Fascination and Fiction: How to Build Mystery into Your Writing

Sat Feb 08 2025 at 12:30 pm to 02:00 pm UTC-05:00

The Chattery Downtown | Chattanooga

The Chattery
Publisher/HostThe Chattery
Fascination and Fiction: How to Build Mystery into Your Writing
Advertisement
Mystery is the heart of all narrative, its pulse is the fine tension between question and perception, wonder and suspense.
About this Event

Mystery is the heart of all narrative, its pulse is the fine tension between question and perception, wonder and suspense. For the purposes of this class our prose need not hinge on a crime, a culprit, or a private eye. We’ll build inquiry into fictional ecosystems and discuss how the mechanics of mystery (the structural and craft-oriented choices) can haunt, provoke, or fuse our prose. This class will benefit participants who have a vision for a project, but don’t know where to begin, as well as those who have a work or works in progress. The goal is to find the heart of the mystery in your project and deepen, develop, or pursue it—or to begin from a question or an inquiry and allow a world to blossom around it. Together, we’ll investigate different strategies for enhancing mystery, such as the uncanny coincidence, incongruous details, and repetition. We’ll analyze excerpts from mysterious works that demonstrate these techniques. We’ll generate new work modeled on these examples.

About the teacher:

Jessica Alexander has taught creative writing workshops at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Franklin and Marshall College, Porchlight Literary Arts Center, The Fairweather Project, and The Iowa Summer Writing Festival, among other places. Her novella, None of This Is an Invitation (co-written with Katie Jean Shinkle) was published by Astrophil Press in summer 2023. Her story collection, Dear Enemy, was the winning manuscript in the 2016 Subito Prose Contest. Her collaborative memoir (co-written with Vi Khi Nao) That Woman Could Be You came out with BlazeVox in April 2022. Her novel, Agnes, We’re Not Murderers is forthcoming from Clash Books in 2026.

For details about our refund and class cancellation policy, visit .

Advertisement

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Chattery Downtown, 231 Broad Street, Chattanooga, United States

Tickets

USD 28.52

Sharing is Caring:

More Events in Chattanooga

Crochet 101 (Adults of All Ages)
Sat, 08 Feb, 2025 at 10:00 am Crochet 101 (Adults of All Ages)

South Chattanooga Library

Cupid's Chase 5K Chattanooga
Sat, 08 Feb, 2025 at 10:00 am Cupid's Chase 5K Chattanooga

Marsh Pavilion

Destination Alaska: A Guide to the Last Frontier
Sat, 08 Feb, 2025 at 10:00 am Destination Alaska: A Guide to the Last Frontier

The Chattery Downtown

Lunar New Year
Sat, 08 Feb, 2025 at 11:00 am Lunar New Year

321 Chestnut St, Chattanooga, TN, United States, Tennessee 37402

Girl's Leadership Summit - Vendor Registration
Sat, 08 Feb, 2025 at 11:00 am Girl's Leadership Summit - Vendor Registration

Chattanooga State Community College

Valentine's Pop-Up Market
Sat, 08 Feb, 2025 at 11:00 am Valentine's Pop-Up Market

2310 Vance Ave

Western Carolina at Chattanooga Mocs Womens Basketball at UTC McKenzie Arena
Sat, 08 Feb, 2025 at 02:00 pm Western Carolina at Chattanooga Mocs Womens Basketball at UTC McKenzie Arena

UTC McKenzie Arena

Watercolor 101: The Basics
Sat, 08 Feb, 2025 at 02:30 pm Watercolor 101: The Basics

The Chattery Downtown

Make a Ceramic Valentine\u2019s Heart Trinket Tray with Scenic City Clay Arts
Sat, 08 Feb, 2025 at 03:00 pm Make a Ceramic Valentine’s Heart Trinket Tray with Scenic City Clay Arts

The Chattery Downtown

Couples Class! Salsa- February 8th
Sat, 08 Feb, 2025 at 06:00 pm Couples Class! Salsa- February 8th

Dance Tonight Chattanooga

Mardi Gras Ball: 30 Years of Advocacy
Sat, 08 Feb, 2025 at 07:00 pm Mardi Gras Ball: 30 Years of Advocacy

Chattanooga Convention Center

NCBW Mardi Gras 2025
Sat, 08 Feb, 2025 at 07:00 pm NCBW Mardi Gras 2025

Chattanooga Convention Center

Chattanooga is Happening!

Never miss your favorite happenings again!

Explore Chattanooga Events