Erika Krouse

writer and editor

Official website for Erika Krouse, author of Contenders and Come Up and See Me Sometime.

4-week class: STORY BUILDER IV—SCENES
Apr
17
to May 8

4-week class: STORY BUILDER IV—SCENES

https://lighthousewriters.org/workshop/4-week-story-builder-iv—scenes?session=6858

Welcome to Story Builder!

This series of four classes is co-taught by Rachel Weaver and Erika Krouse, and covers the four major aspects of crafting your story: tension, plot, characterization, and scene. Each session is four weeks long, and there are four sessions in the entire series. You can take one session or all four, chronologically or in any order you like, according to your needs. These classes will include many topics, but will be tailored to the needs of the writers attending.

These fast-paced courses work on a cycle of lecture, discussion, and application. The instructor will explore a specific craft element (i.e. conflict, time, setting, protagonists, and more), give a few short examples, open the topic for discussion. After discussion, writers will use exercises to apply the concepts to their own works. We'll focus on practical application rather than theory alone; writers should come with a concrete story idea to which they can apply the week's topics. Writers can expect to generate new writing for a current work-in-progress and gain a broader understanding of all the major elements of story. Beyond general discussion, we won't be doing any workshopping in this class.

Story Builder IV—Scenes: This edition of Story Builder is where the rubber hits the road! We’ll focus on your scenes—how to create memorable ones that grab your reader and don't let go. We'll study the difference between a dynamic scene that leaps off the page and a dull one that just lies there, snoring. We'll study scene-building elements such as dialogue, emotion, setting, conflict/suspense, and epiphany so we can create that must-turn-the-page feeling. Most importantly, we’ll write vital scenes from every point in our story: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, crisis, climax, falling action, and resolution. We'll also work on practical plans so we can build our scenes list and keep going. Our focus is on practical application, generating new work, and bringing clarity to your masterpiece-in-progress.

Wednesdays for four weeks, 6:30-8:30pm via Zoom.

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Lighthouse Rekindle Retreat in Juneau, Alaska
May
25
to Jun 1

Lighthouse Rekindle Retreat in Juneau, Alaska

Join us for Lighthouse’s inaugural traveling retreat, Rekindle.

Our weeklong kickoff retreat will be in Juneau, Alaska, from May 25–June 1, 2024 (with optional add-on excursions that extend your stay to June 3). This generative retreat will feature a blend of ample writing time, local exploration, manuscript feedback from seasoned writers and teachers, and connection with other adventurous writers. The trip's instructors are not only award-winning writers, but also recipients of our annual Beacon Award for Teaching Excellence: Erika Krouse and Rachel Weaver.

Participation in the retreat is by application only. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.

APPLY HERE

The Rekindle retreat will be based in downtown Juneau, close to the capital city’s coffee shops, restaurants, watering holes, library, beach, and hiking trails. Optional afternoon activities include rain forest hike-and-writes (including one to the Mendenhall Glacier) and writing-centric cultural visits. Affordable add-on day trips will include a flight to Admiralty Island to hang with grizzlies acclimated to humans, and a Tracy Arm Fjord cruise to see glaciers, humpback whales, orcas, and grizzly bears (from the safety of the shore-hugging boat). Adventurous travelers can also privately seek out tours such as salmon fishing, dog sledding, whale watching, etc. Or simply bask in the scenery and write your masterpiece.

Tuition, $1,750 (early bird) and $2,000 (after January 15), includes:

  • daily optional activities and faculty instruction,

  • an optional review of a 3,000-to-5,000 word manuscript and 30-minute one-on-one consultation with an instructor,

  • time and space to write, and

  • the welcoming and inclusive Lighthouse community.

You will select your own flights and lodging, but we'll reserve a block of rooms at the Baranof Hotel, if you are interested in staying there with Erika and Rachel.

Each day in Juneau will include:

  • Writing time in a beautiful place! Write in your hotel, or at one of the city's many coffee shops and watering holes.

  • An optional writing-centric Juneau activity, either in the morning or afternoon, depending on the activity. Transportation will be provided whenever possible, and strategized when necessary.

  • Meetings and manuscript review with instructors.

  • Optional scheduled meal gatherings for the group (meals paid for by participants, separately), or meals on your own if you prefer.

  • Daily group social/cocktail hour.

  • Meetings and manuscript review with instructors.

  • Camaraderie and fellowship with the Lighthouse retreat community.

  • OPTIONAL: You can add on day trips to Admiralty Island and/or Tracy Arm Fjord.

Come write with us in Alaska!

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Lit Fest Class: I Love You, Jackass: Writing Complex Emotions
Jun
7
1:30 PM13:30

Lit Fest Class: I Love You, Jackass: Writing Complex Emotions

Evoking emotion is one of the biggest challenges we face as writers. We want our readers to cry, laugh, fear death, or feel alive the way we do while reading our favorite books. But how do you write emotionally without sounding sappy, sentimental, or—horrors!—melodramatic? The answer lies in complexity, in layering emotions to mimic our own complicated emotions. By invoking the interplay of emotional opposites, we’ll create new emotional writing and also look at examples from masters to guide us along. Open to all genres.

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Lit Fest Class: A Good Title Is Hard to Find
Jun
7
4:00 PM16:00

Lit Fest Class: A Good Title Is Hard to Find

A great title is the hulking stevedore of your work—it does the heavy lifting and makes your writing life easier. But finding that great title is another thing altogether. How do you boil down an entire novel, memoir, short story, essay, or even poem into a few puny words? In this class, we’ll look at different approaches for titles, look at examples and the elements that make titles great, and work on exercises that you can use immediately in your own work. Open to all genres.

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Lit Fest Class: Two Day Intensive: Two-Day Story/Essay
Jun
8
to Jun 9

Lit Fest Class: Two Day Intensive: Two-Day Story/Essay

  • Lighthouse Writers Workshop (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Ready, set, write! In this generative intensive, we’ll write a short story or essay over two days. Using targeted exercises and a few insider tricks, we’ll work on particular elements of short stories/essays (both traditional or nontraditional) to form new characters, settings, story arcs, dialogue, action, interiority, and more! Come with a basic story idea and leave with a complete(ish) story to continue perfecting on your own. Open to all short prose genres.

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Lit Fest Class: Bad to the Bone: Writing Villains and Nefarious Characters
Jun
10
1:30 PM13:30

Lit Fest Class: Bad to the Bone: Writing Villains and Nefarious Characters

Ahab, Nurse Ratched, Kurtz, Professor Moriarty, Cruella DeVil, Voldemort, Satan...No matter the genre, a great villain is a key ingredient to a badass story. But what if you don’t know who your villain is, or if it’s even a person at all? This class will outline types of villains and tips for creating the best (yet worst) ones. We’ll explore adversarial “worth,” antagonist agency and power, alternative value systems and character motivations, and villainous codes, quests, and wounds. Prepare to get bad so your story can get good. Open to all prose writers.

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Lit Fest Class: Time Travel: Writing Flashback and Backstory
Jun
10
4:00 PM16:00

Lit Fest Class: Time Travel: Writing Flashback and Backstory

Every character has a past, and often a troubled one. But how (and where, and when) do you bring that past to the page without slowing the story down? Through lecture, discussion, examples, and exercises, we’ll study techniques for using backstory and flashback and create a question-driven past narrative that actually drives your story forward. Open to all genres.

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Lit Fest Class: The Messy Middle
Jun
11
1:30 PM13:30

Lit Fest Class: The Messy Middle

Your beginning rocks and has tons of forward momentum. You might even know what you want your ending to be. The problem, of course, is everything in the middle. Writing the “messy middle” can feel like trying to carry a king-sized mattress up twenty flights of stairs all alone. But you’re not alone! In this class, we’ll look at the most common messy-middle problems and how to identify them. Using strategic exercises, you’ll practice solid strategies to conquer and convert your messy middle into plot and prose that will propel you through your story. Open to all prose genres.

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Lit Fest Class: In Other Words: Narrative Styles
Jun
11
4:00 PM16:00

Lit Fest Class: In Other Words: Narrative Styles

Sometimes we show, and sometimes we tell. Sometimes we’re interior, and sometimes we’re exterior. Sometimes, we describe, and sometimes we imply. But when do we use which styles, and why? In this class, we’ll explore six types of narrative styles: scene, exposition, description, interiority, dialogue, and “voiceyness.” We’ll talk about the assets and challenges of each style and explore techniques to use them to their best advantage in your writing. Writers can expect discussion, examples, and writing exercises. Open to all prose writers.

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4-week class: STORY BUILDER III—CHARACTERS
Apr
10
6:30 PM18:30

4-week class: STORY BUILDER III—CHARACTERS

https://lighthousewriters.org/workshop/4-week-story-builder-iii—characters?session=6842

Welcome to Story Builder!

This series of four classes is co-taught by Rachel Weaver and Erika Krouse, and covers the four major aspects of crafting your story: tension, plot, characterization, and scene. Each session is four weeks long, and there are four sessions in the entire series. You can take one session or all four, chronologically or in any order you like, according to your needs. These classes will include many topics, but will be tailored to the needs of the writers attending.

These fast-paced courses work on a cycle of lecture, discussion, and application. The instructor will explore a specific craft element (i.e. conflict, time, setting, protagonists, and more), give a few short examples, open the topic for discussion. After discussion, writers will use exercises to apply the concepts to their own works. We'll focus on practical application rather than theory alone; writers should come with a concrete story idea to which they can apply the week's topics. Writers can expect to generate new writing for a current work-in-progress and gain a broader understanding of all the major elements of story. Beyond general discussion, we won't be doing any workshopping in this class.

Story Builder III—Characters: In this edition of Story Builder, we’ll focus on your characters—their identities, wounds, quests, codes, conflicts, and all the factors that make people do the interesting/amazing/stupid things they do. We’'ll learn how to build protagonists and antagonists full of agency, who evoke sympathy and fascination in your reader. We'll discover how your side characters can boost your plot and populate your world, and investigate how perspective and voice can draw your reader deeper into your protagonist’s psyche, making your reader care about them, and adding tension and dynamism to your story. Most of all, we’ll write a ton! Our focus is on practical application, generating new work, and bringing clarity to your masterpiece-in-progress.

Wednesdays for four weeks, 6:30-8:30pm via Zoom.

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