BUNDLE WITH AN UNCOMMON HOURS MEMBERSHIP

You’ll get all the writing craft tips, publication strategy and support of a Story Catalyst membership, PLUS the way to manage your time. 

Uncommon Hours is the community and best practices program that helps you design and de-stressify the writing life. 

The Uncommon Hours community is alive with writers and creatives like you who want to finish their passion projects—and do it by activating their joy, imagination and inner wisdom. 

Find out how potent the combination of contemplation, creative visualization and solidarity with a creative, supportive community can be. 

Join us in the Castle in the Air community!

Bundle with a Story Catalyst membership and save $20/month!

JANUARY

Hermit Crab Essays
WITH JONA KOTTLER

A hermit crab essay is a bit like an actual hermit crab in that it’s an essay that takes on the existing form (as if a shell) of another type of writing.

It can be an excellent way to find a structure for a deeply traumatic or personal topic.

Behold the amazing hermit crab: when it finds itself in need of a new home, it sloughs off its old one and finds something completely different to live in!

Finding an unusual form to contain our writing can lead us to some exciting and unexpected places. We will read a few fantastic examples together and then find some forms—such as a recipe, how-to manual, or school supply list—and use it to tell a story or explore a topic.

#ESSAY CATALYST

FEBRUARY

Dialogue

and the Art of Subtext

WITH CAROLYN FLYNN

Often the difference between a compelling and memorable story is unforgettable dialogue. In the words of Colum McCann (Let the Great World Spin, Transatlantic), “Never forget that people talk away from what they really mean.” 

Dialogue, then, provides a subtext beneath the external struggle and the interior motivations of your characters. That’s what makes it so distinct from the description and action that surround it. It’s the pure burst of flavor.

In this class, you’ll walk away with several new tools in the writer toolkit that will have  you writing dialogue like it just slipped on the page.

#DIALOGUE+DESCRIPTION

APRIL

Lyric Essays
WITH CAROLYN FLYNN

The lyric essay is one of literature’s most elegant forms, but what is it, and how can you write one?

It may resemble poetry more than prose, and it may experiment with forms, such as the braided essay or the hermit crab essay. But its guiding force is the emotional truth. 

Here, we bring in elements of imagination, memory and intuition to examine an emerging form that seems to speak to the complexity of our times. We’ll look at some of the essays collected in A Harp in the Stars, compiled by Randon Billings Noble.

Bring a pen that stirs your imagination and a notebook that wants to capture your most pressing questions. We’ll also talk about the best places to publish lyric essays.

#ESSAYCATALYST

JUNE

Dip Your Toes

into Poetry

WITH JONA KOTTLER 

Do you have poetry trauma? Was there a teacher who made every poem into a puzzle that you didn’t feel smart enough to solve? Are you interested in poetry but you don’t quite feel confident to try your hand at it, in case you end up sounding like a teenager or a Hallmark card? 

If you see yourself in any of those questions this is the class for you. You’ll have the chance to test out some poetic forms, read some poems, learn some rules, and learn which rules you can reject. Lots of generative writing, no pressure.

#POETRY

AUGUST

Reading Like a Writer: Carmen Maria Machado
WITH JONA KOTTLER

Reading thoughtfully to observe the way in which other writers impact readers emotionally and intellectually is some of the best work we get to do as writers. 

In 2018, The New York Times listed Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado’s collection of short fiction, as a member of “The New Vanguard,” one of “15 remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century.” 

This class will focus on two of her short stories from this collection, using them as a springboard to understand how a writer constructs work and how we can learn from the kinds of choices she makes in her work to inform our own writing.

#READINGLIKEAWRITER

SEPTEMBER

The Art of the Personal Essay

WITH CAROLYN FLYNN 

The personal essay, whether it’s Modern Love in The New York Times, or a creative nonfiction piece in a literary journal such as Fourth Genre or Hippocampus, is alive and well. 

It’s one of literature’s most vibrant forms. A personal essay in Modern Love, WashPo or Salon can be a catapult to a literary agent. Or, it can work as a companion piece to your published book so that you expand your audience. A personal essay in The Paris Review or The Sun can be a way of working out the book that you’re writing, much as Cheryl Strayed did when she was first working with the material that became her book (and subsequent movie) Wild.

In this class, I’ll show you how to mine your material for personal essays. We’ll discuss the form and go through framing up an essay. Then we’ll spend some time on generative writing. 

I’ll give you guidelines on how to target publications and pitch your work. And from the Blog-to-Book Deal Department, I’ll explain why you need to write your Medium blog (or author website blog) like it’s ready-for-prime-time in NYT or Paris Review.

#ESSAYCATALYST

NOVEMBER

Scene vs. Summary: When to Show, When to Tell
WITH CAROLYN FLYNN

In this class I bust all the myths about “show, don’t tell.” Mostly I solve the mystery of what to do when.

We need scenes, and we need summary narrative with voice. We need both. It’s the most common question I get from coaching clients.

We’ll talk about indicators that something needs to be a scene, and we’ll talk about how to “tell” your way to a scene, with propulsive prose.

Tools you’ll receive: How to Block Out a Scene, How to Write a Montage.

We’ll generate writing of both kinds!

#SCENEVSSUMMARY