Workshops on Honing Your Writing Skills

Fundamentals Of Fiction Writing

Give voices and stories to the characters that fill your imagination. Whether your fantasies take the form of short stories or a novel, this workshop prepares you to write fiction. You will apply the techniques that generations of fiction writers have used to bring their characters and stories to life. You will also develop your individual style and creative expression.

You will work with a published fiction author to write and revise short stories or a novel chapter, up to 3000 words total.

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Fundamentals of Life Stories Writing

Writing is an inherently private activity – and the most personal form is the journal. This is often the jumping off point for a more formal approach to life stories writing, but the inspiration can come from many other sources. You may be intimately familiar with the events and “characters” themselves, you may never have given the thought to the actual process of turning these personal memories and experiences into stories that can be read and enjoyed than others.

You will work with a published author to write and revise a story or memoir chapter (up to 2500 words) and engage in directed journaling, hands-on writing exercises and constructive critical feedback.

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Fundamentals of Nonfiction Writing

Nonfiction writing appeals to the amateur historian/anthropologist/psycholigst/biographer in all of us. When you pursue nonfiction writing, you can research, interview, and explore virtually any subject that interests you, and then write about what you’ve learned.

Contemporary nonfiction is more than facts and figures – readers expect their nonfiction to be engaging, compelling, entertaining and, of course, informative. Apply creative writing techniques to any nonfiction project, from personal essays to articles or full-length books. You will work with a published nonfiction writer to complete an article, collection of other related essays or a chapter of a nonfiction book (up to 2,500 words).

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Fundamentals of Poetry Writing

Poetry writing is a very personal art form; at its best it flows freely from the heart and soul of the poet. But poetry writing also has stylistic conventions and rhythmic patterns that—once understood and mastered—can enhance the emotional content of your verse with design and structure.

In this workshop, you will gain a working knowledge of the basic poetic forms and the fundamental techniques of writing both rhymed and free verse. But this is not a class for beginners —it is for more experienced poets looking to take their work to the next level through a thorough understanding of classical poetic structures and techniques. This workshop encourages personal discovery and the development of individual poetic “voice” through the use of directed exploration, hands-on writing exercises, and constructive critical feedback from a professional, published poet. When you have completed the workshop, you will have developed a body of poetic work based on significant personal experiences.

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Fundamentals of Writing For Children

Writing for children can be both personally and professionally rewarding. It means returning to a child’s point of view, full of wonder when learning something new and letting your imagination run wild. Bright, curious young readers demand realistic compelling characters and exciting plots just as much – if not more – than their adult counterparts.

While the focus of this workshop is fiction, the basic fundamentals can be applied to children’s nonfiction as well. Work with a published children’s author to write a complete children’s story book or chapters (up to 2000 words), for ages anywhere from five to fifteen.

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Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint

Discover how crucial decisions regarding characters, point of view, and authorial flexibility can generate an emotionally compelling work that your reader will love to explore. By beginning with your character and his or her viewpoint—and using key points in Nancy Kress’s Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion, & Viewpoint—you’ll learn how to craft characters so intriguing that your reader will be drawn in to learn more about their story with each turn of the page.

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Write Great Fiction: Description & Setting

In this course we’ll consider the importance of description and setting in creating a fully believable, fully realized fictional world. More importantly, we’ll consider what makes description effective—how precise language, combined with surprising ways of looking at familiar things, creates a full experience for a reader—and how you might begin employing these techniques in your own work to create characters and settings which hum with life.

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