Workshop: Stealing, Borrowing, and Letting Go: Using Real Life in Fiction with Isle McElroy
Workshop: Stealing, Borrowing, and Letting Go: Using Real Life in Fiction with Isle McElroy
1 Session: Thursday, May 7
6:00-9:00pm ET
Isle McElroy
Isle McElroy is the author of three novels, The Atmospherians, People Collide, and The Channel (2027). They are currently a Shearing Fellow at UNLV and teach in the MFA program at Sarah Lawrence College.
In fiction, it’s often assumed that everything the writer produced is fully imagined–or, in the case of autofiction, that nothing is made up, each character representative of a real-life parallel. The truth is normally far less interesting. Fiction writers peel from life required to create their fictional worlds, sometimes borrowing heavily, sometimes very little at all.
In this workshop, we will explore strategies for bringing real life into fiction. Why, for instance, might a writer borrow from real life to write fiction when they could just as easily make it all up? How might real life details undermine narrative momentum and coherency? When is it necessary to fictionalize?
Workshop Highlights:
Learn strategies for borrowing from real life in fiction
Discuss the ethical implications of borrowing from real life
Write a short exercise blending real life and fiction
This course has 1 partial scholarship available. To apply, please fill out this form by Friday, May 1.
Isle McElroy is a nonbinary writer based in Brooklyn. Their most recent novel is People Collide (HarperCollins, 2023), praised by NPR as a “deep exploration of marriage, love, and the ways we know one another.” Their debut novel is The Atmospherians (Atria, 2021), called “exceptional writing” by the New York Times. They are the author of a story collection, Daddy Issues (The Cupboard Pamphlet, 2016), winner of the Cupboard Pamphlet’s 2016 Editors’ Prize. They have received fellowships from The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, The Tin House Summer Workshop, The Sewanee Writers Conference, The Inprint Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, and The National Parks Service.
McElroy is also an essayist and critic. Their writing has appeared in The Cut, BuzzFeed, Vulture, GQ, Elle, Vice, The Atlantic, Bon Appetit, Tin House, and elsewhere. In 2021, they founded Debuts and Redos, a monthly reading series featuring debut authors and authors who released books during the pandemic.
