MFA for All - Kevin Wilson - The Houdini Method: Embracing Constraint

Magic is often predicated first on acknowledging the constraints. Without all the chains, the upside-down suspension, the sharks circling the magician, how impressive is the escape?
Our writing process is inevitably a mix of applying methods that you've learned from people you admire and trust and simply inventing ways to work with the limitations of your own brain and body and temperament. For me, I've always loved and embraced constraint as a way to tap into my brain's desire to never let anything ruin me, to meet obstructions with weird tricks in order to make what I want to make. In this class, we'll think about both short fiction and novels—as well as the generative and revision stages of writing—assessing our own perceived constraints, and then ADD more constraints to in order to turn impediments into the material that will fashion our own escape.

Tuesday, December 2 & December 16. 
7 p.m. to 9 p.m. EST / 6 p.m. to 8 p.m CST