Retreats Wilbur Hot Springs
three-day retreats

Clear Lake, CA
two-day retreats

 Workshops Ten-week workshops

Novel workshops

Crazy Child
one-day workshops Marin Writer's Center Writing the Personal Essay UC Extension Exploring your Creative Writing Potential Audio tapes 		 
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Clive Matson's Creative Writing Workshops


Do you ever wonder how Sylvia Plath or Dylan Thomas did such remarkable writing? They were so close to their creativity they may simply have recorded the images rising through their minds. In these workshops we call that creative source the "Crazy Child" and we avoid the usual editorial judgments. We let that Child write! No matter if it is stories, poems, a play, songs or an ecstatic essay, the Child's word will likely contain our most vivid writing. Technically, this kind of writing is proprioceptive — dealing with the stories contained in our nervous systems; it is unpredictable and imparts texture, flair and power to language. For beginners, for intermediate writiers and for professionals who want to expand their horizons.

When we share our writing, the workshop will inform us — more quickly than we could discover on our own — exactly what that memorable writing is. The workshops are "syngenetic" — our feedback is designed to mirror to the author what the reader hears. "Syngenetic" means "with a similar origin"; the workshop's effort is to learn the primary impulse of your writing and help it come to fruition. Positive feedback deepens everyone's understanding of your words as we hear what others find memorable -- and thus gives a valid foundation from which to make comments. Our goal is to offer two or three suggestions for your next revision, or two or three techniques to keep in mind as you continue your writing. These workshops have evolved over the last fifteen years from Peter Elbow's "teacherless class."

Wilbur Hot Springs
(four times annually)

Join us for a three-day retreat of nature, writing, hot tubs, and sauna. Each retreat typically has a topic:
  • Writing and Powerful Experience
  • Writing and Personal Transformation
  • Let the Crazy Child Write!
  • Writing and Spiritual Experience

Each writing retreat will have an introductory workshop the first evening at 8 p.m., a main workshop the next day beginning at 11 a.m., a participants' reading at 8 p.m. that evening and a closing session the last day at 11 a.m.

For schedule, fees and how to register, see calendar.

For more about Wilbur Hot Springs, see Wilbur.

Clear Lake two-day retreats
(four times annually)

Each writing retreat will have an introductory workshop the first evening at 8 p.m., a main workshop the next day beginning at 10 a.m.

for schedule, fees and how to register, see calendar.

Ten-week Workshops
(three sessions annually begin February, June, September)

Bring copies of your work in progress - journal, story, poem, novel, play or essay. Read it aloud and take notes as the workshop quotes your own most powerful lines back to you. This not only supports your strengths, it immerses the workshop more deeply in your piece. As one person repeats an image, I hear it again, review my own reaction, and sink closer to your intent. The syngenetic (having the same origin) workshop furthers your work with feedback from the same place - as much as possible - as the primary impulse of your writing.

We'll next ask a question like, "How does this character help the piece?" "What is the piece about?" "What is the function of that image?" and address the structure of your piece. You will pick up one or two rewrite suggestions - which you are free to apply, ignore, or use in a later piece. The workshop will quickly tune into your strengths and weaknesses, and you will find that your writing skills improve dramatically.

For novelists wanting to work intensely with other novelists, see below.

for schedule, fees and how to register, see calendar.

Novel Workshops
(three sessions annually begin February, June, September)

Intense workshopping for writers with novels in progress. A workshop in both the East Bay and Marin. Limited to four writers. Meets 5 times over 10 weeks.

For schedule, fees and how to register, see calendar.

Crazy Child One-day workshops
(10 a.m. to 5 p.m., monthly)

We are close to our creative source when the child within speaks its mind—and ignores any critical or editorial voices. In the morning we will let that "Crazy Child" write. And when the exercise is shared, the workshop as a whole will likely point to several sentences and say, "Those images are striking!" or "That scene is full of power!" These are clues for the afternoon's exercise, or we may follow our inner sense of the story and let the Child write freely again. Technically, this is proprioceptive writing— dealing with the stories and images contained in our nervous systems —and it gives texture and flair to all kinds of writing.

We are usually surprised by how much writing we do in these workshops, and by its competence. Three partici-pants, for example, submitted their stories to a recent anthology; all three were accepted, one won third prize and another won first prize.

For beginners, for developing writers and for professionals who want to expand their horizons.

For schedule, fees and how to register, see calendar.

Writing the Personal Essay
Marin Writer's Center class

Eight weeks. Lectures on writing the personal essay, in-class exercises and workshopping of student material. You will finish several short pieces and gain a clear awareness of your own talents by the end of the class.

For schedule, fees and how to register, see calendar.

Exploring Your Creative Writing Potential
U.C. Extension Class, 2 units

Ten weeks. Lectures on aspects of creative writing, in-class exercises and workshopping of student material. You will finish several short pieces and gain a clear awareness of your own talents by the end of the class.

For schedule, fees and how to register, see calendar.

Audio Tapes

Tapes and packets from Poetry: Current Schools are available for purchase. Ten lectures, averaging 85 minutes each, cover the major trends in United States poetry since World War II. The topics are:
  • Modernism/Postmodernism
  • Beats
  • New York School
  • Feminist Poetry
  • Language Poetry
  • Confessional Poetry
  • Direct Expression / Lyric Poetry
  • Hip Academics / Hip 90's
  • Surrealists
  • Political and ethnic poetry
Individual tapes with corresponding packet are priced at $20 each. The complete ten-lecture set is available for $150. To purchase: email clive@matsonpoet.com, or call (510) 654-6495