Breaking the Traditional Narrative Arc

Additional Information

In her recent book On Freedom, Maggie Nelson quotes social theorist Brian Massumi: “Freedom always rises from constraint—it’s a creative conversion of it, not some utopian escape from it.”

The traditional narrative arc is a creative choice that restricts how action, climax, and eventual resolution will flow through an essay’s or book’s structure. But what happens when you abandon that approach? Breaking the traditional arc goes beyond braiding or collaging; it can also mean adopting a nonlinear chronology and leaving space for the reader to fill mentally.

This webinar will consider how and when to reach for nontraditional structures, with examples of essays that do this successfully.  A reading list will be provided at the end of the webinar for additional independent study.

In this webinar, you will:

• ANALYZE a nontraditional narrative to see how it works,
• CONSIDER craft elements when breaking the narrative arc, and
• EXPLORE the possibilities of using nontraditional structure in your own writing.

There will be time for a Q & A at the end of the presentation.

The following essays will be referenced during the webinar:

“The Machine” by Krys Malcolm Belc

“Clean Slates” by Laura Laing

and

“The Long Fall of One-Eleven Heavy” by Michael Paterniti

This webinar is ideal for experienced essayists or memoirists who are interested in exploring nontraditional narrative structures that experiment with time, space, and structure.

All registrants receive a recording.

To request closed captioning, please email [email protected].