Have you ever had an idea that felt too big for one poem or a story that was begging for more than one way to be told? Maybe you’re working on an essay where one point has become many, or a play where supporting characters start to deserve their own tale, this happens to many writers. Sometimes we pick the best of the best and leave the rest to the wayside, but what if we could successfully split up the work and have each piece live on its own and still maintain harmony and balance within the world it is built from? Well, that is precisely what this workshop intends to help with! Writers will learn to identify multiple stories/ideas within one work, write from multiple perspectives and/or personas, explore the dynamics of 1st, 2nd and 3rd person voice in craft and take a look at form to see how it can influence a series. The class is discussion and writing based; throughout the course, writers will review poems they feel have the potential to become a series, create idea webs and outlines for future series, engage with a syllabus of series provided by the instructor, and receive writing prompts. Writers will leave with writing drafts, fully fleshed outlines, and feedback.
Instructor: Siaara Freeman is from Cleveland Ohio, where she is the current Lake Erie Siren & a teaching artist for Center for Arts Inspired Learning and The Westside Community Sisterhood Project in conjunction with the Anisfield-Wolf Foundation. She is a 2022 Catapult fellow with Cleveland Public Theater. In 2021, she filmed a commercial for the Cleveland Museum of Art and participated with #teamyellowbrickroad for the Black Joy Experience. She is a 2021 Premier Playwright fellow recipient with Cleveland Public Theater. She is a 2020 WateringHole Manuscript fellow, a 2018 winter tangerine chapbook fellow, and a 2018 Poetry Foundation incubator fellow. Her work appears in The Offing, BOAAT, Tinderbox, Josephine Quarterly and elsewhere. She has toured both nationally and internationally. She is the co-founder of Outsiders Queer Midwest Writers Retreat. A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, chances are she's by a lake, thinking about Toni Morrison and talking to ghosts. In her spare time, she is growing her afro so tall God can use it for a microphone and speak through her. Her first full length manuscript Urbanshee is available for pre-order with Button Poetry.
---Details: Series(ly) Speaking: The Alchemy of Turning One Idea into Many takes place Fridays March 10, 17, 24, and 31 from 6:30-8:30pm online via Zoom.Genre: PoetryLevel: IntermediateFormat: Generative workshop with writing outside of class and peer feedback.Location: This class takes place remotely online via Zoom.Size: Limited to 12 participants (including scholarships).Suggested Sequence: Follow this class with a craft and/or generative nonfiction workshop, a feedback course, or a publishing course.Scholarships: Two scholarship spots are available for this class for writers in Northeast Ohio. Apply by December 1.Cancellations & Refunds: Cancel at least 48 hours in advance of the first class meeting to receive a full refund. Email info@litcleveland.org.
