Now Registering
FALL 2008
CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS
• Writing About Your Life: A Memoir and Personal Essay Workshop
• Fiction Writing (Greenwich)
• Fiction Writing (Westport)
• Fiction Writing: Crafting Your Novel
• The Examined Life (Advanced)
• Memoir Writing: Telling Our Stories
• The Business of Freelance Writing
• How To Write an Irresistible Nonfiction Book Proposal
Writing About Your Life: A Memoir and Personal Essay Workshop
with Jessica Bram
Workshop Description
Have you ever wished you could communicate your thoughts in a compelling, well-written personal essay? Or do you wish to get started writing your memoirs, but don't know how to begin?
Everyday life offers us unlimited opportunities for reflection and for making sense of the world around us. Join us for this friendly, supportive workshop in which to learn how to explore the fascinating material generated by our own lives, in either the personal essay or memoir form.
Emphasis will be on writing craft. Participants will develop and practice the various narrative techniques to make the work more engaging, interesting, and effective.
All writing will be done prior to each workshop meeting. Participants may either work on material they already have in mind to write, or write optional written "assignments" designed to spark your imagination and inspire your creativity. Each participant's material will be shared each week in a constructive and supportive atmosphere designed to develop participants' critiquing skills while elevating the quality of the work.
WHEN:
8 Tuesdays, 2 to 4 p.m.:
Sept. 23, Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28, Nov. 11, 18, 25
WHERE:
32 Webb Road, Westport
COST:$395 for 8-week session.
MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 6
Fiction Writing (Greenwich)
With Suzanne Hoover, Ph.D.
Workshop Description
You are writing a novel ... or finally ready to make that long-held goal come true. If you are ready to start the journey, to plunge courageously into the writer's world of inventing and problem-solving, this workshop is for you. And be assured, you will be helped and guided at every step along the way.
This workshop will go deeply into the art and craft of fiction, including: structuring the story, characterization, point of view, plotting, sub-plotting, scene construction, dialogue, dramatic tension, pacing, and narrative voice. As these issues arise in the class readings and discussions, they will be explored for everyone's benefit.
The workshop is geared to writers whose stories are already on the way, or at least have already been conceived. We will take turns lighting the way for each other.
WHEN:
8 Mondays, 7 to 9:30 p.m.:
Sept. 22, Oct. 6, 13, 20, 27, Nov. 10, 17, 24
WHERE:
Round Hill Community Church
395 Round Hill Road, Greenwich
(Exit 28 off Merritt Parkway)
COST:
$475 for 8-week session.
MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 7
Fiction Writing (Westport)
With Suzanne Hoover, Ph.D.
Workshop Description
You are writing a novel ... or finally ready to make that long-held goal come true. If you are ready to start the journey, to plunge courageously into the writer's world of inventing and problem-solving, this workshop is for you. And be assured, you will be helped and guided at every step along the way.
This workshop will go deeply into the art and craft of fiction, including: structuring the story, characterization, point of view, plotting and sub-plotting, scene construction, dialogue, dramatic tension, pacing, and narrative voice. As these issues arise in the class readings and discussions, they will be explored for everyone's benefit.
The workshop is geared to writers whose stories are already on the way, or at least have already been conceived. We will take turns lighting the way for each other.
WHEN:
8 Mondays, 2 to 4:30 p.m.:
Sept. 22, Oct. 6, 13, 20, 27, Nov. 10, 17, 24
WHERE
32 Webb Road, Westport
COST:
$475 for 8-week session.
MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 7
Fiction Writing: Crafting Your Novel
with Suzanne Hoover, Ph.D.
Workshop Description:
This is an advanced workshop for those who have already written a draft of a novel and are open to reworking and improving it, or those who have begun a first draft and want guidance about how to proceed.
Participants will read from their work each week with the objective of crafting it into a complete, publishable novel. Our work, while based on the specific materials brought to the meetings, will cover the full range of technical issues, including: story structure, character development, scene structure, creating strong conflict, effective and exciting dialogue, ironies and reversals. Strong emphasis will be given to finding your narrative voice and uncovering your story's thematic depths. You will be encouraged to bring your toughest questions and novel-crafting challenges to the meetings.
This is an exciting opportunity to learn advanced techniques from a master teacher of fiction writing craft. Suzanne Hoover holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University in English and Comparative Literature. The author of two novels, Suzanne was for 25 years, until her recent retirement, a full-time member of the Literature faculty of Sarah Lawrence College, where she taught narrative craft and story structure to students in the prestigious Graduate Writing Program. She is currently on that graduate program's faculty. Prior to teaching at Sarah Lawrence, Suzanne taught literature at Wellesley College. For 20 years Suzanne also taught courses in writing at the non-credit Sarah Lawrence Writing Institute.
WHEN:
8 Tuesdays, 2 to 4:30 pm:
Sept. 23, Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28, Nov. 11, 18, 25
WHERE:
Round Hill Community Church
395 Round Hill Road, Greenwich
(Exit 28 off Merritt Parkway)
COST:
$475 for 8-week session.
MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 7
The Examined Life (Advanced)
with Jessica Bram
Workshop Description
Everyday life offers us unlimited opportunities for reflection and for making sense of the world around us. Join us to explore the fascinating material generated by our own lives and at the same time, develop the writing techniques to make the writing more engaging, interesting, and effective.
This smaller workshop is geared to the more advanced writer working on material intended for publication. It is appropriate for all genres of nonfiction including personal essays, memoir, and opinion writing. Written work will be shared in a constructive and supportive atmosphere intended to elevate the caliber of the work.
WHEN:
8 Thursdays, 2 to 4 p.m.:
Sept. 25, Oct. 2, 16, 23, 30, Nov. 6, 13, 20
WHERE:
32 Webb Road, Westport
COST:
$425 for 8-week session
MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 6
Memoir Writing: Telling Our Stories
with Jessica Bram
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
What better reason is there to write one's memoirs than to pass down a wealth of material and wisdom to the next generations?
This is a friendly, supportive workshop in which to write your memoirs, share your memoirs with others, and learn good writing techniques to make your work interesting and enjoyable. This workshop is ideal for beginners who wish to get started writing their memoirs for the first time. It is also geared to those who have already done some memoir writing and are ready to share and further shape their work.
Participants will read from their work each week, with the objective of receiving feedback in a constructive and supportive atmosphere. Emphasis will be on developing narrative techniques to make the memoir interesting, informative, and compelling. These include: use of scene and summary, internal and external dialogue, character development, sensory experience, and descriptive elements.
WHEN:
8 Fridays, 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m.:
Sept. 26, Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, Nov. 7, 14
WHERE:
32 Webb Road, Westport
COST:
$395 for 8-week session.
MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 7
The Business of Freelance Writing
with Susan Farewell
This is an advanced workshop for students who are fairly comfortable with their writing abilities and who may have been published before. The purpose of the workshop will be to develop and expand income producing opportunities for one's writing. Participants will learn techniques for crafting effective pitches, cultivating contacts within the industry, juggling work assignments and making the writing more marketable. It will also address other issues of freelance writing including accounting, insurances, and legal issues.
Students will have weekly deadlines and be encouraged to make substantial progress on the projects they choose to pursue during the duration of the workshop. Students will receive handouts that contain examples of pitches and query letters, industry contacts, writing tips, writer's organizations and more.
Susan Farewell is an accomplished freelance writer who for more than fifteen years has managed her own successful freelance writing business, writing books, magazine, newspaper and Internet articles. Prior to that she had a ten year career as a travel editor and staff writer at Condé Nast Publications in New York City. Her work has been published throughout the United States and in European and Asian publications.
This workshop is especially appropriate for returning students of Susan Farewell's workshops.
WHEN:
6 Wednesdays, 7 to 9 p.m.
Oct. 1, 15, 22, 29, Nov. 5, 12
WHERE:
32 Webb Road, Westport
COST:
$325 for 6-week session.
MAXIMUM CLASS SIZE: 8
How To Register
Log on to www.westportwritersworkshop.
For questions or more information contact Jessica Bram at (203) 227-3250 or jessica@
