The Art of Storytelling

The Art of Storytelling was a class about how to use storytelling techniques to captivate your readers.

Since the principles of storytelling are universal, the course explored brilliant storytellers in a variety of genres, from Ernest Hemingway, Joan Didion, and Tina Fey to stand-up comics like Louis CK and Mike Birbiglia.

Participants watched scenes from films like The Bourne Identity, Up, and Casablanca, and from shows like Louie, Breaking Bad, and True Detective. They listened to stories from The Moth and This American Life and discussed how narrative works across forms and mediums.

The class also drew on examples from graphic novels and from Spike Lee’s writing process on Do the Right Thing. And yes, it talked about Hamilton.

The course focused on principles like:

• vulnerability
• suspense
• goal and obstacle
• action and reaction
• cause and effect

The goal was to help students apply those same techniques in their own writing, whether they wanted to write fiction or nonfiction, stories or essays, a Moth story or a TED talk.

Thursday evenings 7:00pm–9:00pm

For 6 weeks from May 18–June 22