Fairy tales are more than childhood stories—they hold critical lessons in tension, conflict, and transformation. In this one-day workshop, we’ll uncover how these timeless tales create suspense, surprise, and emotional stakes that keep readers spellbound.
Too often in short fiction, our characters get trapped in their own thoughts, or our prose lingers too long in beautiful exposition. This class will help you break free of that pattern. Together, we’ll study a single, powerful fairy tale to learn how to complicate our scenes, heighten tension, and weave conflict that feels both inevitable and unexpected—all while preserving your unique voice and style on the page.
Join me and rediscover how the magic of fairy tales can elevate your fiction.
• In-Class Writing Lift: Light
• Homework: Required
• Workshopping Drafts: Intensive
Jamie Figueroa writes toward memory and inherited silence from the thresholds—between languages, identities, and homelands. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer (Catapult, 2021) and Mother Island: A Daughter Claims Puerto Rico (Pantheon, 2024), a memoir-in-essays praised for its lyricism, boldness, and decolonial gaze. Her work appears in The New York Times, McSweeney’s, Elle, and American Short Fiction, among others. A recipient of the Truman Capote Award and a Bread Loaf Rona Jaffe Scholar, she teaches in the MFA Creative Writing program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Boricua (Afro-Taíno) by way of Ohio, she lives in northern New Mexico, where land and language are in constant conversation.
"This was the best Porch class I have attended thus far! Jamie was so well-prepared and knowledgable. Her language throughout class was inclusive, and it was clear she was passionate about the subject matter."
