Powerful Methods for Engaging Readers of Fiction
The workshop will provide writers with a powerful set of methods that I use for writing fiction to ensure that readers are drawn in, kept engaged, and begin to care deeply for the characters.
For the workshop Chitra will refer to her novel Sister of My Heart, but would like participants to have read her short story “Clothes” from the collection called Arranged Marriages as well.
led by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Mystery and Detective Fiction
Participants will learn the techniques of creating interesting and memorable characters and how to build a story from putting their characters in stressful situations—sorta like life. The watchwords for page turning plots are “make it worse for your characters.” We will learn to be ruthless and unkind. While we are at it, we will take a crack at artfully punishing the villainous, rewarding the just, and mocking the foolish. All worthwhile endeavors in fiction and life. Be prepared to write.
led by David Sundstrand
Point of View and Finding your Voice
Participants will tackle the techniques of storytelling. Who tells the story and how? Will the narrator be an observer, like Nick Carroway in The Great Gatsby or will the main character tell his own story, as did Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye? Will the narration be in first person, omniscient, limited omniscient, etc.? What are the advantages and limitations of these narrative forms? How about tense? For example, if the story’s narrator chooses to spin the yarn in the present tense, what does the story gain or lose? Be prepared to write.
led by David Sundstrand
The Short and Shorter of It: The Theory and Practice of Flash Fiction
What is flash fiction (or sudden fiction or micro fiction or short short fiction)? We know it is short, but is it a story? Can such brief writing include the necessary elements of fiction like plot and character? This workshop will examine different theories of flash fiction and the strategies employed to maximize the emotional impact of such short prose. We will also look at the emerging genres of the flash novella and the flash memoir. Among the writers briefly discussed: Robert Olen Butler, Lydia Davis, and Steve Almond. The workshop will begin and end with a very short writing exercise.
led by Chella Courington
Real Magic
A brief introduction to the genre of Magical Realism; where we find it and where it can take us. Some helpful roads “into” the genre and a chance to create your own real magic.
led by Tim Hayes
