Obsessions: Writing Toward (and Through) What Haunts You with Ang Xu

This writing workshop is now sold out. Please email [email protected] to join the waitlist—and become a member for early access to future programming.

Writers don’t choose their obsessions—obsessions choose their writers. Whether it’s an image, a question, a wound, or a world, every writer is driven by some deep and unruly current. This generative fiction workshop will explore the engine of obsession—the driving force behind why we write and what makes our stories not only personal, but necessary. Whether it’s a recurring theme, a sensory fixation, or a deep philosophical itch, obsessions shape our voice, style, and form. Together, we will learn how to harness that energy without letting it derail us, to deepen it without drowning in it.

We’ll examine what happens when our narrative hand is too steady or too chaotic, when the writer’s heart is too exposed or too hidden, when the intellect overrides instinct. Each week will target a different “symptom” of writerly obsession—be it structure, sentimentality, performativity, voice, or rhythm—and will offer playful, rigorous prompts and techniques to transform fixation into generative friction.

Through in-class writing, close reading, and deep listening, we’ll tune our instruments: sharpen our lenses, moisten our prose, and inject musicality into our lines. By the end of the course, students will leave with a stronger grasp of their strengths, a clearer awareness of their creative tendencies, and a renewed (and more self-aware) obsession with writing.

Course Outline:

• Session 1 – Diagnosing Obsession: We’ll begin by identifying the personal obsessions that drive your writing. Through exploratory prompts and discussion, we’ll uncover what you’re repeatedly circling in your fiction—and why.
• Session 2 – The Hand: Control vs. Chaos: Examining the dangers of over-planning or under-structuring. How do we allow surprise without losing clarity? How does form follow obsession?
• Session 3 – The Heart: Sentiment vs. Sentimentality: We’ll explore emotional honesty in writing—how to write with vulnerability without slipping into melodrama or cliché.
• Session 4 – The Brain: Ideas vs. Instinct: When is the writing too intellectual? Too abstract? We’ll practice letting go of ideas and letting stories emerge through voice, image, and movement.
• Session 5 – The Tongue: Language, Rhythm, and Flow: Writing as music. We’ll focus on the physicality of sentences—what makes them sing, trip, breathe, or bore. This session includes read-alouds and revision focused on sound.
• Session 6 – The Eyes: The Writer’s Lens: A fiction writer is not a journalist. What do you notice that others miss? How do you render the strange in the familiar, and vice versa?
• Session 7 – The Ears: Dialogue, Subtext, and Silence: How do your characters speak—and what do they leave unsaid? We’ll practice writing dialogue that crackles with tension and contradiction.
• Session 8 – The Body: Writing from Sensation: We’ll explore how to ground abstract themes and obsessions in sensory experience. Writing as embodiment. How does obsession live in the skin?
• Session 9 – The Thorn: What We Avoid: We’ll face what we fear to write—the uncomfortable, the “too much,” the edges of our own voice. This is the discomfort zone where breakthroughs often hide.
• Session 10 – The Cure: Integration and Voice: In our final session, we’ll reflect on what we’ve learned, revisit earlier work, and discuss how to keep obsession as a generative (not destructive) force. Students will share polished excerpts or in-progress pieces and leave with strategies to carry their voice forward.

Teaching Style: This is a high-energy, low-pressure generative workshop designed for serious writers who want to explore, deepen, and refine their obsessions. Expect writing prompts every week, supportive but incisive feedback, and a focus on craft through the lens of intuition and play. You’ll leave with fresh work, new techniques, and a deeper understanding of your own writerly fixations—all while staying inspired and grounded.

All Levels

This course is held in person at The Center for Fiction. Please note there will be no meeting on March 16th.