Adult Enrichment / Writing & Literature - Arlington Community Education

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Writing & Literature

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About Writing & Literature

Classes are for students 18+ unless otherwise noted.

Featured Courses

Writing Fiction from Real Life
Writing & Literature

Please note: This class will take place at Arlington High School, and not Gibbs as previously published. Flannery O’Connor said that anyone who survived childhood had enough material to write for the rest of their life. While that may be true, it still takes some effort to turn those experiences into fiction. We’ll read published stories and complete in-class writing and brainstorming assignments to mine personal experience, current events, and history for new short stories or novels. You will have a chance to workshop one or two you’ve written and receive feedback from the instructor and classmates. This class is appropriate for new and experienced writers. Everyone has a story to tell—let’s find out what yours is!

Midday Writers
Writing & Literature

Craving something more from your lunch hour? Gather with us in the middle of the day for this supportive and generative writing class. Each week we’ll focus on a different writing theme or structure and use writing prompts to generate new work. Writers of all genres are welcome. Feel free to bring your lunch!

Writing the Personal Essay
Writing & Literature

Each session of this warm and welcoming class will explore the craft of personal essay writing through prompts to awaken the writing mind, readings of published essays to inspire your own work, and a longer generative session based around a topic. We’ll generate new writing, learn revision techniques, support each other’s writing, and develop and experiment with telling our personal stories. Writers at all levels of practice are welcome.

Demystifying the Book Publishing Process
Writing & Literature

Do you have a manuscript or book idea but don’t know what comes next? Two authors who have published everything from self help books and children’s books, to academic and professional books, will walk you through the steps you need to take your book from idea to print. Publishing a book can be a deeply personal experience, or the best professional business card you can imagine to boost your career. Take this next step on your writing journey.

Reading Novels for Greater Pleasure
Writing & Literature

Gain a deeper understanding of the novelist’s art as we read The Spare Room by the Australian writer Helen Garner, a taut unforgettable story of female friendship under pressure by “the greatest novelist you’ve never heard of,” according to NPR. Darkly funny, sad, and alive, it’s a dazzling novel to be reread and given to close friends. We’ll consider Garner’s use of character, plot, narrative structure, dialogue, and point of view—increasing our reading pleasure as our awareness of these elements grows. Class note: Please read the first two chapters and bring the Picador paperback with the vase of flowers on the cover to our first class.

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