Network Conferences

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 V Classes

Sunday, October 31, 11:00 am-12:30 pm

FICTION - Who is This Person Anyway: Knowing Your Characters Inside Out, with Judy Goldman
You must know more about your characters than you will ever use directly. You should know them so well -- their physical traits, emotional traits, what they want from life -- that you're actually inside them. Judy will give specific exercises to help you get a grasp of your characters so that they truly have their own lives and act accordingly.

FICTION/NONFICTION - Jumpstart Your Writing Practice, with Quinn Dalton
We'll discuss strategies for overcoming common writing challenges, such as making time for writing, setting realistic goals, getting started on new projects, getting "unstuck," and building a support network. An in-class exercise will show you how to jumpstart your creative impulse when you feel you just don't know what to write. You'll leave refreshed-and with a list of writing resources in hand.

POETRY - Strategies and Concepts of Closure, with Tony Tost
We'll look closely at different approaches to closure, from Frost's "ending with wisdom" to contemporary anti-closure ideas. The course will be built around Wallace Stevens, the 20th century master of closure, with a myriad of strategies for closures. We'll work on in-class exercises and students should feel free to bring their own poems to try out various 'closing' techniques.

NONFICTION - Discovering Authentic Voice in Memoir, with Sebastian Matthews
Annie Dillard, in The Writing Life, urges us not to become the boorish drunk in the bar who holds the listener hostage with our sob story. This is particularly important in the writing of memoir, a form that combines personal histories with necessary fictions. Taking as examples the openings of a number of contemporary memoirs, we will discuss the possibilities for creating "authentic voice" and explore a variety of techniques used in establishing the vantage points from which the first person narrator can speak. The workshop will include writing exercises.

SCREENWRITING - Introduction to Dramatic Screenwriting, Part II, with Ramin Bahrani
In this two-part class we will explores the basic principles of dramatic screenwriting: how to focus your idea and move it forward to the obligatory scene, the climax and a finished screenplay. We will also discuss laws of conflict, dramatic action, unity in terms of climax, and character. Students should bring either a 1-3 page scene they have written from a screenplay or a 1-3 page treatment for a feature screenplay.

WRITING LIFE - Finding the "Write" Group: Practical Advice on How to Locate or Create the Writers' Group for You, with Darnell Arnoult, Virginia Boyd, Pamela Duncan, and Lynn York
Are you considering joining a writers' group but are slightly daunted by the much-maligned stereotype of a random group of neurotics who spend all their time staring at their navels and whining about their "Work"? (Not that complaining doesn't have its purpose.) Well, take heed and take our advice - we've all been there. And we would be glad to share our nearly 40-years collective writing-group experience with you! We'll talk about Getting Started: Identifying where you belong; Avoiding the Cliché: Pitfalls and practicalities; and Staying on Track: Adapting to your own progress. Take it from us -- if you find the right fit, you may find not only your first readers and an entrée into a professional network but also an invaluable group of friends who can support and sustain you along the frequently difficult road to publication.

MARKETING - The Check Is In the Mail, with Bridgette Lacy and Kirsten Mullen
Do you need the money to buy diet sodas as you write your first novel? How about keeping the lights on and the roof over you head as you turn a book project into the movie of the week? Join published writers Kirsten Mullen, the recipient of several research grants and the Archie Green Occupational Folklore Fellowship and Bridgette A. Lacy, the recipient of several grants including the 1994-95 La Napoule Fellowshop in France. Mullen and Lacy will show you how to figure out if you and your targeted funder are a match. They will also point out common mistakes and offer instructions on pulling together an application worthy of funding.