We Change and So Should Our Characters: Fiction with Jacinda Townsend
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WINSTON-SALEM, NC—According to the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus, nothing in life is permanent, nor can it be, because the very nature of existence is change. Or, as Bob Dylan sang, "He not busy being born is busy dying."
Life is full of changes, and the same should be true in our fiction. Change sparks action which sparks conflict which sparks reader interest. Easy, right?
On Wednesday, December 9, at 7:00 pm EST, author Jacinda Townsend will lead the online class "Finding Your Voice" (fiction).
Registration is closed.
The cost for the class is $35 for NCWN members, $45 for non-members. Space is limited.
D.H. Lawrence once wrote, "Tragedy is like strong acid—it dissolves away all but the very gold of truth." Having traveled through the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all had the kind of intense collective experience that has changed our sense of time, our sense of the past, our sense of the future, our sense of ourselves. Accordingly, in this class, we will focus on the theme of "alteration," marrying theme to narrative as we explore, in our work, the ways in which characters reshape their senses of selves and their senses of other characters. We will talk a bit about Kevin Brockmeier's novel The Brief History of the Dead and Chris Cleave's novel Little Bee; though you need not have read the novels beforehand, you may find it helpful to have done so. We will do a bit of writing in our time together: you need not write work about the pandemic itself, though you are welcome to digest and/or heal this experience through your fiction. We will also focus a bit on creative process, with an opening discussion on the practices that most help us cook.
Jacinda Townsend is the author of Saint Monkey (Norton, 2014), which is set in 1950s Eastern Kentucky and won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for historical fiction. Saint Monkey was also the 2015 Honor Book of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.
"Finding Your Voice" is part of the North Carolina Writers' Network's 2020-2021 series of online classes.
"The Network has offered online programming since 2016," said NCWN communications director Charles Fiore. "We're proud to already have the educational framework in place that allows us to continue to serve the writers of North Carolina, and beyond, during this time of social distancing."
The online class "Finding Your Voice" is available to anyone with an internet connection, or who even owns just a telephone. Instructions for accessing the online class on Wednesday, December 9, will be sent to registrants no less than twenty-four hours prior to the start of class. The class will be archived and made available to registrants for repeated viewings.
The nonprofit North Carolina Writers’ Network is the state’s oldest and largest literary arts services organization devoted to writers at all stages of development. For additional information, visit www.ncwriters.org.
Thank You to the Sponsors of The Writingest State Online Conference
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Registration for The Writingest State Online Conference is now, closed, and we look forward to welcoming all the attendees starting tomorrow, Tuesday, November 10!
We are grateful to our sponsors, who helped make this event possible. Please take a moment to check out their websites, utilize their services, and support them as they support the literary arts.
Freedom.to is the sponsor of the "NaNoWriMo Gathering" on Thursday, November 12. Freedom.to can:
- Block websites and apps or the entire internet if you want to. With your distractions blocked, you can get into your workflow and stay on task.
- Help break the habit of checking whatever digital source is beckoning. The more you experience Freedom time, the more you’ll find it indispensable.
- Treat your email like a mailbox (the mail comes and goes once a day) and enjoy your social media proactively on your time (not in respond mode.)
Over 1,000,000 Freedom users have gained control over their relationship with technology and protectetd themselves from online distractions, improving their productivity. You can too!
The "Online Happy Hour" on Tuesday, November 10, and the "One More for the Road Happy Hour" on Saturday, November 10, are sponsored by Alice Osborn: Author/Book Coach/Editor. Alice serves as a critiquer for NCWN's Critiquing and Editing Service; she's the author of three poetry collections; and she's also a singer-songwriter. Her new album is Searching for Paradise. Alice serves as the Secretary on the Board of Trustees for the North Carolina Writers' Network and serves as Regional Rep for Wake County.
Plottr will sponsor the "Prompt Party" on Saturday, November 14. Outline faster, plot smarter, and turbocharge your productivity today with the #1 visual book planning software for writers! Plottr helps you:
- Quickly outline your book with visual story cards
- Filter your timeline by characters, places, and tags
- Color-coordinate your storylines to keep them organized
- Flip the timeline to view it vertically or horizontally
For a free 30-day trial, visit www.getplottr.com.
The University Press of Kentucky is the publisher of Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle's debut novel, Even as We Breathe. They will sponsor her Opening Conversation with Therese Anne Fowler on Wednesday, November 11. The University of Kentucky has sponsored scholarly publication since 1943. Currently, the press publishes 50-55 titles per year, focusing on tiles of high scholarly merit in a variety of fields and the publication of significant books about the history and culture of Kentucky, the Ohio Valley region, the Upper South, and Appalachia.
Katie Winkler is a trustee of NCWN and the editor of Teach.Write. She'll sponsor the Open Mic sessions on Saturday, November 10. The Fall/Winter 2020 issue of Teach. Write.: A Writing Teachers’ Literary Journal is now available. Katie lives in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. She is a writer, teacher, wife, and mother in love with all of her jobs. She is the former NCWN Regional Rep for Henderson County and is on the English Faculty at Blue Ridge Community College.
Overall support is provded by the generous contribution of the North Carolina Arts Council, which, over more than a half-century of leadership, has provided resources for arts programming, education, and leadership across the state.
The Writingest State Online Conference is a five-day festival for writers featuring classes and conversations on the craft and business of writing, as well as a keynote address by North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green, a NaNoWriMo Gathering and a Prompt Party to get creative juices flowing, online Open Mic readings and Happy Hour virtual gatherings, and an Agents & Editors panel discussion.