Ernest Hemingway created 47 versions of the final paragraph of his 1929 novel, A Farewell to Arms before he was satisfied. When asked years later why so many, he said he wanted to, “get the words right". But how does one “get the words right”? And “right” according to whom?
This course introduces attendees to specific manners of thinking about creation and revision; the interplay between the observed and the described; the emotional and intellectual; the creative and the objective, and the dynamics of creation, revision, and editing. The instructor introduces and demonstrates techniques expert writers employ, and invites participants to try them, create new drafts, and completely new versions. We will assume more can be done, always, until we stop or run out of time. We discuss efficiency in writing, clarity, rhythm, and pattern all the way down to word choice.
Students are welcome to write from prompts or independently, in any creative form: narrative-nonfiction, sketch, short story, and any poetic form. They are encouraged to bring works already in progress (but let’s save long forms like the novel for a different course). We will play lightly with what we take seriously, and provide each other the invaluable, honest, supportive feedback we need to feel satisfied we’re “getting it right”.
James McCullough, a retired NCMC professor and Petoskey native, first taught writing and literature at Petoskey High School. There, he coached the ski team to a state championship. Leaving PHS, McCullough worked for a Regional, Federal Education Laboratory in Chicago, training writing teacher-researchers in rural schools across the Midwest to use computers and the nascent internet, a project that was covered in Time Magazine. He taught one year in Alanson, MI, connecting his students to the first global discussion of the environment involving senator and presidential candidate, Al Gore. The state selected his students to attend Governor Blanchard’s environmental conference in Lansing, MI. Soon after, NCMC hired McCullough to teach writing and literature, and chair the English department. During that time, he founded the University of Michigan’s Bear River Writers Conference, now in its 26th year, and was profiled by Poets and Writers Magazine. For thirty years, McCullough taught introductory writing, nature writing, poetic form, short story, and narrative research. He developed environmental education courses on Beaver Island for NCMC students. and was selected Teacher of the Year twice. He is the author of Voelker’s Pond: A Robert Traver Legacy, which was selected by the Library of Michigan as a notable book for that year, and Echoes, a collection of outdoor essays with Deep Wood Press. A twenty-year contributor to Traverse Magazine, McCullough also published essays in The Bear River Review; Blue- The Michigan Magazine; The Dunes Review, and The American Journal of Fly Fishing.
Cancellations are non-refundable within 48 hours of this event.
