SEMINAR | Beyond the Frame: How Surrealist Imagery Can Unblock Your Writing
August 29 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm EDT
When words fail, images can unlock secrets. Surprise the stuck places in your manuscript by looking at them anew.
For All Writers
Sometimes the most effective way through a writing challenge is without words.
In both writing and visual art, what’s beyond the page or the frame often holds the key. Finding that hidden context can help a lifeless scene find its heartbeat. Images, photographs, illustrations, even collages, can help us see our stories differently. Surrealist imagery is particularly effective because it’s already characterized by the juxtaposition of unexpected elements.
We’ll begin with quick-start generative prompts to help you identify an area in your writing to focus on during our time together. Then, we’ll look at traditional images and use them to help unlock a challenging place in your manuscript. Finally, we’ll progress to surrealist photographs, paintings, and collages to see your own work and themes through fresh lenses.
We’ll also discuss ways the qualities of surrealism can inform our writing, regardless of genre, and practice using “prepositional questions” to explore what’s beyond, above, below, underneath, inside, before, and after your scene to view your stuck place with curiosity and allow for unexpected connections.
If you’re currently struggling with an aspect of a work-in-progress, feel free to bring that, but it’s not required to benefit from the tools and techniques of the seminar. After the class, you’ll receive the seminar recording and the slide deck with all the images and prompts used during our time together.
All levels and all genres are welcome. Please be prepared to write.
In this interactive three-hour live seminar, you will:
- EXPLORE how visual imagery can deepen your writing
- LEARN key tenets of surrealism and apply them to a writing challenge
- GENERATE new portals into an existing piece of writing
- LEARN HOW unexpected visual arrangements open a door to the unconscious
- USE key prepositional questions to view your writing differently
- SURPRISE yourself by finding hidden connections in your work
This course is ideal for writers who…
- curious about new ways to deepen their writing
- interested in the connection between visual and literary arts
- struggling with a difficult part of their manuscript
- who are open to unconventional portals to the imagination
Closed captioning is available. ✔
Think you might miss class? No worries, replays will be available 3 business days after the event. ✔
ABOUT YOUR Instructor
Funny, kind, and direct, Laraine Herring is a popular CRAFT TALKS presenter and one of our strongest voices on deeply personal writing that powerfully connects with readers.
Laraine’s memoir, A Constellation of Ghosts: A Speculative Memoir with Ravens, was released in 2021 from Regal House. She’s the editor of the anthology Becoming Real: Women Reclaim the Power of the Imagined through Speculative Nonfiction (Pact Press, 2024) and a trilogy of writing books from Shambhala, including Writing Begins with the Breath: Embodying Your Authentic Voice. A retired professor of creative writing and psychology, Lariane has worked with writers for thirty years.
She’s also an illustrator and a grief counselor and the creator of The Grief Forest: a book about what we don’t talk about. She founded the online ‘zine Hags on Fire, a place for women to share stories about menopause, and co-designed The Imaginal Memoir Cave immersion program with Gayle Brandeis. Laraine’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Tiferet, The Rumpus, The Manifest-Station, and many more. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in Counseling Psychology and lives in the mountains of northern Arizona with many cats.
Student Testimonials
“Laraine helped my book tell me what it wants to be and challenged me to do the work to get it there. I am grateful for her intuitive, empathic, supportive approach, and for her enthusiasm when I arrived at the realizations she was hoping I’d get to as I did that work. Laraine’s skills are many, and she is fantastic to work with. She is dedicated, direct, detailed, dependable, and delightful.”
— Meg Weber, author of A Year of Mr. Lucky (Sincyr Publishing)
“Through Laraine’s authentic nature and ability to listen, I learned that writing is as much an act of bravery and strength as it is about being gentle and flexible. I can’t wait to be one of her students again!”
— Naomi Kaplan
“Without a doubt, Laraine is the most generous, inspirational and challenging writing instructor I have ever met. Using provocative writing exercises, she guided me through creative discovery, helping reveal ideas and truths I had previously locked away. She challenged me to delve deeper into my story, even if it meant going into the dark hidden corners.”
— Janine Weyers
“Laraine opened doors inside my mind and created space for me to come into relationship with my writing in a refreshing way that was all my own. I had more than one breakthrough working with her. With ease and honesty, she created an authentic, interesting and inviting space to grow.”
— Grace Welker
“Laraine encourages students to dig deep. She provides original, interesting exercises designed to pull past the first obvious idea and find the more compelling material underneath. She is as invested in students’ work as the students themselves.”
— Janet Burruel
THE FINE PRINT
We understand that life can get in the way of your plans. We want you to be able to get the most out of your course, and our refund policy is designed to balance your need for flexibility with our deadlines and obligations to our teachers.
Before the class, you may request a refund less a $10.00 processing fee.
Please keep in mind that no refunds or credits will be issued after class begins.
Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com
