We caught Susan in the hallway between MFA classes, and asked her for her best writing tip. Here she discusses the idea of “thisness,” and how specificity strengthens a story.
No MFA? No problem. Join us for this live discussion with author and MFA professor Susan Conley, where we’ll focus on how the smallest details can do the most work for your overall narrative.
Prior to the live event, you can view Susan’s short video clips on “This-ness” and “The Story Within the Story.” Links to view the video clips and to send your first page will be available starting the week of September 17.
During our live event, Susan will dive even deeper into this subject of layering your plot. We’ll spend twenty minutes with examples of how to utilize layering in your writing (plus possibly do a little bit of writing together), then move into a Q&A. The remainder of our time will be devoted to diving into participants’ work, looking for ways to elevate each scene as we look for the story within the story.
Participants will leave this live event with a newfound critical approach to building scene, regardless of genre, all while adding more tools to your drafting and revision toolbox.
About Susan
Susan Conley’s memoir, The Foremost Good Fortune (Knopf 2011), was an Oprah Magazine “Top Ten Pick,” an Entertainment Weekly “New Memoir to Watch,” a Goodreads Choice Award Finalist, and the winner of the Maine Literary Award for Memoir.
Her novel Paris Was the Place (Knopf 2013), was an “Indie Next Pick,” an Amazon “Big Book for Fall in Fiction,” a People Magazine “Top Pick,” a Boston Globe “Book of the Week,” a Slate Magazine “Summer Read,” and an Elle Magazine “Readers Prize Selection.”
Her most recent book is a collaboration of photographs and poetry called Stop Here This is the Place (Downeast Books 2016). She’s received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Breadloaf Writers Conference, and the Massachusetts Arts Council. She has taught writing workshops at Emerson College, Simmons College, Colby College, The University of Maine at Farmington, and The University of Massachusetts at Lowell, where she was the Jack Kerouac Writer-in-Residence.
Other work of hers has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, The New York Times, The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, Ploughshares, Prarie Schooner, The North American Review, The Harvard Review, Downeast Magazine, Maine Magazine, Middlebury Magazine, and elsewhere.
In 2016 she was awarded the Maine Arts Commission’s Literary Fellowship. Susan lives with her husband and two sons in Portland, Maine, where she is also the co-founder of The Telling Room, a creative writing lab serving thousands of Maine kids every year, guided by the belief that children are natural storytellers.
This event is included with membership, or available a la carte for $9.99.
Live Event: September 26, 8:30pm EDT
This event, as well as our brand new season of live panels, classes, and more, is included with membership.