Antlers and Beehives: Writing in Natural Patterns

A generative writing workshop with Alex Behr

Saturday September 14th and Saturday September 21st :: 10am to 12pm Pacific :: over ZOOM
Both sessions will be recorded and shared with registrants for 30 days afterwards

In this two-part zoom workshop, we’ll explore two forms described in Jane Allison’s "Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative": fractals (antlers) and networks (beehives). This encounter may cause a little brain resistance as you break down inherited rules about “proper” narrative progression. However, the outcomes might crack through writer’s block and generate access to your ephemeral somatic spirit. As Allison writes, “[Fractal and branching] patterns aren’t just around us: they inform our bodies, too. … Our brains recognize and want [these] patterns.”

Session 1: Fractals (Antlers)

Like antlers, lightning, or twigs, fractal writing starts with a seed and branches as the imagination expands, yet when the story ends, it has cohesion. The glue can be repetition, words in opposition, a story told in captioned photographs, etc. This concept might be unusual at first glance, but oral stories are often fractals: enlarging the seed, going on detours, and coming back with more momentum.

Session 2: Networks (Beehives)

Like beehive cells or soap bubbles, network writing replicates cells to create cohesion and symmetry. In this form of writing, the author’s and readers’ brains form connections between the writing segments – and these connections are unique to each person. Instead of a chronological, causal progression, segments might be linked through color, analogy, dissonance, or repeated motifs. The possibilities are endless. This writing form can create “vectors” slicing through the segments.

In both sessions, we’ll look at published examples in writing and in other art forms. We’ll experiment with free writing and look for ways to bring in these natural structures in re-visioning and in longer pieces.

Pricing:

The following payment model is inspired by and borrowed from the payment model of Bayo Akomolafe’s class, We Will Dance With Mountains: Into the Cracks.

This workshop offers a sliding scale based on your relative financial standing. In an effort to reflect disparity in economic condition and access to wealth, the following payment system is designed for those with more wealth to help cover the costs of those with less access to wealth and resources. We trust your discernment of your current financial situation and how you fit into the global economic context.

As you decide what amount to pay, please consider your present-day financial situation governed by income, but also the following factors: historical discrimination faced by your peoples; your financial wealth (retirement/savings/investments); your access to income and financial wealth, both current and anticipated (how easily could you earn more income compared to other people in your community, country, and the world; are you expecting an inheritance); people counting on your financial livelihood including dependents and community members; the socio-economic conditions of your locale (relative to other places in your country and in the world); your relationship to food & resource scarcity.

$225 Partner I

$175 Supporter (Note: This amount reflects the real value of this course.)

$125 Companion

$100 Friend

A limited number of scholarships are also available for anyone needing further financial assistance. Please email Daniel at registration@corporealwriting.com for more info, or if you are feeling challenged in any way by the financial requirements of participation.

Alex Behr is the author of Planet Grim: Stories (7.13 Books), and a second collection is forthcoming from 7.13 Books. She received an MFA in creative writing from PSU and has taught writing to kids, teens, and adults, including for 10+ years through the Writers in the Schools program at Portland high schools and through Corporeal Writing. She received a Regional Arts and Culture Council grant in 2022 to create “Altar/Altered: Sacred Objects and Adoption Stories,” www.altar-altered.com. She received a second RACC grant in 2023 to create an experimental film based on her poetry and images called "Grief Stick." A chapbook of the same name is forthcoming from Picture Frame Press. Her writing has appeared in Tin House, Salon, Oregon Humanities, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Propeller, Cleaver, and Gravity of the Thing, among others. A bassist and pianist, she has performed and recorded in San Francisco and Portland bands. She is the co-host of the reading series Hot Pockets, featuring excerpts from raunchy rock bios.

Feedback on Alex Behr’s Corporeal Workshop “Eno/Ono: How Music and Art Can Enhance Our Writings”

“I’m so enjoying your class — the exercises, the journal, the new pathways to writing — thank you for offering it into the world.”

—Margaret

“I’d rarely want to take a lab more than once, but I would return because I could get new material from the same portals/prompts, ideas, and leading that you did. This is one of THE best labs I’ve ever taken at Corporeal Writing. Hands down. You are a brilliant teacher.”

—Katie

“Alex’s class presentations opened new, imaginative paths to creativity for me using music, poetry, and the work of Brian Eno, Yoko Ono, Matthew Salesses, Michael Ondaatje and other brilliant writers. Alex’s insights are deep, original and funny. I loved the class and will sign up for more.”

—Peter