The Revelatory Moment

Strategies for Revealing the Self on the Page. A Workshop with John Copenhaver. Revelation in fiction comes in many forms. In a murder mystery, the curtain is pulled back on the identity of the culprit; in other narratives, the curtain is pulled back on the self—the true nature of a character is revealed. For any moment of revelation to work in fiction, it must feel surprising and inevitable to the reader. At first glance, these qualities seem self-contradictory, but in the hands of great writers, the tension between the inevitable and the surprising is always present; it is the only way a revelation is truly earned. In this workshop, we’ll look at several examples that model this tension, discuss how these writers work their magic, and then do a brief exercise to get us thinking about how to implement these strategies in our own writing. 10-12 Participants Bring a laptop or a pen and paper We will be discussing excerpts from Patrica Highsmith’s The Price of Salt and Ottessa Moshfegh’s Eileen. Although not required, attendees are encouraged to read those novels beforehand.