Writing Workshops

Using Fairy Tales, Magical Realism, and the Surreal to Break Through Writer's Block with Soraya Palmer (April 2025)

$645

10 Sessions

Out of stock

Once a week Mondays, 6:00 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT April 7 to June 16, 2025

The Center for Fiction

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This course is for anyone who’s had a really exciting idea for a story or novel… only to feel stuck or defeated when they sat down to write it. You’ll learn how to tap into the childlike parts of your imagination that make writing fun and push through feelings of self-doubt and “stuckness.”

For inspiration, we’ll read both classic and contemporary authors who have mastered elements of magical realism and the surreal, including Angela Carter, Carmen Maria Machado, and George Saunders. You’ll do in-class writing exercises and receive weekly reading assignments to help you develop complex characters, build tension, and create vivid settings by adding unexpected elements (a haunted house, a talking mirror) or fantastical changes (an inexplicable physical transformation). Each week, you will also write a story or chapter inspired by a prompt offered by the instructor; every student will have the opportunity to be workshopped.

Some interest in magical realism and surrealism is recommended to get the most out of this course, but no prior experience is necessary.

Course Outline:

Sessions 1 & 2: Introduction to the class and the genres of magical realism, surrealism, and the strange
Sessions 3–9: Student workshops, in-class writing activities, discussion of readings and writing techniques
Session 10: Closing

Led by

Soraya Palmer

Soraya Palmer

Soraya Palmer’s Essential Ghosts, which recently won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for debut fiction and has been shortlisted for the Pen/Open Book Award. She has been awarded grants, residences, and fellowships for her writing from the Café Royal Cultural Foundation, the New York Foundation of the Arts, Blue Mountain Residency, and the Nawat Fes Residency in Fes, Morocco. She has taught writing classes at CUNY City College, Center for Fiction, and at various American Language Centers in Morocco. She lives in Brooklyn with her cat, Nicholas.

About this series

Writing Workshops

We strive to make our classes the most inviting and rewarding available, offering an intimate environment to study with award-winning, world-class writers. Each class is specially designed by the instructor, so whether you’re a fledgling writer or an MFA graduate polishing your novel, you’ll find a perfect fit here.

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