My story, “The Dependents,” is about a couple in a rural Kansas town who tries to help their neighbors and botches it. The story is about race and immigration and personal tragedy, and I got to talk about it in a Facebook live session sponsored by The New Territory, where it was published. In the video, I discuss the craft behind “The Dependents,” including how I chose the POV and the drafting process.
Tag Archives: michael noll
The Read to Write Craft Seminar
8 Sep
Join Michael Noll for the Read to Write Craft Seminar: Sept. 21, 2-6 p.m. at The Writing Barn in South Austin. Priced at a sliding scale of $85-150. Choose the price that fits your budget. To register, click here.
Do these writing problems sound familiar?
- You start a story but quit after three pages. Or quit a novel after 70 pages.
- Your characters never seem to find themselves in a conflict. They seem flat, no matter how much you write about them.
- Your dialogue goes nowhere. Your characters all sound the same and agree agree with each other too much.
- Your stories or chapters all begin in the morning, with the character waking up. Your narratives are chained to the minute-by-minute progression of time.
Even great writers work at these challenges every day–the difference is that have learned strategies to deal with them. In this class, you can find out how they do it. We’ll look at excerpts from stories and novels from four different writers, with an eye toward discovering how they solve these problems.
The class is on Saturday, September 21, from 2-6 pm at the idyllic Writing Barn in South Austin.
To read a recap of a previous class, click here.
I hope you can join us for this practical, fun class.
Click here to sign up for the Read to Write Craft Seminar. Priced at a sliding scale of $85-150. Choose the price that fits your budget. Or for more information, email Michael Noll at michaelnoll1@gmail.com.
What We’ll Cover in The Read Well, Write Better Workshop
25 MayJoin Michael Noll for the Read Well, Write Better Workshop: June 1, 2-6 p.m. at The Writing Barn in South Austin. Priced at a sliding scale of $85-150. Choose the price that fits your budget. To register, click here.
Here are 5 topics we’ll cover in the Read Well, Write Better Workshop on June 1:
How to Create a Unique Narrative Voice
How to Write Dialogue as a Duel
How to Write Dialogue as the Voice of a Community
Two Ways to Create Suspense with Setting
Three Ways to Move Through Time within a Scene
And here are 9 writers we’ll be learning from:
Aravind Adiga
Ron Carlson
Raymond Chandler
Don Delillo
Anne Enright
Dagoberto Gilb
Yiyun Li
Alice Munro
Francine Prose
Plus, everyone who registers for the class will bring a one-page excerpt from a story or novel that they love. As a class, we’ll create an exercise based on the excerpt.
A Craft Workshop with Personalized Writing Exercises
23 May
To discover a writing exercise based on one of my favorite passage from The Great Gatsby, check out my guest post at The Writing Barn’s website.
It’s just nine days until The Read Well, Write Better Workshop. Here’s a sneak peak of one of the most popular exercises from past classes:
Bring one page from your favorite short story or novel—or from whatever story or novel you’re reading and loving right now. We’ll read the page together and find a craft strategy used by the author. Then, we’ll practice using the strategy in our own writing.
Because everyone brings a page from their favorite work, we’re able to generate an entire list of great new books/stories to read and a list of strategies to try out.
That’s a writing exercise personalized to your reading and writing and designed to get your excited to work.
Register for the class now by clicking here. For more information, send me an email at michaelnoll1@gmail.com. Or write me on Facebook.
One of Poets & Writers’ “Best Books for Writers”
Read Michael's story "Foreign Exchange" in the latest issue of Crazyhorse.
Want to read Michael's fiction? Find it in The Best American Mystery Stories 2016.
Read to Write Stories 