Classes for Teens

Hugo Classes for Teens are Saturday workshops for teen writers who want to delve into particular subject areas such as the short story, the novel, free-form poetry, zines, spoken word, reviewing, flash fiction, screenwriting, playwriting and creative nonfiction, to name just a few. Workshops are held on the quarter system (fall, winter and spring).

Fall 2010 Classes

Hugo Classes for Teens fall quarter class registration has begun. To register, call (206) 322-7030 or email youth@hugohouse.org.

World-Building 101
Whether you're a writer, comics artist or game-designer, building a fully-realized world can give structure to your characters and narratives. In this class you will make maps and charts, first-person narratives, character sketches and storyboards as you build collective and individual worlds where your stories can unfold. We'll look at examples from comics, video games and literature as we practice making places to get lost in.

Grades: 6-8
Instructors: David Lasky & Greg Stump
Meets: Saturdays, September 11 – October 9, 1-3 p.m.
Cost: $100 (Scholarships are always available upon request—just ask when registering.)

David Lasky has created a number of critically acclaimed comic books, including a nine page mini-adaptation of Joyce's Ulysses, eight issues of Boom Boom Comics, two issues of the award-nominated Urban Hipster, and numerous short comics for anthologies including The Best American Comics 2006.

Greg Stump’s comics and illustrations have been appearing regularly in The Stranger since 2000. He is the creator of the weekly alternative strip "Dwarf Attack," the co-creator (with David Lasky) of the acclaimed comic book series "Urban Hipster" and a longtime journalist and critic for Fantagraphics' flagship magazine The Comics Journal.

To the Point
Will this course help you get to the freaking point already? Yes. Often literary writers (especially essayists) meander when they ought to be striking. In this course you will not only complete but also revise a piece of short nonfiction—your college essay, your travel memoir, your political manifesto—that is bold and concise. You can expect to get unique exercises from the toolbox and blood-stirring examples from some pros, share lots of laughs and complete at least one polished piece of nonfiction.

Grades: 9-12
Instructor: Eli Hastings
Meets: Saturdays, September 11 – October 9, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Cost: $100 (Scholarships are always available upon request—just ask when registering.)

Eli Hastings has placed work in many literary magazines, been nominated for a Pushcart, and published his debut book, “Falling Room”, in 2005. 

Hip Hop Poetry: The Remix
Are you ready to flip the script on some of hip hop’s classic tracks? In this class we’ll scratch, cut and riff our way through some of hip hop’s anthems, finding new and original poetry in the process. We won’t be writing rap lyrics, but will use some of the genres best lyricists as inspiration for our writing.

Grades: 9-12
Instructor: Aaron Counts
Meets: Saturdays, September 11 – October 9, 1-3 p.m.
Cost: $100 (Scholarships are always available upon request—just ask when registering.)

Aaron Counts is an old school hip hop head. His poetry has appeared on stage, in print and on t-shirts around the country.

Obsolete Technology 102: DIY Zine Publishing
Experience the percussive pleasure of pounding out words on a vintage Smith-Corona Selectric typewriter. Record players and rotary phones, overhead projectors and postcards, dictaphones and carbon copies: these instruments influence the tone and personality of a piece. We’ll use these old-school tools to generate new writing, and then to share our words with the world. (The instructor will provide the obsolete technology from her attic full of vintage office equipment.)  Leave this course with your very own handcrafted ‘zine, ready to be distributed.

Grades: 9-12
Instructor: Rachel Kessler
Meets: Saturdays, September 11 – October 9, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Cost: $100 (Scholarships are always available upon request—just ask when registering.)

Rachel Kessler is a founding member of the literary performance art groups The Typing Explosion and the Vis-à-Vis Society. Her collaborative poems have appeared in Tin House, TATE, and USA Today and she has published her own work regularly in The Stranger and the Bay Area’s Urban View.

Fan Fiction Re-imagined
Fan fiction gets a bad rap because its point is to enable the writer to more fully lose him/herself within the world of someone else’s imagination. Meanwhile, great writing is usually the opposite of that kind of escapism: it’s about facing the world as it is. So what if, instead of imitating mass-market works of entertainment, we imitated geniuses like Vladimir Nabakov, Lorrie Moore, Richard Brautigan—what if we were writing sequels to the works of Hemingway and Dorothy Parker? There’ll be no glittering vampires in this class, but it’s going to be fun.

Grades: 9-12
Instructor: Peter Mountford
Meets: Saturdays, September 11 – October 9, 1-3 p.m.
Cost: $100 (Scholarships are always available upon request—just ask when registering.)

Peter Mountford’s fiction has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Best New American Voices 2008, Conjunctions and Seattle Review. His first novel, “A Young Man’s Guide to Late Capitalism”, is forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.