This six-month fiction workshop is designed for writers ready to dive deep into the art of storytelling, whether you're working on short stories or a novel. With a small, dedicated group of peers, this program offers personalized feedback, inspiration, and expert guidance in a supportive, tailored setting.

‍Monthly In-Person Meetings:

Once a month, we’ll gather for an immersive three-hour session where each writer will have dedicated time to focus on key sections of their manuscript. These meetings will be a space for in-depth exploration of narrative structure, character development, and other craft elements essential to elevating your writing. Discussions will be flexible, adapting to the needs of each writer and providing insights that benefit everyone in the group. By workshopping one writer's piece, the entire group gains valuable lessons applicable to their own projects.

Wednesday, 1/29, 6 - 9 PM

Wednesday, 2/26, 6- 9 PM

Wednesday, 3/26, 6 - 9 PM

Wednesday, 4/30, 6 - 9 PM

Wednesday, 5/28, 6 - 9 PM

Wednesday, 6/25, 6 - 9 PM

‍Between Meetings:

To keep momentum going between our monthly gatherings, you’ll have ongoing opportunities to share your work and receive thoughtful feedback from both your peers and the instructor. We’ll create a flexible system for submitting and reviewing drafts that works best for the group, allowing for consistent engagement while maintaining a personal touch. You’ll also have the option to schedule one-on-one check-ins with the instructor, offering additional tailored guidance for your project.

‍What You’ll Gain:

• Tailored feedback on your manuscript. Each session provides individualized insights to help you develop your story’s larger structure or focus on specific scenes.

• Inspiration and craft discussions. Every month, we’ll explore core elements of fiction writing, such as voice, tension, and pacing, to inspire new approaches to your work.

• Accountability and support. You’ll set personalized writing goals and have the support of an invested, close-knit group to help keep you on track.

• Creative community. Join a small, dedicated group of fellow writers who are as passionate about storytelling as you are, offering camaraderie and encouragement throughout the journey.

By the end of the six months, you’ll have made substantial progress on your manuscript, gained invaluable insights into your writing process, and cultivated the skills needed to take your work to the next level.

In-progress—please visit The Porch for next cohort.

Time Machine III: Modeling Time-Craft with Mary Gaitskill

In this fun, exercise-based seminar, we'll model Mary Gaitskill's impressive timecraft. We'll look at her use of scenic summary or the "scenelette" and how she expertly weaves direct dialogue, summarized dialogue, scene, and flashback. Then, we’ll emulate her techniques.

Old Class—please visit The Porch for upcoming classes.

The ticking clock, slo-mo, the speeding bullet—readers don’t get invested unless they believe the clock is ticking—whether a bomb is under the table or a character simply wants to graduate from Clown College. In this fun, exercise-based seminar, we’ll cover the full craft menu of narrative hydraulics as described by Jane Alison: gap, summary, scene, dilation, and pause. Then, we’ll attempt each of these using Tobias Wolff’s famous “Bullet in the Brain” as a model. We’ll also explore the concept of “two boats,” as illustrated in the pulp novel “Dead Calm.”

Old Class—please visit The Porch for upcoming classes.

The ticking clock, the switchback, the speeding bullet… Writers are peddlers of fake time. In this fun, exercise-based seminar, we’ll go over the fundamentals of scene (showing) and summary (telling). We’ll explore what Madison Smartt Bell calls the “scenelett” and Jane Allison calls “splicing sensory glimmers” in order to enliven summary. We’ll practice triggering flashbacks and returning readers safely to the present and we’ll try an Alice Munro style flashforward.

Old Class—please visit The Porch for upcoming classes.

This intense, generative course is a workshop in the classical sense of woodworking or cobblery; our focus will be on craft, not critique.

Every workshop member will turn in one-to-three-page story “chunks” which will ultimately be assembled into a 10-to-20-page short story. These chunks (typically scenes, but not always) may be linear or not; they may closely model the structure or techniques of one of our readings—or not.

Depending on class size, we will have micro-discussions of each person’s chunk, or at times we may do other types of creative response, during which the writer is not silenced and is free to ask for specific types of feedback. Each week, we'll “apprentice” with established ink-slingers by closely reading short stories that use different tools, styles, and building strategies, such as the list, reverse chronology, epistolary, comes to realize/fails to realize, second person, unreliable narrator, and others. We will also do some craft-based, in-class exercises. The instructor will have a private conference with each writer about their finished draft.

Trigger warning: Some readings may be visceral, disturbing, or violate the social contract.cription goes here

Old Class—please visit The Porch for upcoming classes.

THE PORCH HOUSE AT 2811 DOGWOOD PL., NASHVILLE, TN 37204