Form & Obstacle: A Generative Fiction Workshop

Description

Instructor: J.D. Hosemann
Genre: Fiction
Number of Sessions: 3
Meets:  6-8 PM CT
Dates: Thursdays, July 17, 24, and 31, 2025
Where: TBD
Cost: $140 / $128 Early Bird Sale until July 10

Sometimes, especially when we find ourselves trudging through the early stages of writing, it’s easy to assume the creative impulse flows effortlessly through others. Meanwhile we struggle to make a single sentence stick to the page. Of course this is an illusion, especially when it comes to writing. Look into the creative process of most seasoned writers and you’ll find a very different assumption. For these writers, creativity is not so much a personality type as it is a discipline that requires cultivation and care.

In this generative fiction workshop, we will hold a similar assumption: creativity, along with craft and technique, is something that can be honed and practiced. Interestingly, this assumption will not lead us toward complete artistic freedom. Rather, our prompts, readings, and exercises will present various obstacles—a random object, a piece of music, a secret word or sentence, a specific color—that encourage you to find alternative paths. The goal here is to discover something surprising, something unexpected. We’re not looking to perfectly execute an artistic idea, but rather to open ourselves to the possibilities of the accidental, the unexpected thing that gives life to our work.

This course could serve as an excellent low-stakes jumping off point for beginners as well as a creative jolt for more experienced writers. No workshop experience is required and all prompts are designed with principles of narrative and storytelling in mind. Expect to produce and workshop several short pieces of fiction over our three weekly sessions.