Courses

Holding up every paragraph and hiding in plain sight of every indelible piece of writing is its bleeding, pounding heart: the sentence. One by one—ants in a line—sentences either burn into our brains or lie there limp, fill us with tension, or leave us flat. Whether you are a novice or a novelist, whether you’re writing an email or an epic, sentence craft is the key to stronger writing. In this course, we will dig first into techniques of sentence composition through emulation and learn to diagnose structure as a vehicle for content. Next, we’ll look at recursive writing and sonic agreement, and we’ll conjure concepts of our own through specialized techniques with language- and referent-based writing. Finally, we will try out pro tips on choosing dynamic verbs and using syntax for surprise. At every stop, we’ll blast through skill-play exercises—writing for sound, precision, concision, rhythm, tension, disruption, surprise, tone, style, idiolect, and even feel. By the end of this course, you will know how to turn clunky, airless sentences into the masterworks they deserve to become. The sentence will be where you go to play, and your writing will never be the same.