Creative Writing Workout

Practice writing like NPR, The Wall Street Journal or your favorite author

(To allow for hands-on practice, this session is two modules long.)

Joan Didion does it. So did John Gregory Dunne. And W. Somerset Maugham.

They studied the world’s best writers, learned their techniques and adapted those techniques to their own work.

You can do it, too. In this hands-on session, you’ll learn to turn your favorite writers into personal writing coaches by modeling the masters. We’ll cover a seven-step system for finding mentors among the world’s best writers, then you’ll practice modeling the masters yourself. Specifically, you’ll learn how to:

• Become a better reader: It’s the best way to become a better writer
• Avoid ‘creative incest’: Get out of your own backyard
• Read like a writer: Look for technique
• Clip, dip and rip: Create a library of masterpieces to model
• Find the DNA: Figure out the code
• Take ‘modeling lessons’: Learn your favorite author’s tricks
• Stuff your toolbox with techniques: Adapt — don’t adopt — others’ approaches