Hosted by McCormack Writing Center via Zoom. Sign up here!

What happens when a story refuses to stay linear? Sometimes that story needs to be told slant—or squiggly, or sparsely, or outside the margins entirely. In this generative craft intensive, we’ll explore hybrid and lyric forms that blur the line between poetry and prose, image and text, memory and imagination. We’ll look at writers who try to define the undefinable, and who follow the threads of their truths outside chronology by looking to fragments, letters, and lists.

We’ll read work that resists neat classification but may be referred to as hermit crabs, braids, essayettes, hermit crabs, and/or epistolary by writers such as Chet’la Sebree, Traci Brimhall, Chelsea Biondolillo, Randon Billings Noble, Ross Gay, Elissa Washuta, Carmen Maria Machado, and Anna Joy Springer, among others.

Through short writing bursts, close readings, and playful experimentation, you’ll be invited to try on new forms—or invent your own. This intensive is a rich springboard for writers feeling stuck or simply seeking fresh inspiration and new ways of seeing. While we won’t be able to cover every possibility, you’ll walk away with a robust reading list and plenty of generative starts to fuel future experiments. The class is designed for those new to hybrid writing, but all genres and experience levels are welcome.. Come ready to write, explore, and delight in the expansive possibilities of form. A full reading list with PDFs will be emailed in advance.

OUTCOMES:
– Students will walk away with a deeper understanding of lyric and hybrid definitions
– Students will experiment and play with short writing prompt bursts with opportunities to share
– Students will read, analyze, and discuss model texts together
– Students will learn foundational experimental craft forms to incorporate into future writing projects

Scholarship
We have one scholarship available for this intensive. Scholarships are awarded via a random lottery drawn at least a week before the intensive. Please submit your name here to enter.