5 Sundays, February 26 – March 26, 2-4:30pm
$275 members/$295 non-members
Testimonials for Jay
This class is sold out. To be placed on the waiting list, please email hello@writingsalons.com.
*Writing from the Heart II is only open to students who have attended Jay Ridler’s 5-week class or 1-day intensive.
This is a class for those who are familiar with the techniques and approaches Jay uses in helping writers find the stories and themes they care about the most: “plot talks” for digging deep into emotionally powerful material, playing with point of view and setting, compressing premises to get to the heart of the story, and more.
In Writing from the Heart II, we will develop new material in class with the intent of starting a project (either a singular one like a novel or memoir, or one made of many parts like a collection of essays or stories). Classes will focus on using elements of dramatic structure from fiction with non-fiction (and vice versa), refining voice through use of language, and using conventional and unconventional structure to make the central themes of your project shine. For guidance, we will read excerpts from Richard Rhodes, Scarlett Thomas, Bruce Holland Rodger, and others.
Critiques will follow a similar structure to Writing from the Heart, with Jay’s trademark detailed feedback, but will also include discussion of technique, style, and language to help you revise your work. “In Writing from the Heart, you discover your themes and passions as a writer,” Jay says. “In Writing from the Heart II, we take those discoveries and refine them toward a sustained voice that sings throughout your writing.”
Jason S. Ridler is a writer, improv actor, and historian. He is the author of A TRIUMPH FOR SAKURA, BLOOD AND SAWDUST, the Spar Battersea thrillers and the upcoming BRIMSTONE FILES series for Nightshade Press. He’s published over sixty stories in such magazines and anthologies as The Big Click, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Out of the Gutter, and more. He also writes the column FXXK WRITING! for Flash Fiction Online. A former punk rock musician and cemetery groundskeeper, Jay holds a Ph.D. in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada. He lives in Berkeley, CA.