Jennifer Eli Bowen teaches Writing Absence: Making the Vanished Visible with The Loft Literary Center

Visit loft.org to sign up for this class.

Do you write about characters who aren’t around–an absent mother, a child unborn? Or maybe you write about what could’ve been—a kiss, a death, a relationship, a dream deferred? Absence and her cousin, longing, are omnipresent in our daily lives though they can be challenging to write about. How do you articulate that which doesn’t exist? This short course is designed for fiction and nonfiction writers who are trying to make voids both tangible and compelling on the page. We’ll explore strategies to concretize all that we can’t touch. We’ll experiment with tools that make longing, loss, and absence visible, visceral, and engaging.

The first two hours of the session will focus on strategies, tools, and examples drawn from the instructor’s writing practice and other works. Participants will experiment with short prompts and optional sharing. During the last half hour, Jen will reserve time for questions about craft, publishing, and more. Writers will leave with readings, sense of possibility, and confidence in new approaches. Bring works in progress, fresh starts, curiosity, and your baggage. This class is appropriate for writers at all stages.