Experimenting With Tense and Perspective
Unlock the power of tense and perspective to shape narrative distance in this 2-hour workshop with award-winning writer Mathangi Subramanian
Some books leave us breathless, while others leave us feeling far away from ourselves. How do writers create these experiences for readers, and how can we make choices that give us this level of intention and control?
In this two-hour workshop, we will engage in close readings and hands-on exercises aimed to help us understand the power of tense (present or past) and perspective (first, second, or third). In addition to analyzing the emotional impact that each of these literary building blocks offer, we will analyze how we can use them in our own work.
Upon completing this workshop, we will be able to:
Understand the ways in which different tenses and perspectives lessen and increase the distance between reader and writer.
Identify experimental perspectives, including second person address and collective first person.
Articulate our craft and emotional intentions for our work.
Apply what we've learned about tense and perspective to make choices that serve our intentions for our own work.
Give feedback and receive meaningful, critical feedback using an equitable approach to workshop.
Approach experimentation with tense and perspective with a sense of independence, fredom, and joy.
We will spend our two hours examining work by living, mostly BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and QTPOC (Queer and Trans People of Color) authors, following a series of writing prompts, and practicing giving each other meaningful feedback. The workshop can be used to generate new work, or to revise or rethink scenes in existing manuscripts that feel "stuck" or otherwise problematic. The workshop climate will be a safe space for risk, experimentation, and delight. Given advance notice, the instructor will be able to make accommodations for neurodiverse attendees.
Appropriate for all levels and all prose genres.
MATHANGI SUBRAMANIAN is a neurodiverse, South Asian American writer and educator. Her novel A People's History of Heaven was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and was longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, among others. Her novel Dear Mrs. Naidu won the South Asia book award, and her picture book A Butterfly Smile was inducted into the Nobel Museum by economics laureate Dr. Esther Duflo. A former public school teacher and education policy maker, she holds a doctorate in education from Columbia Teachers College and is a faculty member of the Regis Mile High MFA program and a guest artist at Denver School of the Arts.