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Dates: Tuesdays, March 3-24 Time: 7-9pm (Pacific Coast Time) Format: Zoom Ages: Adult Class Description: Nora Ephron. Taffy Brodesser-Akner. James Baldwin. Ernest Hemingway. Some of our greatest writers honed their skills as essayists and journalists before becoming celebrated novelists. Their points of view were sharpened by daily newspaper reporting and magazine editing. They gleaned telling details by reading documents and sifting through databases. They became masters at observing human behavior in interviews. Deadlines, too, forced discipline. Indeed, the skills employed by journalists are central to writing engaging novels. But many writers think their work is intimidating, complicated or beyond their skill level. Think of this class as John McPhee meets Christopher Nolan. Participants will be asked to compare journalistic writing with passages from novels to see how reporting informs writing. We will flex our interviewing skills and learn how to sift through documents and databases for telling details. We will also be given written and visual tasks to understand the difference between seeing and knowing. We will study dialogue from movies, music, and television. This class, in collaboration with The Box Sessions, is a practical class, not theoretical. You will be inspired to use all your senses to write your novel because writing is, really, an embodied experience. But these techniques will not only help you as a writer. They will help you be a better listener and observer of life. There will be opportunities to share your work and receive feedback. LEFT MARGIN LIT'S CANCELLATION/REFUND POLICY: If you find that you can't take a class for which you registered, you may request a refund, less a $25 administrative fee, at least 48 hours prior to the start of the first class session. After that threshold, refunds are not possible. If a class doesn't reach its minimum enrollment, it will be cancelled, and all students will receive full refunds.