“After taking a writing class, have you ever wondered why it’s so hard to apply craft in your own work? If so, you’re not alone,” says instructor Junse Kim. “Knowing craft is not the same as applying it.”
In this remote mentorship, through reflections on your own fiction or creative nonfiction pieces, craft-focused readings of published works, and Junse’s feedback on your work in progress, you will develop your craft application skills and hone your critical analysis.
At the start of the mentorship there will be an initial twenty-minute Zoom discussion with Junse to share your writing goals for the mentorship and to identify areas of your writing process that you want to focus on. Over 9 weeks, you will submit three packets of written correspondence. Every three weeks, you will email Junse a packet of:
- Fiction or creative nonfiction up to 15 pages (double spaced, 12 point font). You are welcome to submit excerpts of longer works, or self-contained pieces, or multiple short works that are cumulatively under the page limit.
- A short critical engagement on effective craft in a published work. Junse will provide the reading, but is open to published literary works you want to analyze that relate to your craft development goals.
- A letter to Junse where you can ask questions and reflect on your creative practice, craft interests, and writing goals and/or issues.
Junse will review and respond to each packet in writing, including annotations on each packet’s creative manuscript. Junse says, “By the end of 9 weeks, the goal of this mentorship is for you to transform your conceptual understanding of craft into practical knowledge, where the act of consciously applying craft eventually becomes a writing instinct.”
Junse Kim, like many Writing Salon students, didn’t begin to pursue a writing life until well after graduating from college. Before ever taking a writing class, he worked as a concert promoter, Peace Corps volunteer, managerial consultant, scriptwriter, nonprofit fundraiser, and “full-time” temp. He has since received a Pushcart Prize (for his short story “Yangban”), a Faulkner Award, and the Philip Roth Residence in Creative Writing at Bucknell University. His fiction and creative nonfiction have been published in the Ontario Review, ZYZZYVA, and Cimarron Review, as well as two anthologies: Pushcart Prize XXVII and Echoes Upon Echoes: New Korean American Writing.
January 19 – March 23