Spring 2010 Classes
I. Micro Fiction
Tuesdays 6:30-8:30
May 4-25, 2010 @ The LIT
2570 Superior Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44120
Cost: $125 for Members; $160 for Nonmembers
Imagine telling stories in 1000 words or less. The micro fiction, a brief story that relies on quirky characters, evocative settings, clever dialog, plots with twists and surprises, and conclude with reversals or open endings, are fun to write and fulfill the desires of editors looking for one or two page fictions for their paper journals or for screen scrolling on electronic journals. Great for beginning fiction writers, poets seeking genre cross-over, or novelists, memoirists, or creative non-fiction writers who want to practice the short game. Week one will be an introduction to the genre with examples and a warm up writing exercise; weeks two through four will be devoted to work-shopping.
Robert Miltner writes poems, prose, prose poetry, micro fictions, flash fiction, and is currently working on a novel. He teaches at Kent State University and in the Northeast Ohio MFA creative writing program.
II. The Art of Story: Fiction & Nonfiction
Dates: TBD in May & June
6:30-9:00pm @ Gypsy Bean in Historic Gordon Square
6425 Detroit Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44102
Cost: $185 for Members; $225 for Nonmembers
Using Scott Lax’s FTS Writing Method, students are encouraged and coached to Find their story; to Translate the story into written words; and finally to Shape their story into a potentially publishable work of nonfiction or fiction. An important aspect of this workshop is that Scott helps students think like writers. In the course of the workshop, Scott will cover dialogue, plot, creating believable characters, setting, narrative flow, self-editing and the various aspects of writing that are common to both effective fiction and literary nonfiction.
Scott Lax was born in Cleveland Ohio and is a fiction and nonfiction writer, as well as playwright. After graduating from Hiram College, he spent 15 years as a salesman and drummer. The Denver Post called his first novel, The Year That Trembled, one of 998’s “milestones in fiction.” Lax produced it as an award-winning and feature film and adapted it as a produced stage play. The recipient of numerous awards from the Ohio Professional Writers and Cleveland Press Club, Lax is a Bread Loaf Writers Conference Nonfiction Scholar and a Sewanee Writers’ Conference Fiction Fellow. He founded the Chagrin Valley Writers’ Workshop, where he teaches.
III. Essay to Memoir: Writing Creative Nonfiction
Dates: Saturdays, May 1 – June 26, 2010
10am - 1pm @ Trinity Commons
2230 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44114
Cost: $225 for Members; $275 for Nonmembers
Non-fiction has become the cutting-edge genre for creative writers in recent decades, in part, because it accepts the hard-reality obsessions of a scientific age and, in part, because it imposes the sort of discipline on content that poetry, drama, and the short story impose on form. To tell the truth and not tell it slant is very hard, taxing the possible, but it is also the ambition that makes such writing so beguiling both for readers and writers. We will read some stunning work chosen to set our standards high. Mostly we will work with each other on non-fiction essays, personal essays, and memoirs to make them as engaging to read as they are difficult to write.
Neal Chandler is retired from the Creative Writing Program (and NorthEast Ohio MFA) at Cleveland State University where he administrated the program and taught Creative Nonfiction. Currently, he is himself at work on (last count) three non-fiction projects.
Ongoing Workshops for The LIT
I. Public Fiction Workshop
Third Thursday of Every Month
6:30-9:00pm @ Trinity Commons
2230 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44114
Cost: Suggested Donation of
$5/session with current LIT Membership ($35/year)
Ongoing Signup and Registration Available
In these two-and-a-half hour monthly workshops, time is divided between becoming familiar with the tools of fiction writing and discussing your work (stories, partial novels, novellas, or exercises) in a workshop format. Each session will be organized around a particular element of craft: description and detail, characterization, scene building, etc – with assigned readings, class discussion, writing exercises, and prompts tailored to each element. Throughout the course, we’ll build on what we are learning, pushing exercises into scenes, scenes into full-lenght stories and chapters, and then discussing these pieces as a group. Participants can hope to leave the experience with an increased appreciation for and knowledge about what it means to write fiction.
Paula McLain has published two collections of poetry, a memoir about growing up in foster care (Like Family: Growing Up in Other People’s Houses, 2003) and the novel Ticket to Ride, published by Ecco/HarperCollins. A second novel, which fictionalizes a portion of Ernest Hemingway’s life will be published by Ballantine in 2011.
Public Fiction @ The LIT is presented with the generous support of Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. 
II. Public Poetry Workshop
Third Friday of Every Month
7-9pm @ Mac’s Backs
1820 Coventry Road
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118
Cost: Suggested Donation of
$5/session with current LIT Membership ($35/year)
Ongoing Signup and Registration Available
For over thirty-five years, The LIT Public Poetry Workshop has offered Cleveland-area poets the
monthly opportunity to bring in a poem and receive useful suggestions for its improvement and to
offer the same kind of help to peers in writing. We attract a diverse group of serious, friendly
poets, ranging from teenagers and young adults to poets with decades of experience. Come
once or come every month: All are welcome!
Robert E. McDonough, one of the LIT”s founders, has been named one of the forty impor-
tant Cleveland poets since the Second World War in Cleveland Poetry Scenes. His poems have
appeared in his book, No Other World (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 1988), his
chapbook, Greatest Hits (Pudding House, 2009), and numerous anthologies and little
magazines.