SURPRISE FARM RETREAT CENTER
"Root Words" Writing Workshop
Tuesdays, May 6 - 20, 5:30 - 7:30 PM
Join our weekly workshop for inspiration and tools to hone your craft. For the first 30 minutes of class, we will experience presence in nature -- exploring a different part of the retreat center each week and taking notes on what sights, sounds, smells, and feelings we experience. For the next 30 minutes, we will read excerpts from impactful pieces of literature and analyze what makes them powerful. Finally, we will work on our own original pieces using inspiration and lessons from earlier in the day.
Throughout the course, writers will learn how to use characterization, setting, dialogue, pacing, description, and plot structure to strengthen their craft. All people, genres, and levels of experience are welcome.
After the workshop, participants may choose to chat and read aloud from their stories around the fire pit. Feel free to bring food or beverages for a potluck, or an instrument if you'd like to play.
Want to stay the night under the stars? Book a glamping yurt or kodiak tent!
Your Teacher
Kate Kesner is a recent graduate of Emerson College's Master of Fine Arts in Popular Fiction & Publishing. Her debut novel manuscript, about "companion" robots who become sentient and fight against the corporation that created them, has been accepted by Emerson College's Writing and Publishing masters program for developmental edits.
Kate teaches monthly speculative fiction prompt workshops at San Diego Writers, Ink and facilitates writing classes at Centinela State Prison. She has worked at environmental nonprofits and currently volunteers with Sunrise San Diego, an environmental justice organization.
Above all, Kate wants her students to feel empowered in their craft and find fun and catharsis on the page.
