Writing Co-Lab

In this creative writing workshop led by Dr. Erica Anzalone, we will address two common pitfalls: abstraction and cliches. Using Mary Karr’s essay Sacred Carnality as a touchstone, students will alchemize abstraction by writing through the lens of one of the five senses each week: sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste. Then, we’ll level up by making those descriptions strange, transforming clichés into fresh and striking language. By defamiliarizing the five senses, students will evoke what some call the Sixth Sense: that intuitive feeling about the mood, atmosphere, psychology, or emotion of a person or place. We’ll invoke the weird and wonderful, magical, fantastic, uncanny, surreal, and even the supernatural.

Classes will include reading and discussion, as well as writing prompts. Students will also have the opportunity to workshop one piece. They will receive feedback from their peers and Dr. Anzalone in a supportive community. Dr. Anzalone will also provide written feedback with an eye towards what’s working as a portal into further possibilities. This class is suitable for all genres and levels of writers.