The Muse & the Marketplace 2016

What's your writing style and how do you improve it? What makes Michael Ondaatje or George Saunders or Barry Hannah a Stylist? Using examples from fiction and non-fiction, Matthew Salesses will show you how (and when and why) to add music to your sentences. You'll do this in part through micro-editing, choosing the right verbs, using common words in new ways, cutting out unnecessary words and phrases, adding precision and specificity, and looking at how word order can transform a sentence. We'll also borrow poetic techniques, paying attention to the rhythm and cadence of a sentence, to meter and stressed syllables, and to the persona, or attitude, of the narrator. You'll leave with a cheat sheet of handy techniques. Time permitting, we'll do a quick exercise to try out some of what we've learned.