Instructor Susan Conley is the award-winning author of five critically-acclaimed books, including her newest, best-selling novel Landslide which was named a New York Times “Editor’s Choice,” a TODAY Show “Best Summer Read,” and a New York Times "Paperback Row" Pick. Landslide was named “Best Book” in 2021 by Good Morning America, The New York Post, Medium, Bustle, and Biblio Lifestyle. It was a Vanity Fair, "Book We Can't Stop Thinking About" and a Maine NPR "All Books Considered" Bookclub Pick. Her writing has appeared in places like The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, Lithub, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Harvard Review, Downeast Magazine, Maine Magazine, Wildsam and others. She’s been awarded multiple fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, and fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, The Maine Arts Commission, and the Massachusetts Arts Council. She's won the Maine Book Award and the Maine Award for Publishing Excellence and has been a featured Tedx Speaker, where her talk, the "Power of Story," has been viewed widely. She’s taught at a host of colleges and art-residencies including Emerson College, Colby College, The University of Massachusetts, where she was the Jack Kerouac Visiting Fellow, The Haystack School, The Spannochia Foundation, The La Napoule Foundation, The Beijing Hutong ,and the Maine Media Workshops. She’s on the faculty of the Stonecoast MFA Program, and she is co-founder of the Telling Room, a creative writing center in Portland, Maine.

Learn about Susan in our Meet the Teaching Artist series.

"Thinking In Book" asks you to think very intentionally about the book you most want to write and how, naming these intentions at the outset.

This class is structured around uncannily innovative prompts tethered to incisive craft talks that will change your writing life by giving you emotional access to the voices and structure you need to tell your stories as honestly as you possibly can and with the most emotional resonance. Susan's workshops and one-on-one mentorships have seen many books go to publication in the last ten years. Her teaching is deeply nurturing, rigorous, and enlivening. 

We will be generating new material each week and explicitly working within the framework of the project you have named—finishing specific essays in a collection of linked essays, or finishing chapters in a researched personal narrative, or in a novel, or series of linked stories--all the while testing the limits of the structure and the central questions that drive the stories: can they hold?

Escalation and consequence are two craft tools we will most rely upon, as we look at ways to catalyze the heat in your stories and grab readers by the collar. What do your characters most want? And what is the Inner Story sitting inside the shell of that Outer Story, otherwise known as plot? 

COURSE OUTLINE

• Week 1: Voice
• Week 2: Interiority
• Week 3: Central Questions
• Week 4: Tension
• Week 5: What is the SO WHAT?
• Week 6: Endings that keep going after the story is over 

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

We will generate dozens of pages of new writing that is steeped in the following crucial ideas:

1. Your story wants to escalate from the start and to never stop escalating its tension.
   
2. Your story will deepen if its central questions are incisive and echo throughout the piece.
   
3. Your stories all have a SO WHAT, which is the Inner Story that lives inside that Outer Story, sometimes known as Plot. 
4. The more honest you are on the page about the things that matter most to you, whether it be in fiction of non-fiction, the more your stories will matter to the reader and stop them in their tracks. 
5. Voice is everything and Voice can shift. 
6. Story =Tension. 

TESTIMONIALS:

“Susan is a fabulous teacher and workshop leader. She creates a safe environment for writers to take risks with their work. She not only taught us craft elements but had us apply those elements with short prompts that enabled us to stretch and grow as writers. I highly recommend Susan’s classes and I can’t wait to take another!” — Pam Dutton 

“Susan is a master teacher and wears it like silk. She draws on culturally diverse literature that illustrates the various elements of craft she teaches. In my latest course with Susan, I was particularly interested in revising the structure of an essay and ‘tried on’ Susan’s teachings on ‘place’ and ‘braiding’, an exciting development for me. She is always encouraging and generous in witnessing what works in our writing, and in offering incisive changes to make it stronger.” — Thandiwe Dee Watts-Jones

“Susan is not only a talented writer, but also an extraordinary teacher—two things that do not always go hand in hand. Even over Zoom, Susan managed to create a sense of trust and camaraderie in the class almost immediately. Her encouragement has changed the way I think about myself as a writer.” — Mary Weatherup

“I have learned so much about my writing after attending two of Susan's workshops. Besides learning to be a better writer, the group dynamics and bonding--even in a Zoom course--were so exhilarating. I have author friends all over the country now and we share our writing with each because of the long lasting supportive and encouraging environment that Susan created for us.” — Wendy Toole

“Susan has a remarkable capacity to create an intimate multi-genre workshop space that encourages exploration and risk. I've had the experience of working through blocks to a third draft of a novel under Susan's guidance and can't recommend her highly enough.” — Emily Bernhard

“Susan Conley is an exceptional writing teacher. She curates extraordinary workshops filled with inspiration. I especially appreciate her ability to gather together fascinating people.” — Lisa Hallee

“In addition to filling my writer’s toolbox, Susan’s workshop inspired me to write – more and more and more. Trust her and you will learn to trust your own writer’s voice. You will make an exponential leap in understanding good writing. And then you will write.” — Alice Senko 

“I am not an experienced writer, and these beautifully facilitated workshops created an environment of trust and sharing amongst participants, bringing out the best in all of us.” — Stewart Murchie

“Susan Conley is a generous and supportive teacher. She challenged me and helped me be a better writer. If you are thinking about taking her class—don't hesitate!” — Jean McGowan

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE: