Lit Fest - Lighthouse Writers Workshop 2026

In an age of both metafiction and high fantasy, writers have grown shy of writing realistic experiences wildly different than their own. Why have we lost the confidence to utterly make shit up and say it with authority? How can we get it back?  

In this seminar, we’ll talk about writing away from the self and the lived experience, the research that makes such stories believable, and the narrative possibilities that give us control over completely fictional worlds. We’ll touch on the ethics, difficulties, and occasional necessity of writing genders, races, sexual orientations, abilities, ages, religions, etc. different from our own, and we’ll focus more deeply on how to make stories up out of whole cloth and fully inhabit characters who aren’t you.

This is the in-person version of this event.

In an age of both metafiction and high fantasy, writers have grown shy of writing realistic experiences wildly different than their own. Why have we lost the confidence to utterly make shit up and say it with authority? How can we get it back?  

In this seminar, we’ll talk about writing away from the self and the lived experience, the research that makes such stories believable, and the narrative possibilities that give us control over completely fictional worlds. We’ll touch on the ethics, difficulties, and occasional necessity of writing genders, races, sexual orientations, abilities, ages, religions, etc. different from our own, and we’ll focus more deeply on how to make stories up out of whole cloth and fully inhabit characters who aren’t you.

This is the livestream version of this event.

In this class we will examine works that use their architecture, or structure as a vessel to carry and deliver meaning. We might examine the works of Italo Calvino, Anne Carson, Max Porter, Bernardine Evaristo, and Olga Tokarczuk…among others. Bring a story in which the architecture is asking: how might I be wilder?

You have a great premise. Maybe a gripping first chapter. But now your characters are wandering around contemplating the scenery, and you can't seem to make them do anything else. Sound familiar? If you want to write the sort of story that a reader cannot put down, you need to create urgency on every page. We’ll look at tools employed by writers of thrillers and suspense novels and explore strategies for creating a propulsive read no matter what sort of book you are writing.

Sometimes even the most familiar or memorable photographs mask the emotional truth of a moment. In this seminar, we’ll look at both new and well-known images from historical moments that capture or fail to capture the stories that exist behind them. Students will explore the relationship between visual representation and emotional gradation through discussion and experimental written exercises.

Stories need villains and brutes, scoundrels and jerks, creeps and lowlifes. Collectively, let’s call them assholes. They create conflict, suspense, and intrigue. They’re often the most interesting characters in a story. But writers are, generally, nice people. How do we put ourselves into the mind of the asshole? How do we give them their humanity without denying their depravity? Let’s explore how to be an asshole (on the page) by exploring their mindset and ways to write it without becoming one ourselves. This will be a discussion-based class with examples by the masters and directed exercises.

What the heck is lens? It’s merely a vital element of craft utilized on every line of every page of your writing. It helps you find meaning in detail, action, vision, and it allows space for subtext. Why is the sofa in your scene gold? If you don’t know, then it’s time to learn how lens works. In this class we’ll read great examples of lens (actually, any page of good writing can show us), and we’ll work through exercises to sharpen your own.

Drawing inspiration from maps—real and imagined—in this generative workshop we’ll explore how to unlock memories, create worlds, and discover details we may not have thought of otherwise. We’ll consider recent and ancient cartographic maps but also search for what’s revealed in the often unmapped, such as radio waves permeating the air, light cast by street lights or wind chimes in a neighborhood. We’ll discuss how authors create narratives for prose and poems on the concept of maps and write from prompts based on maps we create (no artistry needed) and those we study.