Writing, published work, interviews, and community

Teaching, advanced and introductory levels

Photography, projects and Instagram

TALKING ABOUT WRITING

Interviews

"Reneé and the land of Open Carry," interview by Oscar Marten

Issue 039 Author Interview: Renee Bibby and “Don’t Stop”

Celebrating writers

the Wilds

Reneé previously served as a contributing editor to the Wilds, a curated literary guide of Platypus Press. The daily showcase included weekly picks by Reneé. On indefinite hiatus, you can still read Reneé’s reviews here.

CONSTANTLY ORGANIZING

Rejection Competition

Every year, Reneé runs a friendly competition to see who can acquire the most literary rejections in a calendar year. Learn more at Rejection Competition.

Classes

Domestika

Reneé has a self-paced online video class at Domestika.

The Art of Creative Writing: Learn Storytelling Techniques

Explore fundamental writing structures to create a compelling narrative roadmap through storytelling devices and character development

A good story is defined by its ability to keep readers engaged—either turning pages or scrolling paragraphs until the last sentence. In order to do that, writer Reneé Bibby believes in creating a solid framework to allow the spark of an idea to grow into an immersive story. As the director of the Writers Studio Tucson, she guides her students to develop their narrative voice. 

In this course, Reneé teaches you how to hone your writing skills and lay the foundation for a compelling story. Take that great idea you have and transform into a literary piece that captivates readers. 

Teaching

The Writers Studio

Reneé teaches six-week classes throughout the year at the Writers Studio. Follow the link to find which class is currently available.

Unconventional Narratives

How do authors, like Jennifer Egan, Etgar Keret, Lucy Corin, Sarah Gailey, and Mark Danielewski, create strong persona narrators that build story in a variety of unusual formats? In this six-week class, you will sample diverse exercises that challenge your ideas about how persona narrators tell stories. In the weekly, 2.5 hour, unrecorded class we will discuss the week’s exercise, explore the model’s basic techniques and unconventional methods of storytelling, share work, and offer critiques. This class is open to new, current, and returning Writers Studio students.

Flash Fiction

Are you curious about this very short story form? Do you have a story you want to tell in about 1,000 words? Flash fiction is a fun challenge for any writer, and it’s a great way to explore different narrative styles and techniques. In this six-week class, we’ll look at several examples of very short fiction. Each week, you will write a short, complete prose piece modeled on a writer’s example. The teacher chooses these exercises from a variety of contemporary authors. In the weekly, 2.5 hour, unrecorded video class, we will discuss the week’s exercise, explore the power of flash for impactful storytelling, share work, and offer critiques. This class is open to new, current, and returning Writers Studio students.

Crafting Fantastic and Imaginative Worlds

Your favorite writers and poets of speculative literature (including science fiction, fantasy, and horror) use narrative techniques like persona narrators, point of view, and tone as well as worldbuilding to craft fantastic and imaginative worlds that parallel, reflect, and critique our own real world. Imagining utopias, dystopias, dinosaurs, aliens, monsters, magical beings and systems, and sentient cities and starships to speculate about past and future possibilities can inspire us to transform our present for the better. In the weekly, 2.5 hour, unrecorded video class, we will discuss the week’s exercise, explore the power of flash for impactful storytelling, share work, and offer critiques. This class is open to new, current, and returning Writers Studio students.

Photo Project

Walk the Line

The summer of 2008, Reneé launched portrait project of mixed-race people and families, seeking faces of people not represented in wider media. Visit the Walk the Line project on her Flickr page.

Reneé explains: "I worked with people who were racial Rorschach tests, people who sometimes negotiated multiple cultures. Sometimes they were people who had privilege to be solidly in one culture and sometimes they were people who had the privilege to jump between cultures. Either way, every day, the people I worked with had experiences similar to mine: walking the line between cultures and races. Sometimes that's a hard walk. And sometimes, as I photographed all these amazing people, I saw just how much it can be a beautiful place, too."