In Person, Live-streamed, and Recorded
A generative workshop on physical writing. Humans may feel out of control of our bodies sometimes. In healthcare, we may feel doctors tell us to take medicine we don’t want to take or have surgeries we don’t feel we need. In life, we face aging, illnesses, injuries, assault, trauma, pregnancy, abortion, joy, chronic pain, deep belly laughter. Our bodies tell stories about our lives, and they allow other people to tell stories about us. People often make judgements about us by the things our bodies have been through. They have sometimes controlled our narratives by causing us pain. By diving deeply into the scars, traumas, joys, and pain of our physical bodies, we can take back the power from people who have told their own stories about our bodies. For fiction writers, writing the body brings a physicality to our writing—that visceral experience readers get when they can feel the characters. This generative workshop will guide participants through embracing one’s own body through writing by discussing physicality, the visceral reaction a reader can have to sensory imagery, and guided discussions about body-centered short fiction and poetry.
