The Quiet Space: How to Say More With Less: A Fiction Workshop with Nicole Dennis-Benn (Zoom)

“The difficulty for me in writing—among the difficulties—is so to write language that can work quietly on a page for a reader who doesn’t hear anything. Now for that, one has to work very carefully with what is in between the words. What is not said. Which is measure, which is rhythm…so, it is what you don’t write that frequently gives what you do write its power.” – Toni Morrison

This course is for anyone struggling with how much information to give, what to withhold, and at a sentence level, helps the writer understand the power of words, nuances of language, implied meaning. We’ll discuss selected works and supplemental readings to aid our discussions on technique/craft in

relation to shaping your story. Excerpts of other books and stories will be listed as we go along to better aid your individual storytelling process.

Nicole Dennis-Benn is an award-winning novelist whose books place working-class Jamaicans, especially women and queer folk, at the center of the universal human experience. Her debut novel, HERE COMES THE SUN, was a New York Times Notable Book of 2016 and was recently listed as a New York Times MostNotable Book of the decade. PATSY, her second novel, was a Today Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick and a New York Times Editor’s Choice, and was named best book of the year by TIME, Oprah, People, NPR, among others. Nicole was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award, the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, Pen/Faulkner Award in Fiction, and a two-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award Fiction Prize. Her highly anticipated third novel, acquired by Random House, is forthcoming.