Writers cannot decide what to do with grief. It has wrongly been called too sentimental or too cold. Too traumatic or too unoriginal. But regardless of the current writerly opinion about it, grief is going nowhere. So how do we write about it? How do we write with it? This generative class will help writers investigate how writing with/from grief or sorrow can be a catalyst for creative discovery that honors both the writer’s experience and bolsters the quality of what appears on the page. Learning how to write about grief with curiosity is for the writer who wants to make unexpected, illuminating, and gratifying narratives despite (or because of) the gravity of the subject matter.

Students will finish this four-week course with new work from instructor-provided creative prompts, take part in excerpt-driven class discussions, and leave with a handful of new techniques for how to approach and articulate grief from a more considered, care-filled point of view.