The Essential Art: Making Movies in Your Reader's Mind

(EGL 170 W)

Fiction and nonfiction are at their best when the sense of reading falls away, when we find ourselves immersed in the book’s action, as if we were watching a movie, our heart tied to the narrator’s struggle, swooning with vertigo from the top of a tall building or wincing from a cutting remark. Such writing seems effortless, but is in fact a learnable—and essential— skill. Such will be our focus: to find the balance of description, imagery, and exciting prose that not only pulls in readers, but also forces them to co-create the story, interacting and engaging with the text.

As we develop these skills, we will also spend a few weeks focusing on the publishing landscape and the business side of getting published. Using a few simple tools and easy-to-follow steps (including how to create a recording of yourself reading your work), students will work on growing their online author presence and attracting readers.

For more information about The Online Writer's Studio, please visit our FAQs.

Seth Harwood, Lecturer in Continuing Studies

Seth Harwood received an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He has taught creative writing at the University of Iowa, UMass Boston, and the City College of San Francisco, and his fiction has appeared in more than a dozen literary and crime/noir journals. His first novel, Jack Wakes Up, which he first serialized as a free audiobook, was published by Three Rivers Press (Random House) and reached #1 in Crime/Mystery and #45 overall in books on Amazon.com on the first day of its print release.