Alicia and I are very excited to announce the first ever edittorrent online workshop.
Starting September 1 and running for two weeks, I will be leading an intensive class in Fiction Structure. (Some of you out there may have taken the face-to-face version of this seminar and might be able to comment on what our workshoppers would be in for. *evil grin* Try not to scare them too much.)
We'll start by examining some of the classic theories analyzing structure (Aristotle, of course). This is all big-picture stuff that gives form and coherence to your story as a whole.
Then we'll look at mid-scale structure: scenes, sequences of scenes, and how to create coherency in blocks of actions. We'll talk about structural tricks for incorporating things like theme and motif in easy ways, all with the goal of making the text feel integrated.
We'll wrap up with a brief look a small-scale structure at the sentence and paragraph level, but if history can predict the future, we won't dwell too long on this part of the workshop. When I teach this class in person, we tend to spend a lot of time on the large scale and mid-scale sections, which is where the students seem to gravitate. I always want to cram in some thoughts on sentences and paragraphs, but I'm also willing to be guided by ongoing Q&A. That's the nature of a workshop. :)
This course will be conducted through a simple yahoo loop, meaning that you'll need to be able to join the yahoo group.
The cost will be US$50. There's a paypal button on the blog sidebar for those of you interested in signing up.
I'm leading this one, and Alicia will lead the October workshop. We'll be alternating months with this ongoing series, and I'll have more information for everyone on the course schedule soon. Some of you might recall that we talked about a different topic for the September workshop, but that particular one has been rescheduled.
Anyway, registration for the September workshop may begin now. The class size is limited, so you might want to sign up early.
Questions? You know where to post them. :)
Theresa
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12 comments:
Oooh!
Will Alicia's October workshop also be on structure?
When will you have a schedule of future workshops posted?
Did you know you can add "pages" to your blog by going to Posting > Edit Pages and clicking on the New Page button (and, thus, you could have a whole page devoted to your workshops with detailed descriptions that you can link to in the sidebar or below the header—but this only works if you converted to New Blogger some time in the last couple years)?
No, we're changing the topics each month. Alicia is out of town right now, and when she gets back, we'll finalize the schedule.
Yes, at some point we will add a workshop page. It will be on our website. Coming soon.
Theresa
$50 is a bit high for me. Are all the workshops going to be this expensive, or will you be offering some for $25/30?
If this is the same one as that all day class you gave in Kokomo in around 1995, I still use my notes from it to edit my books. I kind of want to take it again now.
Sign me up!!!! $50 is a bargain. The check is in the mail. Oh, you've heard that? Honest.
Anon, if we do some shorter workshops, the price would reflect that. This is a 2-week class.
Linda, wow, blast from the past. I did teach this class at least twice in Kokomo, and it would have been early/middle 90s-ish. Once was at IU-K and once was for a local writers' group, though I can't remember where that one took place. I taught several workshops for them and their meeting places varied, but I know I did this one because they always taped me and I still have the tapes. Were you part of that group? Friend of Diane's, maybe?
LOL@Wes :)
Theresa
This sounds fascinating. Is the course geared towards writers of general fiction, or romance novels, or both? I ask only because I am the type of learner who has to apply lessons to what I work on, not on things I won't (i.e. applying these concepts to a thriller or women's fiction--hence why The Writer's Journey and all that jazz doesn't work for me; I can identify it in other people's fiction, but not my own). *g*
Evangeline, most of it is geared toward all fiction. That is, the lessons apply to multiple genres. But there are lessons on specific structural concerns in thrillers and romance -- and I forget what else, just off the top of my head. But yes, we do look at particular concerns for different story types along the way.
Theresa
Online classes in the sense of video conferencing and a set time?
Ruth, no need to be somewhere on a set time. It's all done in email. :) So if you're in Singapore, you don't have to get up at 2 am. Or stay up to 2 am.
It's interesting how little timezones matter on the internet. I'm taking a class in online education, and the teacher said it's a good idea to make the members of a small group all in the same timezone. I didn't quite understand what she meant at first! But study groups have to chat, I guess, and timezones matter then.
Alicia
You were in Kokomo? Too funny. I never mention it by name but that's my heroine's hometown. The decrepit place she never, never wants to go back to. LOL!
Jami, I visited Kokomo pretty frequently around that time period. Never lived there, though.
Theresa
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