How can we use art to open new avenues in our writing?

How Photography Can Spark Creativity in Your Writing explores the myriad of ways in which photography can inspire and influence your writing practice. Exercises in figuration, analyzing, and scene-based writing will give students tools to use existing photographs to enhance their creativity and write with specificity and intention, whether fiction or nonfiction. We'll discuss techniques used by writers such as Teju Cole, Celeste Ng, and Namwali Serpell. 

This class will feature a mini-lecture, group discussion, writing exercises, and conclude with a sharing and feedback session (as always, sharing is optional). At the end of the seminar, you will have generated or developed ideas for your first draft.

Open to all prose writers (fiction, nonfiction, hybrid).

All class meetings will be held via Zoom. The link to join your Zoom classroom will be provided on the morning of your class. Please check spam folders if you do not receive an email confirmation upon registration. For more information on how to download or use Zoom, please click here.

Meet Your Instructor:
Taylor Michael

Taylor Michael is a staff reporter at Hyperallergic and associate editor at A Public Space. She has writing in All Arts, Artsy, Publishers Weekly, Full Stop, Hyperallergic, and ArtsWestchester. She received an MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts and was the inaugural A Public Space Editorial Fellow.

Course Takeaways

• Students will learn to use descriptive language, learn research skills to inform creative writing, and how to source inspiration from visual media
• Skills we will review include: research methods, analyzing primary source materials, and world-building

Course Expectations

• Students will be given five short articles to read before class. Students wanting to work with family photographs or who have photographs they already want to work with are also welcome to bring those. However, photographs will be supplied for writing prompts for those who do not already have projects in mind.
• There will be a feedback and sharing portion at the end to wrap up our time together.
• Have an open mind
• Ask questions

We offer full refunds for cancellation with written notice up until 7 days before your class start date. From 6 days to more than 24 hours before class begins, we offer a 25% refund. If you drop a class less than 24 hours before the class begins or after it has started, you are ineligible for a refund.