Whether cataloguing or list-based writing, poets and authors of all genres have, over at least a couple thousand years, used this structural concept to organize a work. However, list-based writing has been engaged for other powerful purposes and possibilities: to create rhythm; evoke place, time, character, and affective space; to create sensory connection. Sometimes the list is clearly that – a list of specific items – and at others, the elements of the list are spread out over an entire section of a text. While it is not hard to find cataloguing or listing in prose and poetry here and there in snippets and phrases, many writers unleash the power of the list in overarching and captivating ways across genres.

In this class, we seek to discover, in reading a large variety of excerpts from authors in many genres and our own exercises, how we as writers here and now might use this organizing, descriptive, and thematic technique to enhance or even conjure up new prose and poetry pieces of our own. How can a list create a larger story? Infuse a moment with deeper analysis? Enliven, devastate, or populate a creative piece with points of impact? Creating lists, arranging them puzzle-like in different ways, and working from categorizing through progression, participants will come away with an expanded perception of list-based writing; will have a small toolbox of actionable techniques; and will generate new writing either as seeds to develop or fragments to infuse into writing already underway.

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• In-Class Writing Lift: Light

• Homework: None

• Workshopping Drafts: Optional