NATURE WRITING CLASS IN THE NORTH CASCADES
A SENSE OF PLACE - WRITING ABOUT THE OUTDOORS
The jagged summits of the North Cascades. The black sand beaches of Hawaii. The sun-baked sandstone of the American Southwest. How can writers conjure a sense of particular places in their work? This workshop will teach you how to recreate the world on the page through use of concrete language, vivid imagery, dramatic scene and point of view. We'll read travel and nature writing from Paul Theroux, Edward Abbey, Brenda Peterson and others and discuss how these authors manage to capture a sense of place in their work. Through writing exercises and discussion, we will complete a short story of our own evoking a strong sense of place. The Learning Center staff of chefs, naturalists and graduate students will support us and make us feel at home all weekend as we exercise our powers of creativity. Writing beneath the towering spires of Pyramid and Colonial peaks, we'll find out how awesome settings can inspire awesome prose. Instructor: Nicholas O'Connell. August 23 -25 (Monday to Wednesday) at North Cascades Learning Center. T$275, D $355, S $515. For more: http://www.ncascades.org/programs/seminars/course.html?workshop_id=1019.
ONLINE NATURE WRITING CLASSES
Nature writing is one of the most appealing genres of nonfiction, providing an opportunity to reconnect with the natural world. Learn techniques such as concrete detail, dramatic scene, characterization, point of view, and a dash of humor to vividly describe your experiences of wild nature. This online nature and adventure writing class provides an extensive introduction to the art and craft of the genre. Taught by award-winning nature writer Nick O’Connell, this course will offer an opportunity to learn the secrets of writing nature narratives, including shaping story ideas, keeping a nature journal, structuring stories and essays, and where to send them for publication. Through readings, written assignments and individual critiques, students will gain a practical grasp of dramatic scene, dialogue, character sketches and scene by scene construction in nature writing. Text: Writing about Nature by John Murray. The six assignments include a story idea, a character sketch, a dramatic scene, a 1,500- to 2,500-word story and its revision, and a cover letter. $500. Instructor: Nicholas O’Connell.
Nicholas O’Connell, M.F.A, Ph.D., is the author of On Sacred Ground: The Spirit of Place in Pacific Northwest Literature (U.W. Press, 2003), At the Field’s End: Interviews with 22 Pacific Northwest Writers (U.W. Press, 1998, winner of Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award), Contemporary Ecofiction (Charles Scribner’s, 1996) and Beyond Risk: Conversations with Climbers (Mountaineers, 1993). He contributes to Go, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, Condé Nast Traveler, Sierra, Hooked on the Outdoors and many other places.
NATURE WRITING
RECOMMENDED READING
The Complete Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1841)
Moby Dick by Herman Melville (1851)
Walden by Henry David Thoreau (1862)
O Pioneers by Willa Cather (1913)
Essays by John Muir (1915)
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold (1949)
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962)
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey (1968)
A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean (1976)
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard (1978)
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (1981)
Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez (1986)
The Stars, the Snow, the Fire by John Haines (1989)
Practice of the Wild by Gary Snyder (1990)
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams (1994)
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (1997)
