The Tools of the Trade: A Fiction Writer’s Guide to Writing Nonfiction with Gary Eldon Peter

In fiction, we usually think it’s all about making stuff up, while in non-fiction it’s all about the facts and just the facts. But when we think about writing non-fiction, is that really the case or are the worlds of fiction and non-fiction really all that far apart? What are effective ways we can utilize the fiction writer’s “toolbox” — creating vivid scenes and developing fully dimensional characters, for instance — in writing non-fiction? In this intensive workshop for writers of all levels, we’ll explore exactly that. We’ll also talk about what we mean by “creative non-fiction,” how to navigate the often blurry line between fiction and non-fiction, and the role that imagination can play in taking our non-fiction to the next level. Expect lots of time for discussion, writing exercises to jumpstart new ideas for non-fiction pieces, and reading suggestions that proviide effective models of non-fiction that are both truthful and fully imagined.

Class meets in person Saturday, May 9, 9 am – noon.

Class size: Minimum 5, maximum 15.

Member discount: Members of Write On receive a 10% discount on all classes and workshops. To become a member, please click here. To receive the discount, members must log in to the website using their unique password and enter member10 in the promotion code box. The code is case sensitive.

Teaching Artist: Gary Eldon Peter is the author of two works of fiction: Oranges, a linked short story collection, and the novel The Complicated Calculus (and Cows) of Carl Paulsen, winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Young Adult Fiction and named one of the best books of 2022 by National Public Radio. Oranges received the Gold Medal for LGBTQ+ fiction in the Independent Publisher Book Awards, the Midwest Book Award, and was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award and the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. His work has appeared in numerous literary journals and has been performed on the public radio program Selected Shorts. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and lives in Minneapolis.