Beginning to advanced writers welcome.
Do you have plenty to say but don’t seem to know where to begin? Do you love music and singing but don’t feel musically inclined? Do you love poetry, theater or any performing arts?
Then you might just fall in love with the art of the Spoken Word.
The medium of poetry thrives on vivid imagery and description. But not just visual imagery, any “image” or description that activates any of the five senses, taste, smell, touch, or sound as well.
Spoken word is similar to poetry, but the primary sense we tap into here is auditory, the sense of hearing. Spoken word is lyrical, a song without music, a speech without formality or a poem without a page.
In this workshop you will discover the rhythms that want to create themselves as you unlock your stream of consciousness and create a spoken word piece in real time that comes directly from your heart. You will learn how to craft a piece that is meaningful to you, dripping with wisdom, or mystery, or humor, and how to punctuate or highlight that meaning through the use of skillful rhyme, strategic metaphor and unexpected repetition. We will examine a few famous spoken word pieces in detail and then we will spend time writing and workshopping our own spoken word masterpieces.Creative Writing (& more): Imagination Practice
Beginner to advanced artists of any medium welcome.
Like any muscle, your imagination gets stronger with use and weaker when neglected. Using specially designed tools to unlock the power of your creativity we will journey deep into the realm of your subconscious mind, strengthen the parts of your brain in charge of imagination and practice exercises and tools the help artists that work in any medium liberate their artistic impulses from their second-guesser mind. Whether you’re a writer or a painter, a chef or a trapeze artist, a mom or a model, these fun and practical exercise will set your brain on fire, melt creative blocks and become part of your creativity tool box for the rest of your life.
Creative Writing: Invoking Gratitude Through Writing
Writers of any level welcome.
Are you grateful for pumpkin spiced lattes but angry about the state of our world? Are you thankful for family and friends, but disgusted with the human trajectory toward destruction we see playing out in the news? Do you find yourself, at this Thanksgiving time, struggling to be grateful because you are also anxious, fed up, or furious?
Then this workshop is for you.
In this workshop participants will discover the awesome power of our thinking, how to harness it, channel it, and use it to improve our life experience. By using carefully designed writing prompts and creativity hacks to unlock gratitude we will soothe the logical left brain that keeps us in a state of fear, confusion and anxiety and learn how to shift into the right brain states of play and curiosity.
If you are overflowing with gratitude then this workshop will give you a chance to pour that out into the world in your writing. If you are running on empty and resentment threatens to end your happiness then this workshop will give you the tools you need to begin to shift your thoughts, which shifts your emotions, which in turn, shifts your entire experience.
What are you waiting for? Sign up today. You’ll thank yourself later.Creative Writing: Opening to the Spirit of Peace & Joy
Writers of any level welcome.
Are you struggling to find peace this year? Has COVID triggered your anxiety and you don’t know how to shut it off? Or has the political landscape got your pulling your hair out? Does living a life free of stress and filled with peace feel like a fairy tale?
“Living in Joy and Peace is something from Holiday Hallmark movies, and it’s fun to watch and all, but it’s not real life, Brian.” Is that it?
Well, I’ve got good news! Living in Joy and Peace is more dependent on the way we use our brain than it is on the way we live our lives. This holiday season, as many cultures celebrate their traditions this workshop will help us embrace the energy of celebration more regularly, thoroughly, and deeply. Through science-based brain hacks and carefully crafted writing exercises participants will discover that we have more control over our inner states of being that we have been taught, and we can use this understanding to create peace, in ourselves first, and then the world.
What are you waiting for? Sign up today. Yule totally enjoy it!Creative Writing: Turning the Winter Blues into a Winter Wonderland
Beginning to advanced writers welcome.
In this creative writing class participants will bring the topic they want to explore, whatever it is that drives them the most batty about the cold long winter, whether it’s snow, the flu, the long nights…whatever plagues you. In this workshop we will use metaphor tools and poetic devices to shift our perspective and make a winter wonderland out of our winter blues. Trauma Drama: Use Creative Writing to Heal Old Wounds
Beginning to advanced writers welcome.
In this workshop participants will explore an event, situation, person or experience from their life that has been particularly challenging. These can be a deep loss, a traumatic event, an addictive pattern or any other life challenge that we have found it difficult to process or manage. Each student will go on an individual exploratory journey by creating a metaphor out of their chosen life moment, becoming curious, innovative, compassionate and even playful as we each craft a fictional adventurous tale of triumph and victory within the safe context of metaphors and creative writing. Participants will not be required to share their life events or stories with the group but an opportunity will be provided for those who would like to share their writing. What happens in this class stays in this class. Creative Writing: How to Write a Screenplay in 2 Hours Using a Piece of Your Life Story
Beginning to advanced writers welcome.
In this fun and exciting marathon masterclass writers of all levels will leave with a completed rough draft of a 3-5 page short film screenplay about one small piece of their life. The story can be told as fiction or non-fiction.
We will learn how to write in proper screenplay format (attendees will be instructed to sign up for a FREE Writer’s Duet account). We will also discover what fills a story with drama vs. what causes us to mentally check out. We will learn how to sequence events, and allow our stories to unfold in the most compelling way possible for our audience.
If you like good movie but loathe waisting time on bad movies then this class will give you the inside scoop on how screenwriters manipulate expectations, build suspense and shock or delight us with twists and turns. Put down the remote and pick up a pen. It’s time your story came to life. Creative Writing: The Art of the Plot Twist
Beginning to advanced writers welcome.
Good stories are the ones that feel both surprising and inevitable at the end. Surprising because the audience did not see that exact ending coming but inevitable because, once known, the ending feels earned, within character and has emotional impact. To perfect this cocktail of surprise and inevitability the storyteller must master the art of the plot twist, the moment in the story when the unexpected rushes in to change everything you thought was true and reveal an entirely new perspective. Drawing from the experience of navigating the plot twists in our own lives students will work together to generate possible story ideas and build in plot twists that feel earned. Get ready to have fun and expect the unexpected.
About the instructor
Brian Hogan is a adjunct professor and guest lecturer at Sacred Heart University’s Graduate Film/TV & Screenwriting Program. He has released multiple award-winning short films and a two-hour award winning TV pilot screenplay. He is also a Creativity and Clarity Coach specializing in helping artists and creatives find clarity and move past blocks as they discover and honor their own artistic processes. For more about Brian see www.LifeStoryHacking.com.
Please note: These classes will take place on Zoom. Have the Zoom app downloaded onto your device and become familiar with using it prior to the first class.