Kapow! When You Can’t Avoid Physical Contact with Terese Svoboda
September 13, 2025
4-5:15pm ET
Virtual (Zoom)
$25
The next lecture in our 2025 Lecture Series takes place Saturday, September 13, from 4-5:15pm ET with Terese Svoboda, author of OS #130, “Bomb Jockey.” Terese will be lecturing about conflict.
Kapow! When You Can’t Avoid Physical Contact
Writing a realistic fight scene is harder to write than a good sex scene. Sure you can summarize, but maybe the story begs to raise its stakes for its most incendiary plot shift or conclusion. I’ll talk about when and where in your story a fight will resonate best, what the reader needs to know before it explodes, the advantages (and combinations) of various points-of-view, characters and their fighting styles, pacing, and what each specific battle event means for the overall outcome. Fight scenes are also a lot like narrating a party: a lot of moving parts. Writing a fight scene is a lot harder than getting it fed to you visually, and it’s a skill that’s useful in psychological tussles as well as hand-to-hand. How close is the protagonist when he trashes your beef bourguignon? Attendees can look forward to a spirited discussion about assigned reading materials, and two guided writing exercises.
This is part of our 2025 Lecture Series. You can purchase the entire series by going here.
About Terese Svoboda:
A Guggenheim fellow and the author of twenty-four books of poetry, fiction, memoir, biography and translation, Terese Svoboda has won the Bobst Prize in fiction, the Iowa Poetry Prize, an NEH translation grant, the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize, a Jerome Foundation and NEA media grants, the O. Henry Award for the short story, and a Pushcart Prize for the essay. Three-time winner of the NYFA fellowship, she has been awarded Headlands, James Merrill, Yaddo, MacDowell, Bogliasco, Hermitage, Hawthorden, and Bellagio residencies. Her opera WET premiered in L.A.’s Disney Hall. The speculative novel Roxy and Coco and her third collection The Long Swim garnered a full-page in the NYTBR this May. Her second memoir, Hitler and My Mother-in-Law, will be published this year.
How It Works
When you register, you’ll be enrolled in a portal on Thinkific, our online learning platform, which will give you access to the Zoom link for the lecture along with any reading you’ll need to complete in advance of the class. This is also where the videos will be uploaded after the lectures take place.
FAQ
When can I register for this class?
Registration is open now and will remain open throughout the year.
Will I be able to interact with the lecturers?
Yes. Students will be able to ask questions and chat with lecturers during the live lectures. There will be no instructor engagement once the lecture concludes.
How much time will the class take?
Each lecture runs between one hour to one hour and fifteen minutes.
Can I take the class on my phone?
Yes, the class can be taken on a phone.
Do you offer financial aid or scholarships for this class?
If the cost of the class is a significant burden, please email edu.support@one-story.com
Will the lecture be recorded?
Yes. Visit the Thinkific portal to watch a recording of the lecture once it concludes. Students will have access to the portal with the recording for one year after the purchase date.
Discounts & Policies
Our online classes are designed to be safe spaces for all who participate. One Story will not tolerate hate speech, bullying, or harassment directed toward instructors or fellow students, and reserves the right to remove participants who engage in such behavior from our classes.
Refund Policy: One Story class payment is non-refundable after the class’s start date. For this class, refunds are no longer available after September 11, 2025. For questions about the refund policy, or if you are unable to take the class after you have registered, please contact maribeth@one-story.com.
If you have any questions, please contact edu.support@one-story.com.
