Engines of Narrative
The Engines of Narrative is a 3-month / 10 week online prose symposium and workshop led by Elizabeth Gaffney, meeting for a 2.5-hour session, plus regular drop-in/office hour sessions. The Engine of Narrative creates a supportive yet challenging community and an ongoing conversation for the purpose of helping each writer finish or revise a manuscript. The class is capped at 8 writers.
Starting in June, I will be offering two sections:
The course is a hybrid of a traditional workshop and a symposium on writing, offering generative writing prompts and advice, regular feedback on work-in-progress, and lots of big picture guidance on manuscripts and publishing from novelist, A Public Space Editor-at-Large and 24-Hour Room Founder Elizabeth Gaffney. Each writer will have weekly opportunities to read aloud and monthly opportunities to share written work.
The class is designed to work for most prose writers, whether they are working on short fiction, memoir, narrative nonfiction or a novel. We do not read entire manuscripts in this workshop (see Elizabeth's Novel Workshop, offered through A Public Space, for that) but instead strive to help the writer get from ideas, pages and fragments to finished manuscript, or to take a draft or partial draft to the next level.
The class meets for 10 sessions, 3 or 4 weeks per month with a couple break weeks scheduled in, from February to April, June to August, and September-December, for a total of 4 hours a week, 2.5 hours of workshop plus 1.5 hours of optional drop-in office hours (see below for exact dates).
Workshop sessions include generative writing prompts, editing strategies, conversations about common texts, and the discussion of course members’ work. Each writer is invited to submit 20-25 pages of work a month (up to 18,000 words total). Writers may also read aloud from new or revised work in the weekly drop-in sessions sessions.
It runs 3 times a year and can be repeated.
Writers in The Engine of Narrative are also encouraged to participate in The 24-Hour Room community, its virtual 24/7 writing studio and its events, including open mic nights and our Flow Reading Marathons, communal reading aloud of seminal texts every weekday morning in the Studio .
If you’re seeking a supportive, nurturing yet artistically challenging community to help you achieve your literary goals, this class is for you.
Small-Group Intensive Add-OnWriters in the class can also apply for an optional small-group intensive read of their entire manuscript, following the Engines of Narrative session or in subsequent seasons. The group will be no larger than three writers. Small group manuscript critiques will take place in September and January and are limited to Engines of Narrative and APS Novel Workshop alumni. Please inquire about availability if you are interested!
DATES & TIMESThe central workshop takes place over Zoom on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-9:00 pm ET. There are also 1.5 hours of weekly Office Hours.
Winter-Spring '23: 10 Wednesdays, Feb 1-April 19 (no meetings weeks of 3/8 and 4/5)
FAQ
How Much Work Can I Submit? Up to 15,000 words.
Can You Read My Whole Book? Not in the Engines of Narrative, but Alumni of the Engines of Narrative seminar (or Elizabeth's APS Novel Workshop) can also sign up for the smaller Manuscript Critique Group, which meets in the off months of the Engines of Narrative class. Inquire further with Elizabeth at librarian@the24hourroom.org. I also teach The Novel Workshop, where we read full manuscripts, at A Public Space, twice a year, in the Fall and Winter-Spring.
Will the Other Writers Read My Work?Yes, all writers will read each others monthly submissions, and we will discuss them, a few a week.
RATES 1 session: $11002 sessions: $20003 sessions / annual: $2800Manuscript Critique Group: $1500(limited to two or three writers who have previously taken EoN or the APS Novel Workshop per 3-week session; 100,000 word limit, or inquire for longer books)
To inquire further, email librarian@the24hourroom.org
EG is the prizewinning author of Metropolis, When the World Was Young and many stories, the translator of four books from German and the editor at large of APS. She is also a former Managing Editor of the Paris Review and teaches fiction at NYU and Queens University of Charlotte. Students in her long-running APS Novel Workshop have recently sold their books, won publication prizes, published stories in magazines and received arts grants for their writing.
Starting in June, I will be offering two sections:
- Longer Manuscript edition / more critiques (up to 75 pp reading per week)
- Generative edition / writing prompts, reading aloud and Much Less Prep
The course is a hybrid of a traditional workshop and a symposium on writing, offering generative writing prompts and advice, regular feedback on work-in-progress, and lots of big picture guidance on manuscripts and publishing from novelist, A Public Space Editor-at-Large and 24-Hour Room Founder Elizabeth Gaffney. Each writer will have weekly opportunities to read aloud and monthly opportunities to share written work.
The class is designed to work for most prose writers, whether they are working on short fiction, memoir, narrative nonfiction or a novel. We do not read entire manuscripts in this workshop (see Elizabeth's Novel Workshop, offered through A Public Space, for that) but instead strive to help the writer get from ideas, pages and fragments to finished manuscript, or to take a draft or partial draft to the next level.
The class meets for 10 sessions, 3 or 4 weeks per month with a couple break weeks scheduled in, from February to April, June to August, and September-December, for a total of 4 hours a week, 2.5 hours of workshop plus 1.5 hours of optional drop-in office hours (see below for exact dates).
Workshop sessions include generative writing prompts, editing strategies, conversations about common texts, and the discussion of course members’ work. Each writer is invited to submit 20-25 pages of work a month (up to 18,000 words total). Writers may also read aloud from new or revised work in the weekly drop-in sessions sessions.
It runs 3 times a year and can be repeated.
Writers in The Engine of Narrative are also encouraged to participate in The 24-Hour Room community, its virtual 24/7 writing studio and its events, including open mic nights and our Flow Reading Marathons, communal reading aloud of seminal texts every weekday morning in the Studio .
If you’re seeking a supportive, nurturing yet artistically challenging community to help you achieve your literary goals, this class is for you.
Small-Group Intensive Add-OnWriters in the class can also apply for an optional small-group intensive read of their entire manuscript, following the Engines of Narrative session or in subsequent seasons. The group will be no larger than three writers. Small group manuscript critiques will take place in September and January and are limited to Engines of Narrative and APS Novel Workshop alumni. Please inquire about availability if you are interested!
DATES & TIMESThe central workshop takes place over Zoom on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-9:00 pm ET. There are also 1.5 hours of weekly Office Hours.
Winter-Spring '23: 10 Wednesdays, Feb 1-April 19 (no meetings weeks of 3/8 and 4/5)
FAQ
How Much Work Can I Submit? Up to 15,000 words.
Can You Read My Whole Book? Not in the Engines of Narrative, but Alumni of the Engines of Narrative seminar (or Elizabeth's APS Novel Workshop) can also sign up for the smaller Manuscript Critique Group, which meets in the off months of the Engines of Narrative class. Inquire further with Elizabeth at librarian@the24hourroom.org. I also teach The Novel Workshop, where we read full manuscripts, at A Public Space, twice a year, in the Fall and Winter-Spring.
Will the Other Writers Read My Work?Yes, all writers will read each others monthly submissions, and we will discuss them, a few a week.
RATES 1 session: $11002 sessions: $20003 sessions / annual: $2800Manuscript Critique Group: $1500(limited to two or three writers who have previously taken EoN or the APS Novel Workshop per 3-week session; 100,000 word limit, or inquire for longer books)
To inquire further, email librarian@the24hourroom.org
You can fill out the linked form if you are interested, and I'll get back to you with more info. If you are ready to enroll, you can pay with your credit card using Square. Email librarian@the24hourroom.org if you prefer to pay by check or Zelle.
EG is the prizewinning author of Metropolis, When the World Was Young and many stories, the translator of four books from German and the editor at large of APS. She is also a former Managing Editor of the Paris Review and teaches fiction at NYU and Queens University of Charlotte. Students in her long-running APS Novel Workshop have recently sold their books, won publication prizes, published stories in magazines and received arts grants for their writing.