|
Writers!
Are you ready to explore an interesting genre where you let your imagination play in your everyday life? We’re offering a brand new class on the Marvelous Magical Real that will inspire you, and get your pen moving. You’ll create strange stories, tall tales, and fairy fables—short stories intertwined with your daily life.
| |
|
Making the Mundane Magnificent with the Marvelous Magical Real by Christy O’Callaghan starts on Friday, October 17, 2023. The class is an opportunity to explore the marvelous magical real, an often misunderstood and glossed-over genre. This is a 4-week Zoom class with weekly writing prompts and readings of short stories by women. Students will write one piece under 500 words each week and a prompt for 15 minutes of daily writing sessions, use their life to spark their imagination, and read an assigned short story. It is a generative class with people sharing their work, photos, and stories they have found. Enrollment includes instructor feedback.
In today’s newsletter, Christy O’Callaghan delves into the beauty of the Magical Marvelous Real style, what it is and is not, and what grandmothers have to do with it all. Check it out below!
We also have the following classes starting soon: Food Writing for Fun and Profit: Blogs, Restaurant Reviews, Recipes, Fiction, Memoir, and More (Oct 6), The Pizzazz Of Writing 101 Zoom Webinar (Oct 11), Writing Fitness & Sport Stories (Oct 16), Writing Short, Writing Deep: Prose Poetry, Short Memoir, Epistolary, Flash Non-fiction, Flash Fiction, and More (Oct 16), Narrative Structures (Oct 23), and How to Write a YA Dystopian Novel (Oct 23). More information can be found below and on our Classroom Page.
| |
Write on!
Marcia & Angela
Classroom Managers
| |
Grandmothers and the Marvelous Magical Real | |
“The narrator doesn’t get upset when out-of-this-world things happen, nor does he dismiss them or try to explain them. That would be considered disrespectful to the Grandmothers.” —Gabriel Garcìa Màrquez | |
|
To best understand and respect a form like the Magical Marvelous Real, one must first understand and respect Grandmothers. So often, this style is misunderstood or forced into boxes that don’t fit. Familial relationships can suffer from the same problem of being placed into a single box labeled family, but each connection has its own vibe. The role of mothers and daughters is too much reality. That’s a whole other style of writing. The relationship of child to child is too much magic. That’s where Fantasy and Surrealism truly shine. The beautiful balance of grandmother and granddaughter is the deliciously perfect combination of marvelousness and realism. Grandmothers are the keepers of dreams and the teachers of life. They are the core and the heart of what makes Magical Realism so unique.
To be fair, this isn’t all individual grandmothers. Some are just plain awful. That’s where fairy tales come in. This is about the more significant role and concept of Grandmothers. They are the holders of dream worlds and the passers of secrets. Grandmothers perform magic in our everyday lives. They turn a bunch of ingredients into cookies. Wood into a birdhouse. A pile of material and thread into a new dress. Skeins of yarn into mittens. A bushel of apples into sauce and pie. A dull day into an adventure in the forest. Seeds and dirt into a garden and then into a snack. Words on a page into a world. Bedtime into an experience. And if asked nicely, they will turn children’s hands into creators of magic, too.
Grandmothers play an essential role in children’s lives. They are both the marvelousness and reality. They may slap hands one minute, then offer a cookie with a shhh; don’t tell your mother the next. In their lifetimes, they’re witnesses to the best and worst of our world. Then they’re charged with creating bubbles of protection for the young. They weave tales as lessons for children to face the world head-on with courage and pride. Magical Realism’s writing style is a beautiful tribute to those who came before us and, at the same time, is a lovely expression of our everyday lives.
Grandmothers share their hidden selves with their grandchildren, especially granddaughters. My grandmother had a public persona she showed outsiders, including her closest friends. Always using proper table manners. Her clothes were perfectly hemmed, cleaned, and ironed. Her halo of white hair was styled once a week at the salon. And boy, did she make a wicked strong highball. But in her private world, she knew the names of plants as she walked through the woods and collected bleached bones and shells to display on her shelf. Her white Keds never had a splotch of mud. She loved dirty jokes. Especially raunchy cards. And when those she cared for most in the world left her company, she brushed her fingertips on their shoulder and said, “Here’s a guardian angel to protect you.”
So why is this so important in writing The Magical Marvelous Real? Because the specific beauty of this style is bringing together those magical elements with a detailed world of the real. This style is dependent upon the two working together in harmony. The hand slap and the secret cookie. Grandmothers provide unlimited love. A love that doesn’t come at a price. But often, they are the ones who introduce the feeling and knowledge of loss. For many, they are the first loved one who dies. We learn about the varied layers of life from them. For some of us, they played the role of a parent or a second parent when life fell a little short.
Grandmothers share their world, the pain, and the joy. They tell tales of a time without the modern technology we depend on. They talk about a life when they were young with no wrinkles and a full head of colorful hair. And what your mother was like as a child. They shield as best they can and protect with their tales and beliefs. There is so much misunderstanding and misdefined about MMR. It’s not a form of Fantasy. It’s not surrealism. It’s not realism. It’s a balance of the real world and the marvelousness that comes from, well, Grandmothers.
| | |
Making the Mundane Magnificent with the Marvelous Magical Real |
|
Instructor: Christy O'Callaghan
Start Date: October 17, 2023
Duration: 4 Weeks
Location: Live Zoom Classes
Meeting Time: Tuesdays, 7:30 pm - 9 pm EST (Skipping Halloween, October 31) - all sessions will be recorded.
Feedback: Instructor Feedback and Encouraging Peer Workshop
Cost: $185, which includes four live Zoom classes, instructor feedback, group workshopping, and discussions.
| |
Description: Sharpen your pencil because this is a generative class where we will write the marvelous, magical real pulled from our everyday lives. What ordinary thing could be extraordinary as you walk through the supermarket, or what would happen if you forgot to tell the bees of a birth or death, or if the snippets pulled from grandma’s bedtime tales came to life? In this class, we will create strange stories, tall tales, and fairy fables—short stories intertwined with our daily life.
The class is an opportunity to explore the marvelous magical real, an often misunderstood and glossed-over genre. This is a 4-week class with weekly writing prompts and readings of short stories by women. Students will write one piece under 500 words each week and a prompt for 15 minutes of daily writing sessions, use their life to spark their imagination, and read an assigned short story. It is a generative class with people sharing their work, photos, and stories they have found.
Goal:
Students will let their imagination play in their everyday life. They will carve out a daily writing practice and let their world inspire them. They will share their work with their classmates. They will gain a more extensive understanding of magical realism and that there is never too much or too little magic. By the end of this class, participants will have started a habit of freewriting, gained a better understanding of magical realism, and have started at least five new stories. Mostly, they will have fun finding the strange in the everyday and capturing it on the page.
Format:
4 weeks for 90 minutes in person via Zoom each week: Tuesdays, 7:30 pm - 9 pm EST. We will use a shared space on Google Docs to add prompt ideas, images, words, and quotes. It will be a space to share published stories or book titles that may inspire the group. Students will post their new stories to the space, and the rest of the class will read them before we meet. These will be first drafts and will not be perfect (which is okay). They are a chance to see how everyone interprets the prompt in their own way. We will discuss the pieces when we meet, what we enjoyed, and possibilities for consideration.
| View the full listing for a week-by-week curriculum and testimonials. | |
|
Christy O’Callaghan is a writer and Developmental Editor with an MA in English from SUNY Albany. She is Editor in Chief of Barzakh Literary Magazine and the 2023 SUNY Thayer Arts Fellowship finalist for writing. She spent twenty-two years in community organizing and education. Christy has an extreme love of strange stories, plants, and lore. Her favorite pastimes include hiking and snowshoeing while listening to horror fiction podcasts, swimming with her waterproof iPod, gardening, botanical illustrations, reading, and collecting sea glass. Her work has appeared in The Los Angeles Review, Great Weather for Media, Splash! with Haunted Waters Press, Flyway Journal, Trolley Journal, Sonder Review, Chestnut Review, and more. For information about her editing services and a complete list of her publications, visit christyflutterby.com.
| |
Upcoming WOW Classes & Workshops |
Below are some classes and workshops that are starting soon. Click on the links to be taken to a full listing that includes a week-by-week curriculum, testimonials, instructor bio, and more. Keep in mind that most class sizes are limited, so the earlier you register the better.
All the classes operate online--whether through email, private website, streaming platform, or Zoom, depending on the instructor's preferences--so unless it's a Zoom class, the workshop is asynchronous, meaning you do not need to be present at any particular time. You can work at your own pace in the comfort of your own home. If you have any questions, please reply to this email or email us at: classroom@wow-womenonwriting.com. |
Ongoing - Starts Upon Ordering:
Submissions Consultation | Return time: 1 Week | $25 | Submit up to 12 pages (4,500 words) of your writing and receive 5 or more suggestions of where to submit your piece and formatting for each market | Editor: Chelsey Clammer
|
Children's Novel Draft Editing Package (For Novels for Children Ages 9-12) $325 | includes a complete read-through of a novel manuscript up to 100,000 words by a professional editor, a revision letter, a bullet point list of strengths and revision suggestions, a 30-minute Skype consultation, and for WOW! writers only—a page of self-editing suggestions. | Editor: Margo L. Dill
| |
Starts the First Monday of Every Month
Starts the First Tuesday of Every Month:
How to Write a TV Pilot | 4 Weeks | $150 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Limit: 10 Students | Instructor: Christina Hamlett
Starts the First Friday of Every Month:
| |
|
Let's Get Cozy! How to Write a Cozy Mystery
4 weeks: Oct 2 - Oct 29
Whether you plan to pen a standalone novel or a series, cozy mysteries are a subset of the crime genre which appeals to anyone who enjoys playing armchair detective but who doesn’t want to be so shaken by the details of grisly murders that they henceforth have to sleep with the lights on. In this four-week class, you’ll receive instruction on what makes for a compelling amateur sleuth (of any age!), how to factor location into your plot, the types of misdeeds which are appropriate for a cozy platform, how to incorporate humor and romance into this lighter side of mystery fiction, and what resources are available to make your storylines plausible. The culmination of the class will be the development of a one-page synopsis and the first chapter of your proposed cozy.
|
|  |
|
Food Writing for Fun and Profit
5 weeks: Oct 6 - Nov 9
Famed epicure James Beard once wrote, “Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” In this five-week course, we will explore the wide and exciting range of food-themed genres. Via the instructional text, Will Write for Food 4th edition, by Dianne Jacob, students will find inspiration for their own weekly writing assignments. In addition, students will read food writing from some of the top journalists and food bloggers in the industry in any Best American Food Writing anthology of the student’s choice (published yearly). Students will submit a prose assignment based on an exercise from our class text for constructive and supportive instructor feedback. Led by Melanie Faith!
|
| |
The Pizzazz of Writing Webinar: Clever Tricks to Take Your Prose from Boring to Dazzling
Live Zoom: October 4, 2023, 2 PM - 4 PM ET
$35
Is your writing dull and lifeless? Do you wonder how successful writers pop their words off the page (or screen)? There are easy ways to spice up your writing—nifty little techniques guaranteed to excite your readers. We’ll skim over them in this quick, two-hour class, with exercises to practice later at home. Whether you’re writing magazine or newspaper features, blog posts, marketing materials, the Great American novel, or something else, this class will bring new sparkle to your writing. Led by Barbara Noe Kennedy.
|
| |
Writing Fitness & Sport Stories
4 weeks: Oct 16 - Nov 12
Sports and writing are activities many people do for pleasure or self-fulfillment, but these are also rich areas of personal learning and potential social change. This course is designed to give participants space to write and reflect on their fitness and sports careers, lives, and bodies, and then discuss how sharing these personal stories can create social change. By the end of the course, participants will create a writing practice designed to improve their sport performance; engage in writing practices about sport and fitness to produce social change; and/or have a short piece of writing to share with a broader audience. Led by Dr. Anne Greenawalt, Editor-in-Chief of Sport Stories Press.
|
| |
Writing Short, Writing Deep: Prose Poetry, Short Memoir, Epistolary, Flash Nonfiction, Flash Fiction, and More
6 weeks: Oct 16 - Nov 26
Each week students will complete a piece of writing inspired by strategies for evoking life experiences the instructor will be posting links to work by well-published writers of short prose. Participants will read from samples of “lyric memoirs” and “lyric novels” built from smaller pieces as well as selections from authors who write moving vignettes, prose poems, flash fiction and flash nonfiction. Over six weeks, you’ll produce six pieces and create many more ideas for future short writing as well. Led by Sheila Bender!
|
| |
|
Making the Mundane Magnificent With the Marvelous Magical Real
4 weeks, Live Zoom Classes:
Oct 17 - Nov 14
Sharpen your pencil because this is a generative class where we will write the marvelous, magical real pulled from our everyday lives. What ordinary thing could be extraordinary as you walk through the supermarket, or what would happen if you forgot to tell the bees of a birth or death, or if the snippets pulled from grandma’s bedtime tales came to life? In this class, we will create strange stories, tall tales, and fairy fables—short stories intertwined with our daily life. Led by Christy O'Callaghan!
|
| |
Narrative Structures
6 weeks: Oct 23 - Dec 3
Have you always wanted to write a novel but don’t know where to start? This class is aimed at writers of all levels who want to deepen their understanding of plot, narratives, and structures. Through a range of lectures, masterclasses, live Q&A sessions, and structural analyses, students will learn a number of different narrative structures, experiment with new frameworks, and understand which methods work best for them as a writer. Led by award-winning author Madeline Dyer.
|
| |
How to Write a YA Dystopian Novel
8 weeks: Oct 23 - Dec 18
Have you always wanted to write a YA dystopian novel but need help fine-tuning your idea? In this eight-week course dystopian novelist Madeline Dyer will take you through the steps involved in crafting a dystopian novel. Each week will focus on a different aspect of writing the dystopian novel, and you’ll be provided with learning materials such as lectures, excerpts, links, and more, all of which you can access in your own time within that week. Every week also contains an assignment where you’ll get individual feedback from Madeline, including chapter critiques.
|
| |
Writing Horror and Gothic Fiction
7 weeks: Nov 7 - Dec 26
Have you always wanted to write scary fiction but need help fine-tuning your idea? Got an idea for a horror novel, but have no idea where to start with the actual writing of your book? Does writing the Gothic appeal to you? In this seven-week course novelist Madeline Dyer will take you through the steps involved in crafting a horror or Gothic novel. Each week will focus on a different aspect of writing horror or Gothic fiction, and you’ll be provided with learning materials such as lectures, excerpts, links, and more, all of which you can access in your own time within that week. Every week also contains an assignment where you’ll get individual feedback from Madeline, including chapter critiques.
|
| |
|
Writing Disabled Characters in TV, Film, and Fiction
Live Zoom: November 9, 2023, 1 - 2:30 PM PST
Disabled people make up about 20% of the U.S. population, but only about 2% of disabled characters are represented on-screen, and most of that representation deals with damaging stereotypes. This webinar will examine writing disabled characters in media. It will explore the rampant stereotypes that are so often associated with fiction and media’s portrayal of disabled characters. This class will teach students how to write well-rounded, interesting disabled characters without trite, clichéd, or offensive language as well as addressing core concepts in disability studies and how to recognize them in fiction, ableism/ableist language, harmful tropes/stereotypes, and person-first language (person with a disability) versus identity-first language (disabled person). Led by Lara Ameen!
|
| |
|
Humor II: Your Best Defense Against the Hot Mess That Is the Holiday Season
4 weeks: Nov 11 - Dec 10
Holidays are stressful. We know this. What’s the best way to battle the annual holiday-induced chaos? Humor! Because making your relatives die of laughter does not carry the same prison sentence as actually killing them. Starting a few weeks before Thanksgiving, this four-week class will gleefully prance around the different techniques that make a piece of writing humorous. Participants will focus on imagery, word choice, format, tone and structure, we’ll discover the various ways we can give readers—and ourselves!—a good chuckle just from the inventive ways we put words on a page. Led by Chelsey Clammer!
|
| |
|
Self-Publish Your Masterpiece
Live Zoom: November 15, 2023, 2 PM - 4 PM ET
$40
You have written your pièce de resistance, whether it’s a romance, thriller, how-to guide, poetry ensemble, or cookbook, and you’ve decided to go the self-publishing route to get your baby out into the world—a route, by the way, that is widely acceptable these days (many authors have been immensely successful). But how do you do it? Where do you start? This two-hour course takes you step-by-step from turning your Word document into a gorgeous hard-copy book and ebook. Led by Barbara Noe Kennedy!
|
| |
Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults
4 weeks, multiple dates
Nonfiction for children and teens lines the bookshelves of libraries and bookstores, fills magazines and e-zines and is used in classrooms around the world. The first step in taking your place in this market is learning to do the research. That may sound relatively simple, but done right it includes researching markets and possible topics as well as locating accurate source materials. This course will help you develop the skills you need to take on these tasks with confidence.
|
| |
Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults
4 weeks, multiple dates
Biographies, science, history, how-to, and more. Nonfiction is published in book form, online and in both magazines and e-zines. Not only do teachers and school librarians seek nonfiction for their students, children and teens read it for fun. In this course, you will learn how to organize your material, write and revise not only the manuscript you workshop in class but future projects as well. Learn from Sue Bradford Edwards!
|
| |
Pitching, Querying, and Submitting Your Work
4 weeks, multiple dates
Whether you write essays, short stories or novels, sending your work to an agent, editor or publisher is a daunting task. This course will teach you to assemble submission basics including a pitch and a query letter. These tools will enable you to get your work in front of industry professionals. We will also discuss how to find markets and how to manage rejection. Course materials include successful samples and tips from industry experts.
|
| |
Writing a Novel with a Writing Coach
4 weeks, first Fridays
Are you writing a novel? Do you need a writing coach to keep you accountable and provide feedback as you go? Do you have an idea for a novel but you don’t know how to plan or get started? Join Margo L. Dill in an online workshop environment, where you can work with her to get a first or second draft of a novel completed. Novelists for almost any genre are welcome. Depending on your needs, Margo will also provide you with resources on writing novels and help with writing a synopsis and query letter.
|
| |
|
October 2, 2023
Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults | 4 Weeks | $90 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Instructor: Sue Bradford Edwards
Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults | 4 Weeks | $90 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Instructor: Sue Bradford Edwards
Pitching, Querying, and Submitting Your Work | 4 Weeks | $90 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Instructor: Sue Bradford Edwards
October 6, 2023
Food Writing for Fun and Profit: Blogs, Restaurant Reviews, Recipes, Fiction, Memoir, and More | 5 Weeks | $200 | Location: Private Facebook Group and Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Instructor: Melanie Faith
October 11, 2023
The Pizzazz of Writing Zoom Webinar | $35 | Zoom: 2pm - 4pm ET | Instructor: Barbara Noe Kennedy
October 16, 2023
Writing Fitness & Sport Stories | 4 Weeks | $125 | Location: Private Website | Feedback: Weekly Instructor Feedback | Instructor: Dr. Anne Greenawalt
Writing Short, Writing Deep: Prose Poetry, Short Memoir, Epistolary, Flash Nonfiction, Flash Fiction, and More | 6 Weeks | $210 | Location: Google Group | Feedback: Instructor Feedback and Peer Critique | Instructor: Sheila Bender
October 17, 2023
Making the Mundane Magnificent with the Marvelous Magical Real NEW! | 4 Weeks | $185 | Location: Live Zoom Classes & Workshop | Feedback: Instructor Feedback and Encouraging Peer Workshop | Instructor: Christy O'Callaghan
October 23, 2023
Narrative Structures | 6 Weeks | $185 | Location: Private Website | Feedback: Instructor critique and feedback on all assignments | Instructor: Madeline Dyer
How to Write a YA Dystopian Novel | 8 Weeks | $185 | Location: Private Website | Feedback: Instructor critique and feedback on all assignments | Instructor: Madeline Dyer
October 27, 2023
Empower Your Muse, Empower Your Writing Self | 4 Weeks | $40 | Location: Group Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback and Group Discussion | Instructor: Kelly L. Stone
November 6, 2023
Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults | 4 Weeks | $90 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Instructor: Sue Bradford Edwards
Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults | 4 Weeks | $90 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Instructor: Sue Bradford Edwards
Pitching, Querying, and Submitting Your Work | 4 Weeks | $90 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Instructor: Sue Bradford Edwards
November 7, 2023
Writing Horror and Gothic Fiction NEW! | 7 Weeks | $185 | Location: Private Website | Feedback: Instructor critique and feedback on all assignments | Instructor: Madeline Dyer
November 9, 2023
Writing Disabled Characters in TV, Film, and Fiction: 1.5-Hour Zoom NEW! | Zoom: 1-2:30 PM PST | Instructor: Lara Ameen
November 11, 2023
Humor II: Your Best Defense Against the Hot Mess That is the Holiday Season | 4 Weeks | $180 | Location: Private Website | Feedback: Weekly Instructor Feedback and Peer Workshopping | Instructor: Chelsey Clammer
November 15, 2023
Self-Publish Your Masterpiece: 2-Hour Zoom NEW! | Zoom: 2pm - 4pm ET | $40 | Instructor: Barbara Noe Kennedy
December 4, 2023
Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults | 4 Weeks | $90 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Instructor: Sue Bradford Edwards
Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults | 4 Weeks | $90 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Instructor: Sue Bradford Edwards
Pitching, Querying, and Submitting Your Work | 4 Weeks | $90 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Instructor: Sue Bradford Edwards
January 1, 2024
Flash Trauma Narrative NEW! | 6 Weeks | $250 | Location: Private Forum | Feedback: Weekly Instructor Feedback and Peer Workshopping | Instructor: Chelsey Clammer
| | | | |
