Five Saturdays, Feb. 25-March 24, 10:30 am to 1 pm
$185 members/$215 non-members San Francisco
Testimonials for Jess
Whether you’re intrigued by Norse settlements, your own grandmother’s journey to America, or an imaginary character from a far-away time, historical fiction can be an enchanting new outlet for your writing, transporting you and your writing into worlds that are incredibly fun to create.
“You can’t just throw a tapestry over the flat screen TV in your scene and call it historical,” says instructor Jess Wells. “There are real differences between modern life and life in the past, which require real differences in your writing. That challenge, to me, is the greatest thing about this genre: it’s like a three-dimensional chess game – the bottom layer is the character’s story, the middle layer is the unique historical setting and events, and the top layer is the language.
“Each week we’ll discuss an aspect of the craft of historical fiction, investigate research opportunities, and examine a different section of one of the greats of historical fiction: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind. I’ll give you take-home writing exercises to help you brainstorm and move your work along. I’ll also set aside time at the end of each class to look at your specific projects, in terms of plot development, character development, or research requirements.
“My goal is to help you identify an era and an area that speak to you. Maybe you’d like to reintroduce a little-known hero or heroine into popular culture. Or tell the sweeping saga of your own family’s struggle in America. And since any story more than 50 years old is considered historical fiction, you might even be able to use your own childhood as a source of your inspiration. The possibilities are endless!”
Jess Wells is the author of thirteen volumes of work, including the novel The Mandrake Broom (Firebrand, 2007), which dramatizes the fight to save medical knowledge during the witch-burning times in Europe 1465-1540. Her work on The Mandrake Broom earned her a San Francisco Arts Commission Grant for Literature to write her second historical novel, which will chronicle the early years of Christine de Pizan in the French court of Charles V. Her short stories, essays, and erotica are included in more than three dozen literary anthologies, journals, university curricula, and she is a four-time finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards. Jess has also taught this workshop at the Saints and Sinners Literary Conference, the Golden Crown Literary Conference, and at Other Words in Florida.
