Writers' Workshop at Lisbon Public Library

Are you a writer that is interested in improving your skills or connecting with other local writers? Have you ever wondered what it might be like to participate in a workshop at the world-renowned Iowa Writers' Workshop? We'll be joined by Cole Chamberlain, a student from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, who will provide a workshop experience about point of view in fiction, right here in Lisbon!

To submit your writing sample in advance (creative nonfiction, poetry, or fiction) so that copies can be printed, please email it to Elizabeth (lisbonpubliclib@gmail.com)

Point of View: The Engine of a Story

Selecting the right point of view—who is telling the story, from when they are telling it, how honest they are, and how much they truly know—may be the most important decision you make as a fiction writer. Point of view shapes not only what a reader sees, but how they feel, what they suspect, and what they are allowed to understand. A change in perspective can transform the same set of events into entirely different stories.

In this one-day intensive class, we will explore the possibilities and limitations of various points of view, including first person, close third, omniscient, and more experimental approaches. Through a close reading of a short story, we will examine how point of view functions on the sentence level and across the arc of a narrative. We will ask: What can this perspective do especially well? Where does it constrain the story? How does it create tension, intimacy, distance, or surprise?

After building a shared vocabulary and framework for thinking about point of view, we will apply these insights in a focused workshop. Participants are encouraged to bring a short piece of fiction (or an excerpt) to discuss. Together, we will consider whether the chosen point of view best serves the story’s emotional and structural ambitions—and how shifts in perspective might unlock new possibilities.

About Cole Chamberlain:

Cole Chamberlain is a Midwestern writer living in Iowa City. Some of his stories have appeared in Boulevard, The New Territory, Booth, Atticus Review, The Brooklyn Review, and Pangyrus. His story "The Sweepstakes" was nominated for the 2024 Pushcart Prize, and "Saints of Missouri" was runner-up for the 2024 Boulevard Emerging Writers Contest. In 2024, he served as a fiction judge and instructor for the Skyway Writers' Conference.

He is currently pursuing an MFA in fiction writing from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

To subscribe to a weekly emailing list of Writers' Workshop events, please fill in the linked form or email iww@uiowa.edu with “Events Mailing List Subscribe” in the subject line.

_{This workshop at Lisbon Public Library is sponsored by Arts Share.}