Online Writing In A Pandemic

How do you write during a global pandemic? One way: Turn to earlier writers for help. While the coronavirus may be new, pandemics aren’t. From past pandemics both real and imagined, there’s a wealth of good writing you can use as a model for your own work.

This six-week online writing workshop follows The Writers Studio’s approach to teaching creative writing by offering exercises based on the personas used in works by published writers. For this workshop, the exercise models will include:

• “The Masque of the Red Death,” by Edgar Allen Poe
• “To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life,” by Hervé Guibert
• “Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague,” by Geraldine Brooks
• “Blindness,” by José Saramago

Each week, you’ll write a short exercise and receive a personal written critique from the teacher. You’ll get feedback from your fellow classmates, and you’ll critique their writing too. During the workshop’s final week, you’ll pick one of your favorite exercises to revise under the teacher’s direction. All materials needed for your exercises will be provided by the teacher.

This workshop is open to writers of poetry, fiction and memoir. All current and former Writers Studio students are welcome. So are newcomers to the school. As part of this workshop, you’ll also have the option of joining a weekly one-hour live video chat, conducted using the school’s Google Meet account. This workshop will be led by Peter Krass, a teacher at The Writers Studio since 2008, and a former member of the school’s Master Class. Peter is also the poetry co-editor of an anthology, “The Writers Studio at 30.”