** THIS CLASS IS NOW SOLD OUT. If you click through on the registration button, you can sign up for the waitlist and to be notified when the class returns. **
ONLINE through Catapult
Wednesdays, 8:30-10:00pm ET/ 5:30-7:00 PT
May 13-July 1
Cost: $495
All too often, our sexual experiences--or just talking honestly about sex and sexuality at all--are dismissed as TMI. In this smart, introspective, and bawdy eight-week workshop, writers will explore what their personal stories have to offer the world, and how best to share them. We'll open by exploring the sex culture we live in and how this shapes the stories we tell (or don't). Using activities adapted from public health to broaden our understanding of the complexity of our sexualities, we'll mine our own histories for narratives we may have forgotten, or may never have noticed.
Although the term “sex writing” calls to mind the sex scene, and although you may receive feedback on your individual sex scenes during workshop, this course places its focus instead on making meaning from our sex lives. Over the course of eight weeks, we'll tackle craft challenges specific to writing about sexuality--diving into the opportunities provided by narrative distance, considering what authority looks like on the page (including how we might access our own), and processing what it means to write (and publish!) about real people. Through two workshops, one individual 15-minute meeting with the instructor, and weekly readings and exercises, writers will move beyond simply telling the narrative of what happened on any given night, building strong connective tissue between their individual stories and the larger questions about sex with which our culture grapples.
Writers should log on prepared to cultivate a fun, safe, and nonjudgmental atmosphere that is affirming of all sexualities and identities. Straight or queer, cis or trans, abstinent or asexual or sexually active, kinky or vanilla, poly or monogamous-- your stories are important, and you’re welcome in this course. While this class aims to offer a supportive environment for figuring out how to turn stories of sexuality into cultural critique and art, it is not intended to be a support group or provide a replacement for mental healthcare.
This class will meet over our video chat platform. You will need to use Google Chrome and a computer to join your class meetings.
COURSE SKELETON:
Week 1: Introduction to the class, Exploring the Sex Culture We Live In, Goal Setting, Workshop Scheduling.
Week 2: Mining Our Sexual Lives For Narrative
Week 3: The Promise of Narrative Distance, Workshop #1
Week 4: Recognizing the Powerful Places Our Stories Meet the Larger Context, Workshop #2
Week 5: Writing Our Complicated and Contradictory Selves, Workshop #3
Week 6: Building Sexual Authority On the Page Part I, Workshop #4
Week 7: Building Sexual Authority On the Page Part II, Workshop #5
Week 8: Writing About Real People and Facing Your Mother, Group reflection and Goal Setting, Workshop #6
COURSE EXPECTATION:
Students should expect to read up to three essays outside class each week and complete weekly optional writing exercises. Students will also be invited to turn in work for class feedback twice, with their submissions totaling up to 15 double-spaced pages, spread over the two workshopping dates however they wish.
COURSE TAKEAWAYS:
A deepened understanding of the sex culture our writing lands in, and how this shapes what we write (and don't)
A supportive, sex-positive, and trauma-sensitive community with which to share your writing about sexuality
Increased ability to identify the craft choices that might help frame, focus and drive your writing about sexuality
Access to an instructor who has provided sexuality education to more than 8,000 people over the last ten years, and who has personal experience with what it means to publish sexually explicit work in high-circulation publications
A one-on-one conference with the instructor to discuss your work and chart a path forward
Two essays or excerpts workshopped and ready for revision
Access to Catapult's list of writing opportunities and important submission deadlines, as well as a 10% discount on all future Catapult classes
“Kati is a passionate sex educator, and she brought a wealth of knowledge into the workshop. She creates a safe space for participants to share their most vulnerable material and fosters lively discussion about sex in our culture and in modern literature. Her workshop was a treat I didn’t know I needed. Sex writing has many facets and nuances, and I am confident approaching it now.”
“I loved the structure of the class, bouncing from discussion of this taboo subject— *sex*— into suddenly having a timed writing exercise with a prompt that jump-started ideas. Writing fast and furiously, not having to share, was freeing. When we did share, that was wonderful and wild.”