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Writing the Impossible: Sex, Violence, Illness, the Body, and More (Zoom) with Elissa Bassist, Sunday, May 18th, 2025
€73,95

Writing the Impossible: Sex, Violence, Illness, the Body, and More (Zoom) with Elissa Bassist, Sunday, May 18th, 2025

Sunday, May 18th, 2025

Live Seminar via Zoom from 2:00PM EST - 5:00PM EST

Now Enrolling!

Any questions about this class? Use the Chat Button (lower left) to talk with us.

Elissa Bassist is the editor of the “Funny Women” column on The Rumpus and the author of Hysterical, a semi-finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. As a founding contributor to The Rumpus, Elissa has written cultural and personal criticism since the website launched in 2009. INSIDE JOKES, a humor writing craft book, co-written with Caitlin Kunkel, is forthcoming from Grand Central Publishing in 2026. Elissa teaches humor writing at The New School and elsewhere, and she is probably her therapist’s favorite. 

Sex, violence, illness, and the body–charged topics are hard to read about and harder to write about. But with the right tools (and the right teacher), you can pull it off.

In this generative seminar, we’ll learn and practice narrative, stylistic, and comedic devices (structure, satire, point of view, target, imagery, and more) to write the unspeakable and the indescribable. We'll break down pieces on climate change, cancer, poverty, and more, and we’ll use our secrets, lies, truths, fears, and farts to write more and better. And since our best material can be the material we're most afraid to use, we’ll discuss how to get out of our own way.

The stupid cliché “everything happens for a reason” may be true only for writers who impose meaning on experience and make everything happen for a reason. Through lectures, gossip, brainstorming exercises, and writing prompts, we’ll cover how to do this and how to draft, joke about, rewrite, and publish the impossible.

Preparation and workload: Read (and love) Hysterical (if you want). There will be handouts (to reference during classes) and brainstorming and writing exercises (to be done in class). Elissa will provide PDFs of pieces. You’ll bring in one page of your own writing to revive it with everything you learn in class. 

Can't Make It Live?

No problem! The session will be recorded and available to watch after the seminar concludes.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

  • Master Charged Topics: Develop the confidence, craft, and comedic tools necessary to write unflinchingly about subjects like sex, violence, illness, trauma, and the body.
  • Push Past Boundaries: Hone strategies for breaking taboos, subverting expectations, and writing the “unwriteable” with clarity, humor, and purpose.
  • Impose Meaning on Experience: Discover how to transform personal anecdotes, secrets, and fears into cohesive narratives that resonate on deeper emotional and thematic levels.
  • Revise for Bravery and Impact: Learn to refine your work through iterative drafts and feedback, ensuring your final piece is both powerful and publishable.

WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS CLASS?

  • Writers Seeking to Tackle Complex Material: Ideal for those ready to grapple with dark or sensitive topics and push their creative boundaries.
  • Memoirists and Essayists: Anyone working on deeply personal narratives who wants fresh perspectives on how to balance honesty and craft.
  • Humorists Looking to Get Serious: Writers adept at comedy who want to apply comedic devices to heavier, more challenging subject matter.
  • Curious Creatives: Students and professionals from all backgrounds who crave new techniques for writing fearlessly and authentically about life’s most difficult truths.

TESTIMONIALS:

"I loved this class. Elissa was an extremely generous teacher/storyteller. I think listening to her talk about her experience/struggles to get words on the page was the most valuable part. I was amazed with Elissa’s ability to focus and maintain passion and energy for 3 straight hours. I was completely engaged in her personal writing journey and was satisfied with spending 3 hours listening to her speak." -former student

"This was a fun class! I found Elissa's personal takes and experiences in both the process and in finding a home for her writing most valuable. The process seems much more manageable to me now, and I would take another class with Elissa." -former student

"I heard about WritingWorkshop.com via Hippocampus Magazine. I'm so happy I found Elissa's class, which was filled with many small insights that added up to a lot. I left the class feeling inspired. Thank you." -former student

"Elissa's seminar exceeded my expectations! She provided real-world solutions for rejection and included so many thought-provoking prompts. This class was so rich with information it could have easily been a 6-week course."-former student

"This class was SO, SO GOOD!!!! By far, my favorite ever of the many many I have taken with Catapult, Grubstreet, Porch, CFF, and WritingWorkshops.com. Big compliments! Thank you!!! Learned a lot and was furiously taking down notes; what marvelous advice and stories you have. Can't wait to read HYSTERICAL and the books that will come after that." -former student

PAYMENT OPTIONS:

Tuition is $75. 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.

  • Class is on Sunday, May 18th, 2025, via Zoom from 2:00PM EST - 5:00PM EST 

  • Tuition is $75.

If you have questions, please use the Chat Button or contact us via email HERE.