Writing from the Heart: Uncover Your Most Powerful Themes

To write our best, we must write from the heart. But finding which subjects mean the most to us can be difficult. Each week Ray Hsu will lead you through a series of fun, engaging, and effective exercises to help you discover and explore the deep and most compelling themes in your life. "And each week we'll spend time exploring those themes in story and other forms, all the while sharing feedback with each other," says Ray. "We'll explore the people and things we love (or hate) and consider why we need to embrace them in our work. We'll examine our fears and discuss how to face them, then how to shape them into art. In short, we'll explore how to dig deeper into matters of the heart—joyful or terrible, mad or sad—and learn to see them as powerful story catalysts.

"We'll also talk about less conventional ways of plotting, which can speed up your efforts to learn about your own dreams and fears, and develop what I call 'the personal mythology that most great writers create in their work.'”

It takes courage to write from the heart, where the things we care about hide. This course is designed to be a safe, fun, encouraging place to start the process. It's geared towards writers of fiction, but those who wish to write memoirs (or fiction rooted in personal experience) are also welcome to join in.

About The Writing Salon's Online Zoom Classes

You will be able to participate in live class meetings via Zoom videoconference. To attend classes, you'll need a phone, tablet or computer and access to the internet. You can participate in the class from wherever you'd like, whether on your living room couch or in your office. Before your class meets, you'll receive an email from The Writing Salon with more information about Zoom and your remote class. If you have any questions about remote learning, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at hello@writingsalons.com.