strange, almost alien things. And yes, objects are strange! To begin we looked at a shovel—yes, a shovel—because as it turns out Marcel Duchamp considered the shovel odd enough that he put one up in a museum. Next, we looked at some of the artworks from an exhibit by Katarina Kamprani, wherein she slightly transformed ordinary household objects—a hammer, a knife, for example—into unusable things, the idea being that the exhibit invites us to consider how strange objects are. We then discussed a few paintings—Still Life with Skull by Cezanne, Violin and Candlestick by Georges Braque, and Sunflowers by Van Gogh, to name a few, all of which presented objects in a distorted, alienating light. From our discussion of paintings we moved into a discussion of poetry, beginning with Wallace Stevens’ strange poem “Anecdote of the Jar,” in which the central object, a jar, seemed to transform itself and its surroundings with its strangeness. We also read “Perception of an Object Costs” by Emily Dickinson, which suggested that by perceiving an object, the object somehow eludes us and escapes our perception, two poems by Gertrude Stein—”A Box” and “Mildred’s Umbrella”—and “The Crystal” by Clark Coolidge, all of which elucidated the transformation of perception that can occur when closely examining an object. The Challenge: First, choose an object either near you or imagined. Then, 1) write a funny poem/story about your object, 2) write a scary poem/story about your object, &/0r 3) write a sad poem/story about your object. The Participants: Emma, Alice, Ellie, Samantha, Fatehbir, Josh To watch more readings from this workshop, like Fatehbir’s below, click here. Fatehbir, 10
Writing Workshop
How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #33: How to Outline a Novel
An update from the thirty-third Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday March 26, plus some of the output published below Last week, Conner gave us the choice to select the final topic of the winter session workshops from a number of options, and we chose this: How to Outline a Novel. To begin, we discussed the importance of characters in outlining a novel and how every outline should begin with the personality and desire of our characters. One technique for establishing the personality and desire of our characters was to ask ourselves various questions/prompts to answer in the voices of our characters. The next step was setting/place. One technique for creating setting was eliminating characters and story and writing only about place for thirty minutes, trying the best we can to inhabit the place. The next step was establishing the story/the conflict. A few of the prompts for establishing conflict were as follows: write scenes wherein the character receives bad news, wherein the character has to make a decision (big or small), wherein the character commits a minor crime, and wherein the character has an awkward conversation with a friend or family member. We then discussed the three act structure. We learned that the first act consists of setting the story in motion by establishing character and setting and establishing conflict through the “inciting incident,” or the scene in the story that sets the conflict in motion. In the second act, we raise the stakes and increase the action, which could be looked at as a sequence of the hero/protagonist failing then suffering, failing then suffering, until they reach the “point of no return,” and act two ends with the protagonist gaining clarity about their dilemma. As an example, we looked at the Lion King, establishing the inciting incident as Scar’s murder of Mufasa and the point at which the protagonist, Simba, gains clarity as when Simba has a vision of Mufasa telling him that he is the true king. Finally, we looked at the third and final act, which consists of two parts: the final conflict, the climax, or a battle between want and need, and the resolution. The Challenge: Either 1) Complete the get-to-know-your-character exercises, 2) Write one scene to establish conflict, or 3) Outline an entire novel. The Participants: Amelia, Penelope, Emma, Sophia, Nova, Gwynne, Lina, Josh, Quinn, Ellie, Samantha, Chelsea, Amber, Alice To watch more readings from this workshop, like Ellie’s below, click here. Ellie, 9
How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #32: Katabasis & Anabasis
An update from the thirty-second Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday March 19, plus some of the output published below This week, we turned our focus to two Greek words/themes—katabasis (descent) and anabasis (ascent)—both of which have a long standing tradition in literature. Before moving into examples of each, we clarified that themes of katabasis and anabasis can pertain to more than just literal plot or theme, specifically that a poem whose form becomes denser and more difficult to understand as it goes on can be understood as katabasis, and a poem that becomes lighter and easier to understand as it goes on can be understood as anabasis. Beginning with katabasis, we looked at the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, how Orpheus, the first poet, had to descend into the underworld to bring back his dead lover, Eurydice. As we looked at other examples of katabasis, like Odysseus in the Odyssey and Aeneas in the Aeneid, it became clear that oftentimes protagonists must perform katabasis in order to gain knowledge, or understanding—that they must first go down before rising up. We then moved onto anabasis, beginning with a discussion of the myth of the phoenix, a bird that is born (and reborn) from the ashes. We learned that anabasis often manifests in literature in the form of a literal rebirth, the overcoming of challenges, or the attainment of knowledge, and such characters might often be identified as enslaved, a struggling artist, a lone inventor, an underdog. We found the archetype of anabasis in examples such as Harry Potter, Aladdin, and Great Expectations. We also touched on Dante’s Divine Comedy, which combined both katabasis and anabasis. The Participants: Emma, Penelope, Amelia, Ethan, Ellie, Josh, Quinn, Gwynne, Lina, Zar, Alice, Chelsea The Challenge: Write a story or poem that uses anabasis &/or katabasis in form &/or theme. To watch more readings from this workshop, like Amelia’s below, click here. Amelia, 11
