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Places & Spaces: Making settings come to life
$385
How do you describe the Oregon coast, a garden full of dahlias, or the vibe of your favorite coffee shop? How do you write about a crowd of people? A fictional fishing village? A cold office? Or break down the symbolism of your protagonist’s kitchen junk drawer? The course will help writers currently working in fiction or nonfiction to write about setting as a meaningful character instead of simply a container. Whether you’re working on a memoir, a novel, long-form journalism, or a collection of personal essays, this 8-week course will help you create a stronger sense of place and describe settings in surprising and relatable ways. In a supportive, workshop-style environment, this course will help participants become more attuned readers and writers. Each week, we’ll write from a variety of prompts and activities designed to keep participants thinking, writing, and relating. We’ll look at examples of setting/sense of place and dig into what works and what doesn’t. This class is designed for writers of all levels.
Course Takeaways
What you’ll discover:
- How to approach setting as character
- How to avoid cliché (so prevalent in describing places!)
- How to transport readers so they feel there
- How to write less and show more
- How to critique in a workshop environment
Access Program
We want our writing classes and Delves to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class and Delve tuitions at a reduced rate. Most writing classes have at least one access spot available.
Please apply here for access rate tuition. Contact Susan Moore at susan@literary-arts.org if you have questions.
Liaison position
Every in-person class and seminar at Literary Arts has one liaison position. Liaisons perform specific duties for each class meeting. If you are a liaison for a class or seminar, the full amount of your tuition is covered by Literary Arts.
Apply here for the liaison position.
Deb Miller Landau
Deb Miller Landau is a genre-bending writer who has forged a career as a journalist, memoirist, creative writer and marketing leader. She is the author of the forthcoming true crime novel, A Devil Went Down to Georgia (8/6/24, Pegasus), more than a dozen Lonely Planet travel guides and articles covering everything from spawning salmon and fast fashion, to robots, wind turbines and the power of AI. She has taught magazine writing at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism & Communication and, in 2023, won an Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship for her in-progress memoir.
