Saturday, Jan. 21st, 10 am to 4 pm
$95 members/$110 others San Francisco
Do you feel the itch to write fiction but come from a background in journalism, memoir writing, personal essays or other types of nonfiction? How do you cross the bridge between nonfiction and fiction? For one thing, says instructor Li Miao Lovett, “You need to think carefully when your Aunt Emma shows up in your novel with new Espadrilles and all her old foibles.” In other words, although you may not need to worry about lawsuits as much as a doctor does, you still need to know how to create characters who get themselves – not you – into trouble.
Another thing you’ll need to get better at is focusing on the overarching narrative. If you’re are trying to fictionalize a personal drama or historical event, it’s tempting to give a blow-by-blow account, or provide interesting details that steal the thunder from the main story arc. “We’ll discuss how to avoid this pitfall.” says Li, “We’ll also talk about the balance between show and tell, experiment with point-of-view, and explore the concept of narrative ‘time travel.’ You can spin a good yarn while still making it all sound real.”
Nonfiction writers may ask themselves, “Why do I even want to write a made-up, make-believe story?” Perhaps the more fitting question, says Li, would be: “What do I want to evoke in my readers?” The answer to this can vary widely. If you’re writing a thriller, you want to evoke responses that leave your readers trembling on the edges of their seats, intrigued by mysterious clues and excited by suspense. On the other hand, there is literary fiction, which may not bounce off the Richter scale of cloak and dagger action, but will delve more deeply into character, place, or the human condition.
“We’ll let you try your hand at fiction through group exercises and prompts,” says Li. “We’ll also make time to look at excerpts of work by Michael Ondaatje, Joyce Carol Oates, Dave Eggers, and Siri Hustvedt, and others who will inspire you. At the end of the day, you’ll leave with a better sense of the tools you’ll need to transition into fiction.”
Li Miao Lovett began her writing career after a 600-mile backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail where she encountered a stalker, a compulsive poet, and ten thousand mosquitoes. She has been a frequent contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED Perspectives. Her environmental writing has been published by Narrative Magazine, Earth Island Journal, and New America Media. In both fiction and nonfiction, Li’s work has won awards or finalist standing from Glimmer Train, Writer’s Digest, Stanford Magazine, National League of American Pen Women, A Room of Her Own Foundation, and the James Jones First Novel Fellowship. In the Lap of the Gods, her debut novel, is a tale of the dammed and displaced in China’s Three Gorges.
