Workshops/Classes

Current:

No classes currently scheduled. Receive updates on classes and events by signing up for Alissa’s newsletter, MURMUR.

Past:

Cultivating a Sustainable Writing Practice
Saturday, January 6, 1:00-4:00 at The Attic

Writing Short: The Brevity Workshop
Mondays, Nov 6 - Dec 4, 6:30-8:30pm, 5 weeks via The Attic via Zoom

Our focus for five weeks will be deliberate economy of language — whether you want to try flash fiction, short essay, prose poems, or hybrid. Each week, we’ll do a writing exercise together, a short reading, and look at workshop submissions, with discussions of craft, as well as generative writing prompts that will serve as portals to new terrains for your writing. Writing Short is a supportive, collaborative space. You will have time to share and discuss your writing. Our feedback will be guided by observations, questions, and possibilities. We will be thinking less about how to “fix” a piece of writing and more about what we see, our curiosities, and how to recognize hidden opportunities with early drafts. The goal is to learn more about the short form and risk playful experimentation within those constraints. 

The Art of the Letter: Epistolary Writing
Sundays, July 16th-August 20th, 11:00-1:00, 6 weeks
In-person. IPRC, Portland OR.

In this 6-week class, we will experiment with letter-writing as a type of storytelling. We will think about epistolary writing across genres and consider the constraints and challenges of this form. To help us along, we will read epistolary zines and selections from writers such as Victoria Chang, Rachel Mennies, Deesha Philyaw, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Lucie Brock-Broido, and Emily Dickinson. Participants will be given readings in advance to discuss in class, and the remainder of class time will be spent generating writing based on prompts. Some may choose to share work during class, but no formal feedback will be given. Our final project will be to complete at least one piece of writing that uses the formal constraint of the letter as a mode of storytelling.

Withhold, Reveal: Strategies for Writing Compelling Dialogue 
Saturday, August 5th 1:15-2:45
The Willamette Writers Conference, Portland, OR.

The best dialogue is made up of language that encompasses both what the character reveals and what the character withholds. Often times, what’s most important is what’s not said, but instead hinted at or implied. There are many ways that people communicate, but rarely is it done directly. Dialogue often contains moments of confusion, silence, misdirection that reveals something new about the character or story. The trick for the writer is to figure out ways to convey that complexity to the reader through words, phrasing, and language particular to each individual character. By the end of this craft class, you will have the tools and resources you’ll need to write compelling dialogue that reveals character and propels story. 

Pushpins & Portals: Experimenting with Short Forms

Thursdays, January 12-February 16th, 6:30-8:30 PT, IPRC via Zoom

Description: In this 6-week class, we will experiment with short form creative writing. Our focus—whether it’s flash fiction, lyric essay, prose poetry, or hybrid—will be on the art of compression. Each week, participants will be given a writing exercise, a short reading, and two workshop submissions from their peers. Class time will include workshop as well as discussion of readings and craft. Our workshop will be guided by observations, questions, and possibilities. We will be thinking less about how to “fix” a piece of writing and more about what we see, our curiosities, and how to recognize hidden opportunities. Each participant will receive feedback from the instructor and from the other participants.

Cultivating a Sustainable Writing Practice

Saturday, January 7, 1:00-4:00 PT, IPRC via Zoom

Pushpins & Portals: Experimenting with Short Forms

Thursdays, October 13th-November 17th, 6:30-8:30 PT, IPRC via Zoom

Cultivating a Sustainable Writing Practice

Saturday, October 8th, 1:00-4:00 PT, IPRC via Zoom

Postcards to the Dead: A Generative Writing Workshop

Thursday, Sept 29th, 6:30-8:30, in-person, Grover's Curiosity Shop

Description: In this generative writing workshop, we will be writing postcards to ghosts. I will provide the postcards; you get to choose the recipient. It can be a person you knew (a family member, a loved one, a mentor, a friend) or someone you’ve never met (a historical figure, a silent movie star, an author, a muse). It can be an animal, a fictional character, a god, a plant. Your tone can be humorous or mournful, sarcastic or earnest, formal or informal, lighthearted or regretful. Anything goes! I will provide some guidance and supplies. At the end we will share some of our favorites with the group. All are welcome. 10 participants max.

Save Your Darlings: A Generative Approach to Revision with Alissa Hattman Tuesdays, March 29th-May 3rd, 2022
6:30PM-8:30PM PST
The Stacks, via Zoom

In The Art of Revision, Peter Ho Davies respectfully suggests a counter to the famous advice for revision, “kill your darlings”—perhaps, he says, we should instead think of the various ways we can “save our darlings.” In this 5-week class, we will take Davies’s advice and consider a less murderous approach to revision. What might we discover if we listened more carefully to our darlings? Are they perhaps misunderstood, misplaced, underrealized? What if we were more patient with the material that our instinct says to cut? What might this approach teach us about who we are as writers? Each week, participants will be given a revision prompt and/or strategy, a reading, and one or two workshop submissions from their peers. To inform our discussions, we will read early and late drafts of published writing alongside theories and tips on revision from seasoned writers. Feedback and workshop guidelines will be provided, but the class may choose collectively to change these guidelines if necessary. Class time will include workshop as well as discussion of readings and craft. Each participant will receive written feedback from the instructor and the other participants. Writers should have a short piece they consider done (or close to done), which can be an excerpted or self-contained draft of any genre. 

Cultivating a Sustainable Writing Practice with Alissa Hattman Saturday, March 12th, 2022
1PM PST – 4PM PST
The Stacks, via Zoom

Pushpins & Portals: Experimenting with Short Forms Tuesdays, January 4th-February 22nd, 2022 6:30PM-8:30PM PST
The Stacks, via Zoom

Cultivating a Sustainable Writing Practice Saturday, December 11th, 2021 1PM-4PM PST
The Stacks, via Zoom

Withhold, Reveal: Strategies for Writing Compelling Dialogue Sunday, August 1st, 2021
11AM-12PM PST
The Willamette Writers Conference, via Zoom

Please, Hold: Silence & Tension in Flash Fiction Tuesday, November 12th, 2019
5:30PM-8:30PM
Outlet in Portland, OR

At first glance, it may sound like a paradox—how does language express its absence? In this workshop, we will consider that question and examine the art of silence through sample readings, discussion, generative writing, listening and sharing. We will think about the types of silences in short-form writing, who or what is silenced, and how silence builds tension; finally, we will write into the secret silences, what Ada Limón describes as a “silence that comes back, a million times bigger than me, sneaking into my bones and wails and wails and wails until I can’t be quiet anymore.” In a supportive, collaborative space, this workshop will focus on short-form fiction, but is open to all.

Tiny Kingdoms: Writing Flash Fiction Saturday, August 25th, 2018
10AM-2PM
Fjölbrautaskóli Suðurlands in Selfoss, Iceland.

Tiny Kingdoms: Writing Flash Fiction Saturday, August 11th, 2018 10AM-2PM
Gullkistan in Laugarvatn, Iceland.