Fall Conference 2004
Fall Conference 2004 was held in Research Triangle Park, NC, at the
Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Convention Center. The conference is over, but we have
left this conference information on the site so that you can refer to it as a model
of what our Fall Conference is like.
Session II Classes
Saturday, October 30, 11:00 am-12:30 pm
FICTION - Writing Historical Fiction, with John May
Critics have called the genre subliterary, called fictional historical characters wooden, and maintained that the genre provides little in the way of historical insight. We will thoroughly and utterly debunk these pitfalls and try an in-class exercise for practice, freeing you to compose that historical novel you've always wanted to write.
FICTION - What Happened Next? Narrative Tension in the Novel, with Joanna Catherine Scott
Come prepared to look at and discuss samples of narrative tension.
We'll work on how to grab your reader on page one of your novel and keep
her (him) turning pages to the end.
FICTION/NONFICTION - Surprising Yourself: The Free-written Draft, with Abigail DeWitt
Free-writing--writing quickly and without thinking--can help you go
straight to the heart of your subject. It allows you to say the
un-sayable and be surprised by your own revelations, images and turns of
phrase. Many writers use free-writing to launch their projects; we'll
talk about how to free-write an entire story, novel or memoir.
Free-writing not only gets the job done, it allows you to produce a
draft that is richer, more vivid and more startling than anything you
could have imagined. We'll do lots of fun exercises together to see how
this method works.
POETRY - A Place for the Senses, with Michael Chitwood
From Robert Frost to Elizabeth Bishop to James Wright, place has
played an important role in contemporary poetry. For some writers that
place is an entire region and for others it's as intimate as a backyard.
This workshop will take a look at how poets have used place as a way to
both ground and launch their poems. There will be a writing exercise to
give participants a start toward their own place poem.
NONFICTION - Travel Writing: Getting the Story, Getting It Published, with Marvin Hunt
The first part of this class will cover the major stages of travel
writing from conceiving an idea/destination to writing the story to
finding and persuading an editor/publisher to buy it. We'll also discuss
reselling and tax issues. The second part will be a workshop on writing
lead paragraphs--the most important part of a travel story. Participants
are invited to bring a lead graph (and photocopies) from an actual trip
they've taken. We will evaluate these, with a view toward clarifying
principles of effective leads.
NONFICTION - From Chocolate Cake to a Brain Tumor: How to Turn Personal Experiences into Stories for Publication, with Bridgette Lacy
A story can spring from something as simple as eating a slice of
cake to a life-changing event as catastrophic as having a brain tumor.
Lacy, a features writer for the Raleigh News & Observer and a freelancer for
magazines, has written stories about both. In this workshop, Lacy will
discuss how to turn personal experiences into newspaper and magazine
articles for mainstream publications. Come prepared to write and share
your own experiences during the workshop. Lacy will also talk about
markets for creative non-fiction.
CHILDREN'S - Writing Out Loud, with Donna Washington
Picture books are often shared out loud between older readers and
younger readers. Successful picture books are the ones that have music
in the language and melody in the words. A child can often say the words
in the book long before they can read the words in the book. They are
caught up in the rhythm of the words. In this workshop we will explore
the music of the spoken word and work on translating that onto paper.
The first step is hearing the music. Once you find the rhythm and music
in your story, you can work on finding the words. Come and explore the
synthesis between oral storytelling and telling a story in a picture
book.
FICTION/PLAYWRITING - Shakespeare...There Is a Reason, with Joan Darling
This session will be a one-woman performance and a discussion that
illustrates why Shakespeare is "The Man". Let Shakespeare inspire you to
challenge yourself as a writer. See how far a writer can go as a poet, a
character creator, and a dramatist.
MARKETING - Find the Right Agent for Your Work, with Katharine Sands
How does a writer get selected from the Leaning Tower of Queries in
a literary agent's office? Put together Your 'Getting an Agent' Action
Plan. Learn about the author-agent relationship. How to find, secure,
and work with an agent.
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