| “Anxiety is the handmaiden of creativity,” wrote T.S. Eliot. To help make productive use of our self-isolation and social distancing, Lit Cleveland will be offering free writing challenges each week via our newsletter. |
| Writing Challenge 1 CREATE YOUR OWN CORONAVIRUS SUPERHERO Write Episode 1, Volume 1 of a new series featuring a new superhero with a superpower that is perfectly suited to help out during the coronavirus crisis. Give us the backstory of this amazing hero(ine), share a pulse-pounding adventure, end with a cliff-hanger that will be resolved in Episode 2. (Drawings and superhero logos are optional.) Please share your superhero with us, if you have the chance. We’d like to share it! |
| Writing Challenge 2 Write a creative response to the following prompt in 500 words or less and send it to us at info@litcleveland.org by the following Monday. We’ll pick our favorite submission(s) to publish online on our website. All genres welcome. WE, TOGETHER This week we are changing things up. Rather than using a prompt to write our own pieces separately, we are going to write a single piece together in a kind of crowdsourced lyric story of the pandemic. And the shared story will be in the collective voice: the first person plural (we). Stories and poems in the collective voice have tremendous power and responsibility. They are inherently about group dynamics—who is in the group and who is out, how the group sees itself and how it views others, what behavior is accepted and what is forbidden. Take a look at the opening of “The Invasion From Outer Space” by Steven Millhauser: “From the beginning we were prepared, we knew just what to do, for hadn’t we seen it all a hundred times?—the good people of the town going about their business, the suddenly interrupted TV programs, the faces in the crowd looking up, the little girl pointing in the air, the mouths opening, the dog yapping, the traffic stopped, the shopping bag falling to the sidewalk, and there, in the sky, coming closer…” The “we” perspective is meant to capture some kind of cultural norm—in this case, cliches about alien invasions and the strange, subconscious desire for the spectacle of destruction. This is an evocation of so-called “mainstream” culture that feels eerily prescient, given our current crisis. More interesting, however, is when writers at the margins take the center to speak together in the collective and give voice to the silenced. You can see this in stories like “You Won’t Believe What Really Happened to the Sabine Women” by Amber Sparks, which gives voice the Sabine Women of Roman mythology who were kidnapped and raped: “We are growing jaded, sadder. We can only speak in whispers now. But we still remember what we have the power to do; we still remember what our whispers can warn of, if we aim them at the right ears. Our choice is coming to a head: finally unleash our vengeance, or forget we were ever here.” Sparks uses the first person plural to let these women speak for themselves for the first time in history, and in doing so they find their power. In this way, language is the vehicle for progress and justice. In a rare global moment when we are all alone together, the collective voice could allow us to speak as one to examine the world before, life now, what life can become on the other side. Let us join our voices and speak as one. Now you try: Write one paragraph in the first person plural (“we”) about how we as a city are dealing with the pandemic. Try not to generalize, and consider very carefully who the “we” of your writing includes. Max 200 words. To be considered for this collective story, please email your paragraph to info@litcleveland.org by noon on Monday, April 20. We will then edit together all of the submissions into a single story. Pro tips: You can write about how we lived before the crisis (“we drank outrageously expensive cocktails in crowded, low-lit bars and touched each other’s faces across the table”) or how we live now during it (“we held our hands to the windows of nursing homes, our lips communicating the unspeakable to our fragile parents”). You can also write about how we could live after this is over (“we crashed like a wave into public spaces, cracked the ribs of our grandkids with I-miss-you-for-months hugs”). As always avoid abstraction. The more specific, unique, strange detail you can include the better. |
| Prompt Responses Thanks to everyone who wrote in response to last week’s writing prompt on writing “how to” stories! We published a few on our website. Check them out below! “How to be careful about what you wish for” by Amy Lynn Obuszewski“If there ever was a time to take a risk, the end of the world as we thought it, should be it…” “How to get an abortion during a pandemic” by Elaine Schleiffer“Decide what is right for yourself. No one else can know the right answer except for you….” “How to Entertain Yourself by Unnerving the Amazon Guy” by Lorain Urban“ Dig a hole—human-size—in your front bushes. Leave the shovel and a clump of your own hair next to it…” “How to Navigate a Pandemic” by Marci Rich“… Dress yourself. Or not. / Read a book. Or not. / Study the pantry shelves / like a poem filled / with mysteries / until you have arrived.” “How to Have the Small Courthouse Wedding Ceremony You Originally Wanted When You Proposed, But Instead Planned a Large Reception for Months That Eventually Was a Four Person Ceremony In Your Living Room During the Pandemic” by Jess Van Ness“ Step 10: Call parents on Thursday. Tell them the plan. Hear your mother say, “Oh, Jess,” pause and then start crying. Call your father later, he says he’s looking forward to watching it online…” “How to Stay in Shape During the Pandemic” by Steven Pryce“ Factory work isn’t my first job. I am almost fifty-years old now, and tried different things. To keep my job, I must stay in shape. The pandemic is giving me a test…” “The Gifts of Insanity” by Bob Quail“ We “Retired” the Alarm Clock weeks ago / We sleep in late—Hell there is no place to go…” “How to Survive Quarantine with Ancient Matriarchal Wisdom” by Theresa Göttl Brightman“ Assess your pantry, your secret stores. / Someone else may scoff, but your elders / whisper in your ears that a feast awaits your hands…” |
| Reading the Brain: The Fiction of Lisa Genova – TOMORROW Wednesdays April 15, 29, & May 13 10am-12pm online through Zoom Take a deep dive into three of Lisa Genova’s novels, each of which focuses on a different life-altering neurological diagnosis including Alzheimer’s, Autism, and ALS. Examine how Genova portrays these conditions to foster empathy, awareness, and social action. |
| Displacement: The Literature of Forced Migration Saturdays April 18, May 16, & June 20 1-3pm online through Zoom Contemporary authors have provided complex and empathetic depictions of forced migration journeys. Learn about the historical, social, and political conditions that produce the movement of populations by discussing these three highly-acclaimed books. |
| Shameless Self-Promotion…In Quarantine – FREE! Tuesday April 21 6:30-8:30pm online through Zoom If a writer pens something in quarantine and no one is around to read it, does it make a sound? Learn about the basics of self-marketing in this one-session workshop offered for free through the generosity of the instructor, Ken Schneck. |
| Q&A With Acclaimed Author Ann Packer – PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN! Thursday April 30 6:30-7:30pm online through Zoom Join an exclusive, online Q&A get-together with the renowned novelist Ann Packer, author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier. To make this exciting opportunity as accessible as possible, we are offering it at a pay-what-you-can rate beginning at $5. |
| Breaking Into Freelance Writing Mondays May 4-25 6:30-8:30pm online through Zoom Always wanted to try your hand at freelance writing? Suddenly find yourself “freelance by necessity” after an unfortunate layoff or job change? This class is designed to help you get your foot in the door as an emerging freelance journalist. |
| Writing For Yourself Tuesdays May 5-26 6:30-8:30pm online through Zoom Explore the art of journaling along with a variety of other writing not meant for public display. Practice writing as meditation and self-discovery, as reflection and bearing witness. Develop a habit and keep a record of your life during this difficult time. |
| First to Final Draft in 5 Weeks Wednesdays May 6-June 3 6:30-8:30pm online through Zoom In a creative lull lately? Looking for inspiration to start a story or the support to help finish one? This workshop will take you from the blank page to a polished short story draft in just five weeks. |
| Finding Your Memoir Wednesdays May 6-27 6:30-9:00pm online through Zoom This four-session course will cover the structure of book-length memoir and key features of the genre including: finding your theme or through-line; dealing with internal and external conflict; telling the truth/writing about family; and structuring a memoir. |
| Writing Out Loud Thursdays May 7-June 11 6-8pm online through Zoom This class—taught by Story Club Cleveland founder Dana Norris—will show you how to create, edit, and perform your own stories. Learn how to turn off your inner critic and turn up your creative juices. The class will conclude with an online show where students will join the storytelling community in full. |
| Keep Moving: 5 Essays in 6 Weeks Tuesdays May 19-June 23 6:30-8:30pm online through Zoom Join acclaimed local writer Eliese Colette Goldbach, author of Rust: A Memoir of Steel and Grit, to explore a variety of nonfiction formats with the ultimate goal of generating five very distinct essays in a six-week period. |
| Exploring Other Voices |
| Now might be a great time to expand your universe of words and explore some different kinds of creative works. In addition to being entertaining, these suggested forays into words can trigger your own creations. So here are links to some recent articles, mostly from the New York Times, that may help you out during our coronavirus time-out: – A Podcast Playlist to Help Distract You (for the Most Part) – 9 Shows for Social Distancing – Need a Laugh? Need a Lot? Try these 15 Binge-Worthy Sitcoms – Fiction Podcasts to Get Lost In – Short Attention Span? All These Movies Are Under 90 Minutes – Welcome to the Golden Era of Livestreaming Have fun and keep writing! |
