Led by 2022 LARB Publishing Fellow Eraldo Souza dos Santos, a Brazilian writer currently based between Paris and São Paulo. Eraldo has taught creative writing at the Center for Fiction as well as history, philosophy, and political science at the Sorbonne and at the University of Chicago's Vienna Human Rights program.

Learn more about Eraldo in our Meet the Teaching Artist series.

Learn how to hook your reader from the very first five pages of your project.

The first five pages are, writers are usually told, fundamental to hooking our readers (as well as our future agent and editors). But what makes the first five pages of a book so engrossing? What makes the reader want to keep reading and forget about the world outside the book?

In two meetings (12/2 & 12/9), we will analyze the first five pages of classic and contemporary works as well as workshop together the first five pages of our own pieces and book projects. We will also explore the main difficulties that arise in the process of starting a new project and deciding what should come first.

We will look at the work of Franz Kafka, The Trial Albert Camus, The Outsider Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man Alice Walker, The Color Purple Toni Morrison, Beloved Ilya Kaminsky, Deaf Republic: Poems...and more

COURSE OUTLINE:

Class 1: The first five pages through time

Class 2: Pitching and publishing / Workshop

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

• We will read, discuss, and find inspiration together in key literary works, old and new.
• You will have the opportunity to produce at least two pieces based on writing exercises proposed in the seminar.
• You will have the opportunity to workshop the first five pages of your project with the other seminar participants as well as with me in a one-on-one consulting session.
• You will receive written feedback for your workshopped piece.
  

TESTIMONIALS:

This was a brilliant workshop! I really enjoyed the mixed approach of tasks, reading & discussion, and I came away with some amazing new thoughts & insights. Thank you so much! -UEA Creative Writing Course, MA Prose Fiction

I was in Eraldo’s Lounge Writers session on writing autobiographies. Eraldo selected excellent readings and discussed them closely, inviting our questions and comments. I really appreciated the balance between thorough examination of content and concepts and hands-on exercises on autobiography. Eraldo shared his extensive knowledge of world literature, literary criticism, and history in ways that contextualized the readings and provided a useful framework for the participants to contextualize the autobiographies they may want to write. I left this relatively short session with a deeper and broader understanding of the concepts covered. Eraldo is a generous, engaging, and enthusiastic instructor. I look forward to learning more from him in future sessions. -Lounge Writers

Eraldo is brilliant, current, and analytical. His course content was endless -- in that beyond what was covered in class, Eraldo exposed us to new worlds in literature that we go forward to pursue independently, a sort of limitless virtual classroom. Eraldo's presentation/material is marvelously thought-provocative. He never talked down to the class while he consistently elevated our knowledge base. I consider it an honour to have studied w/ him and hope to do so again in the future. -Former Student

The workshop was agile and engaging, where Eraldo Souza dos Santos shared his knowledge and encouraged everybody to participate. The writers and books he recommended to us (so hard to find alone in a bookstore) were precisely what I was looking for to pursue my project. Thanks! -Center for Fiction

"Content and instructor were harmonious. Examples and discussion opened up a new world to me as an author. Your teaching style is very grounded, open, inviting, warm, personal, literate, intellectual." -Former Student

"It must be said... that you are a wonderful, clear in purpose and delivery, teacher." -Former Student

ONLINE COURSE STRUCTURE: