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UPDATE 5/18 - The class is sold out at the moment. However, we do have a Waiting List you can join. Please contact us via the email on the right sidebar to be added. If a student drops out, you'll be offered a place on a first come, first served basis.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS CLASS TAKES PLACE ONLINE AND NOT A SPECIFIC LOCATION.
Writers know that it's important to write about characters whose racial heritage, sexual orientation, religion, or other aspect of identity differs from their own. But many are afraid to do so for fear that they will get it wrong--horribly, offensively wrong--and think it is better not even to try.
In truth, as author Daniel Jose Older puts it, when writers create characters from backgrounds different than their own, they are really telling the deeper story of their own perception. It is possible to write the Other sensitively and convincingly, and this workshop can start you on the path to doing just that.
Drawing on and updating decades-old work by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward, authors of the acclaimed reference "Writing the Other: A Practical Approach," this six week online course delves deep into learning this sometimes tricky skill. Authors Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford will combine lectures, discussions, and writing exercises in a safe, supportive atmosphere.
The class is appropriate for all writers (fiction, plays, screenplays, and games included) from all backgrounds and any skill level.
Classes will be taught via G+ on Thursday evenings, June 25 to July 30 2015. Each two-hour session runs from 8:30pm Eastern Time/5:30pm Pacific Time.
Each week, you will be given an assignment that builds on the previous week. Classwork will be uploaded to a shared Google Drive folder visible only to you and your classmates. The class will be divided between lecture and exercises. The class is capped at eight students, to create a class size that allows the most interaction, feedback and personal attention for each of you.
Writing the Other Online Price:
$400 + a $14.99 service fee (charged by the ticket provider).
If the class sells out before you have time to register, please contact us via the email on the right sidebar to be added to the waiting list. If a student drops out, you'll be offered a place on a first come, first served basis.
If you do not have the funds to take the class at this time but can pay by June 19th, please contact us via the email on the right sidebar to discuss options.
Refund policy:
If you drop the class by June 18th, we will issue a full refund (not including the service fee).
If you drop the class between Jun 19th and June 24th, we will issue an 80% refund of the class price (not including the service fee).
If you drop the class between June 25th and July 1, we will issue a 60% refund of the class price (not including the service fee) and offer you a chance to retake the class if we do it again--no guarantees on date, but you will get a spot before general tickets go on sale.
If you drop the class after July 1 we cannot issue refunds as it will be too late to bring another student into the class. However, we will offer you a spot in a future class for 75% off the current price (no service fee).
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Class requirements: You need an interest in writing, but you do not need to have written or published anything yet. You also must be able to use G+ Hangouts. (Note: You don't need a web camera, although they're useful. The only real requirement is a Google+ account, the internet, a microphone, and some speakers so you can hear us. But before you sign up, please make sure Hangouts is working on your computer, tablet, or phone.) There will be homework, so expect to allot an additional three to five hours per week for reading, critique, or writing.
Class Texts: Writing the Other by Cynthia Ward and Nisi Shawl (Please have this text in hand a week before class starts)
Syllabus
Week 1
Introduction: Check Your Expectations
Representation: Best Practices
Week 2
Avoiding Stereotypes & Tropes around:
Race & Ethnicity
Disability
Week 3
Avoiding Stereotypes & Tropes around:
Gender & Sexuality
Class
Week 4
Dialect & Dialogue
Special Considerations by Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical, YA, etc.
Week 5
Appropriate Cultural Appropriation
How To Research the Other
Week 6
Short Fiction Critiques
Instructors:
Nisi Shawl
Nisi is the author of dozens of short stories, many of which can be found in the James Tiptree, Jr. Award winning collection Filter House (also nominated for a World Fantasy Award). She is the co-editor of Stories for Chip and Strange Matings: Octavia E. Butler, Feminism, Science Fiction, and African American Voices. She edits reviews for The Cascadia Subduction Zone, a literary quarterly from Aqueduct Press. She is a founding member of the Carl Brandon Society and has served on the board for the Clarion West writing workshop.
She developed the Writing the Other workshop with Cynthia Ward, and has taught it for over a decade in person, at conventions, and in a retreat setting.
K Tempest Bradford
Tempest is a speculative fiction writer by night, a media critic and culture columnist by day, and an activist blogger in the interstices. Her fiction has appeared in award-winning magazines the likes of Strange Horizons and Electric Velocipede and best-selling anthologies Diverse Energies, Federations, and many more.
She's active in the SFF fandom community and volunteers for a number of non-profit organizations. In the past she's served as a juror for the James Tiptree Jr. Award, organized fundraising auctions and salons for the Interstitial Arts Foundation, and raised funds for Clarion West, her writing workshop alma mater. Currently she serves on the board of the Carl Brandon Society, an organization dedicated to increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction, and is programming co-chair for WisCon 39, a feminist science fiction convention.
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LocationOnline (Google Plus Hangout) NOT in Seattle
Not in Seattle
ONLINE, WA 98101
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
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