Trevor Corson - Teaching, Workshops, and Consultations

Praise for Trevor’s Teaching

From the Executive Director of the

Key West Literary Seminar, Miles Frieden:

“Trevor Corson is an outstanding workshop leader. He led a weeklong class on narrative nonfiction, a class that included students from a wide array of backgrounds, abilities and approaches. He provided everyone with detailed attention and engaged class members in improving their own and others’ writing. He was unfailingly accessible and kind to students throughout. He also provided essential information about nonfiction writing, its mores and ethics, and how it differs from memoir, fiction and other forms of writing. We strongly recommend Trevor as a teacher and workshop leader.”

learn MORE about Trevor’s
reporting & writing TECHNIQUES . . .

Trevor Corson offers both group workshops and private consultations for serious writers. Trevor’s expertise is narrative nonfiction—telling true stories. Whether you’re writing a memoir, profiling a person, place, or community, or describing a dramatic series of events, writing about reality is a lot harder than it sounds. Trevor works closely with students and clients on their projects to teach them what they need to know.

Unlike many writing teachers, Trevor takes you directly into the tough nitty-gritty of producing long-form narrative nonfiction. The genre requires a complex and sophisticated arsenal of reporting and interviewing strategies, psychological and moral sensitivities, rigorous techniques for recording and tracking facts, and specialized approaches to the actual craft of composition. Trevor helps you navigate the ethics and logistics of your relationship with characters who are real human beings, helps you structure your composition by identifying its fundamental narrative and thematic components, and suggests practical tools and resources for managing the minutiae of your project.

Very few workshops or classes provide the particular combination of nuts-and-bolts methodology and big-picture guidance that Trevor offers. Yet in this day and age—as fiction becomes a harder sell, and as scandals over faked journalism and fabricated memoirs rock the publishing world regularly—these techniques and skills are more important than ever. Indeed, editors at magazines and publishers are demanding them. So even if you just want to write your memoir, it’s no longer enough to rely on your memory; these days you need to learn how to accurately report your own story. But writing about real life is a minefield. Trevor’s years of experience in the field and at the writing desk can help you navigate your way.

Trevor has worked as an award-winning journal editor, written on a wide variety of topics for top-tier newspapers including the New York Times and magazines including the Atlantic Monthly, and published two successful books of narrative nonfiction. He has taught writing workshops on nonfiction narrative at the Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism at Harvard University and the prestigious Key West Literary Seminar. (Please note that Trevor does not provide introductions to literary agents or publishers as part of his teaching.)

email Trevor to APPLY

Group workshops

Trevor runs a private workshop series in New York City and Washington D.C. for serious writers. The workshops meet weekly for four weeks (Sunday evenings in New York, Tuesday evenings in Washington). Each weekly session lasts three hours. All students are required to do advance reading and write a 2,000-word nonfiction narrative piece in preparation for the workshop. All students are also required to workshop each other’s writing in class.

Next workshops: October 2008

Applications due by: September 10

Cost per participant: $450

Note: A minimum number of students is required before a workshop can be held, and advertising is entirely by word of mouth, so the likelihood of a workshop occurring increases if you find other people to sign up with you.

email Trevor to INQUIRE

Private consultations

Trevor is available to work one-on-one with you on your writing project. He will read your work and discuss it with you in one or more individual workshop sessions.