The Sentence Lab

$45.00 – $90.00

The fees from ABC’s adult writing workshops subsidize our free writing programs for kids, whose work is collected in a yearly anthology, and pay our adult workshop instructors. A limited number of seats in each class are reserved for scholarships, which cover 100% of tuition-fees and are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. All are welcome, and we especially encourage BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ writers to apply.

Turn a poet’s eye to prose and explore how description, metaphor, image, variation, and other poetic tools figure in the narrator’s voice—the vehicle for telling any great story. We’ll read passages from several novels and stories and examine how the texture and architecture of the sentences builds atmosphere and keeps us engaged. Then, in sharing passages from your own work, you’ll explore your own tendencies, imitate styles you admire and see what comes from a playful approach to sentences. You will leave class with ideas about how to enliven your prose and develop your story. With readings from Lucia Berlin, Kent Haruf, Spencer Reece, Kiese Laymon, Ali Smith, Anna Burns, and George Saunders.

This class is for writers in all genres who want to expand their view of the sentence or line and to open up a piece of writing that feels stale to them. Please bring two paragraphs (200-400 words) from your story or novel that has either seen no revision or only slight revision. It should not be from a piece that you consider completely finished, because we will be playing with seeing it anew.

This Austin Bat Cave adult writing workshop is open to writers of all levels and is limited to 30 students.