{"product_id":"narrative-thrust-fiction-writing-workshop-online","title":"Narrative Thrust: Eight Tools for Pacing, Momentum, and Fixing the Saggy Middle 10-Week Zoom Workshop with Erin Kate Ryan starts on Monday, March 8th, 2027","description":"\u003ch2 dir=\"ltr\"\u003eNarrative Thrust: Eight Tools for Pacing, Momentum, and Fixing the Saggy Middle with Erin Kate Ryan\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2 dir=\"ltr\"\u003eBegins Monday, March 8, 2027\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2 dir=\"ltr\"\u003eClass will meet weekly via Zoom on Mondays, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e(Sessions: March 8, 15, 22, 29, and April 5, 12, 19, 26, and May 3, 10)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eNow Enrolling! Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button to talk with us.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eInstructor Erin Kate Ryan is a queer writer living in the Hudson Valley and the author of QUANTUM GIRL THEORY (Random House, 2022). Her short fiction has appeared in \u003cem\u003eConjunctions, VQR, Booth, The Normal School, Glimmer Train, and Copper Nickel,\u003c\/em\u003e among others. She holds an MFA from Bennington Writing Seminars and a JD from Boston University. Her work has been honored with the James Jones First Novel Fellowship, multiple Minneapolis State Arts grants, a Jerome Foundation grant, a McKnight Artist Fellowship, a Pushcart nomination, and scholar\/fellowships to MacDowell, Millay, VSC, VCCA, Sewanee, and Breadloaf.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWho is this class for?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eThis advanced online writing class is built for fiction writers who want actionable tools for keeping their work lively and engaging: structurally, scene by scene, sentence by sentence. It is suited to writers of literary or genre fiction, and to narrative nonfiction writers, who have been working with the basics of story structure and are ready for revision strategies that take a draft to the next level. Writers working on short stories, novels, or long-form nonfiction are all welcome.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat to expect:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eNarrative thrust is the momentum that keeps a reader compelled by your prose, your story, your characters. It's the \"what happens next\" that EM Forster talked about: tension, conflict, suspense, motion. And the absence of narrative thrust is the biggest reason readers, editors, and agents will put down a manuscript after the first five pages, or the first fifty. Our readers have to care, not just be interested, but be invested, be buoyed, sentence to sentence, scene to scene. This fiction writing workshop examines how that is accomplished, and turns that study into an action-ready toolkit of eight narrative thrust propellers. We'll use \"The Wizard of Oz\" as our Rosetta Stone for these propellers, pulling back the curtain to examine the strategies and craft choices that culminated in a story that has endured for generations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eOver the ten weeks, we'll turn to contemporary writers who excel at managing multiple propellers through their fiction, including NoViolet Bulawayo, Karen Russell, Alice Sola Kim, Alissa Nutting, Lesley Nneka Arimah, and Roxane Gay. We'll examine particular strategies for starting the engine in a piece of fiction, such as peril, interruption, change, and contradiction. Notably, plot is not one of our propellers of narrative thrust. Let's talk about why.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eEach propeller receives at least one full class session, and nearly every week includes in-class writing time to test that week's tool directly against your own work in progress. You'll leave with revised scenes, a diagnostic map of your project's lines of motion, and a working toolkit you can apply to everything you write next. This online writing class will feature close readings, creative exercises, lively debate, writing prompts, and peer and instructor verbal feedback.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat are the writing goals?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eIn this course, students will produce:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA co-created toolkit of strategies for increasing the momentum of your work in progress, making the fiction more dynamic at the sentence, scene, and story levels\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eInitial revision of multiple scenes of your work employing one or more of the eight narrative thrust propellers\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA sophisticated map of your project's lines of motion, identifying opportunities to improve momentum and cohesion of the overall story\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eStudents will receive verbal peer and instructor feedback on writing prompts as well as on their troubleshooting of their works in progress.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReadings\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eReadings may include NoViolet Bulawayo's \"Hitting Budapest\"; Karen Russell's \"St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves\"; Sarah Shun-lien Bynum's \"The Burglar\"; Alice Sola Kim's \"Now Wait for This Week\"; JoAnn Beard's \"The Fourth State of Matter\"; Aimee Bender's \"The Rememberer\"; Roxane Gay's \"I Am Going to Cook a Quiche in My Easy Bake Oven and You Are Going to Like It\"; Tessa Mellas's \"Bibi from Jupiter\"; Randa Jarrar's \"A Sailor\"; Heidi Julavits's \"Marry the One Who Gets There First\"; and Lesley Nneka Arimah's \"Who Will Greet You at Home.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eAdditional works, including Tobias Wolff's \"Bullet in the Brain\" and Alissa Nutting's \"Dinner,\" will be read aloud together in class, along with craft excerpts from EM Forster, Edith Wharton, and Kurt Vonnegut.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCOURSE OUTLINE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeek 1: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eOverview of narrative thrust in fiction, including craft excerpts from EM Forster, Edith Wharton, and Kurt Vonnegut, and close readings of excerpts from Vonnegut and others. We will build toward an understanding of the concept by identifying the moments in each selection where we most felt the \"what happens next\" pull. Overview of The Wizard of Oz as our Rosetta Stone, our communal reference text for the next ten weeks. Writing prompt and in-class readings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeek 2: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ePropeller one, separating a character from their desire. Small group work for close reading of homework. Discussion of structural ways to separate a character from desire, and of scene- or sentence-level ways to manage desire. Writing prompts. In-class writing time to examine how desire functions in students' works in progress.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeek 3: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ePropeller two, physical movement. In-class reading of \"Bullet in the Brain.\" Review of the quest function of The Wizard of Oz. Small group work for close reading of homework. Discussion of non-physical ways movement functions in successful fiction. Writing prompts and sharing. In-class writing time to examine movement in students' works in progress.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeek 4: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ePropeller three, physical or emotional peril. In-class reading of Alissa Nutting's \"Dinner.\" Class brainstorm on the types of physical and emotional peril available to writers. Writing prompt on emotional peril, followed by a second prompt converting emotional peril to physical peril.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeek 5: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ePropeller four, interruption. Return to The Wizard of Oz for an initial understanding of interruption as forking roads in a quest; generate examples of how even sentence-level interruption can add dynamism to a scene and create unpredictability. Writing prompt, in which the instructor interrupts writers midway to demand a shift. In-class writing time to review works in progress for interruption opportunities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeek 6: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ePropeller five, change. Noting the recent ending of something significant, or the beginning of a new life or world for the character. Deep dive into why recent or impending change creates tension for the reader, and how to maintain it throughout a full work of fiction. Writing prompts. In-class writing time to review works in progress for existing change points and brainstorm opportunities to exploit them more fully.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeek 7: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ePropeller six, embedding character or setting contradiction to generate tension. Close reading of Sarah Shun-lien Bynum's \"The Burglar,\" with generative prompts. Return to The Wizard of Oz; discussion of science fiction and fantasy, as well as how domestic and literary fiction can exploit contradiction. Writing prompts. In-class writing time to generate possibilities for works in progress.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeek 8: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ePropeller seven, managing suspense as a necessary aspect of narrative thrust: the degree to which withholding can be gimmicky or distracting, and craft writers' differing perspectives on the issue. Writing prompts and in-class writing time to test withholding against students' works in progress.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeek 9: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ePropeller eight, putting a clock on the story. Discussion of time, its threat or its absence, as a source of tension. Brainstorm ways to exploit the clock to create urgency or the tension of trap and inertia. Writing prompt asking students to take a scene from their work in progress and put a clock on it. Review of all eight propellers, questions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeek 10: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eLines of motion as the method by which a writer manages the differing propellers of a story, including plot, with each propeller justifying its existence. Close reading of Karen Russell's \"St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves\" and Heidi Julavits's \"Marry the One Who Gets There First\" as prime examples of managing varying lines of motion. We will map the lines of motion in The Wizard of Oz before each student maps the lines in their own work in progress and discusses what surfaced. Writing prompts, wrap-up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCOURSE TAKEAWAYS:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA working command of eight distinct propellers of narrative thrust, each of which operates independently of plot\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRevised scenes from your own work in progress demonstrating one or more propellers in action\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA diagnostic map of your project's lines of motion, showing where momentum builds and where it stalls\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConcrete revision strategies for the saggy middle, the stalled scene, and the fizzling ending\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClose reading skills developed through eleven contemporary short stories and a shared reference text\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVerbal peer and instructor feedback on your prompts and on the momentum problems in your manuscript\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTESTIMONIALS:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\"This class was perfectly designed and run. Offer it as often as a teaching artist can tolerate.\" — Former Student\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\"My fifth class and bar none the best. Everything from reading assignments to critiques, etc. I particularly loved how MUCH material we covered, along with the wonderfully odd short stories we read.\" — Former Student\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\"The reading selections were definitely a highlight. They tied in so well with the topics discussed. Erin Kate was SO knowledgeable. Her feedback and insight helped me immeasurably. I've never studied narrative thrust in this context before and it was amazing to look at it this way.\" — Former Student\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePAYMENT OPTIONS:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eTuition is $695 USD. You can pay for the course in full or use Shop Pay or Affirm to pay over time with equal Monthly Payments. Both options are available at checkout.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eInstructor: Erin Kate Ryan\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBegins Monday, March 8, 2027\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClass will meet weekly via Zoom on Mondays, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTuition is $695 USD.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Writing Workshops Org","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50366464655608,"sku":null,"price":982.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0287\/3917\/4532\/files\/ErinKateRyanHeadshot.png?v=1788215349","url":"https:\/\/writingworkshops.com\/en-ca\/products\/narrative-thrust-fiction-writing-workshop-online","provider":"Writing Workshops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}