Let’s Go Write presents:
Half-Day Workshops
Jump-start your writing in the new year with some half-day workshops on various aspects of the writing craft in January and February. Here are the details:
January 6, 2018 – CREATE YOUR CHARACTERS
It all starts with character! We can help you:
–Create a character,
–Develop a character you’ve created,
–Tame a rebellious character you’ve created.
January 20, 2018 – USE YOUR SETTING
Explore the role of setting in fiction and memoir:
–Enrich character through setting,
–Consider how place influences story,
–Examine the relationship between landscape and theme.
February 3, 2018 – LEARN THE SECRETS OF STRUCTURE
More exploration:
–Construct a scene, the basic building block of structure,
–Learn screenplay structure and how to use it in your novel or memoir, i Review other theories of structure.
February 17, 2018 – FIND YOUR VOICE
And finally we’ll look at the all-important (and often elusive) voice:
–Define what it is and how to get it,
–Explore voice through language,
–See how voice affects other fiction and memoir fundamentals.
THE DETAILS:
1:30 to 4:30 pm
$47 per session; $160 for all four twelve-student limit
Venue: TaborSpace Library
5441 SE Belmont St., Portland, Oregon 97215 http://letsgowrite.com/
Debbie: dguyol@aol.com
Charlotte: chardixon@comcast.net
HAUNTED: A ONE-DAY WRITING WORKSHOP
OCTOBER 28, 2017
“[O]ur life really is a haunted one. The simplest thing in it is a mystery,
the invisible world always lies round us like a shadow . . . .” Harriet Beecher Stowe
Haunted is the theme for our October workshop. A haunted house . . . a haunted landscape . . . a haunted soul. Anything can be haunted. Everything may be haunted. Join our workshop; investigate the dark side!
Character: A character can be haunted or haunting or haunter. The haunted protagonist, the haunting antagonist, some combination of the two. Is the haunter a ghost? Only the writer can say. We’ll play with how to haunt your characters.
Setting: What makes a place haunted? Memories? A spooky look? The presence of haunting spirits? We’ll explore ways to make your settings scarier – or maybe more hauntingly lovely.
Suspense: We’ll discuss creating and sustaining suspense, focusing on tension, the backbone of suspense and the engine of story.
The Invisible World: Let’s evoke it on the page!
Put It All Together: We’ll think about ways to use the haunted concept in your works in progress – or in something completely new.
THE DETAILS:
October 28, 2017, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm; $95 including lunch; ten-student limit
Venue: Another Read Through, 3932 N Mississippi Ave, Portland, OR 97227
Contact Debbie, dguyol@aol.com or Charlotte, chardixon@comcast.net for more info, or to sign up!
PREVIOUS PORTLAND WORKSHOPS:
Let’s Go Write presents:
ESSENCE OF THE PERSONAL ESSAY and SUBSTANCE OF THE SHORT STORY
SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm – ESSENCE OF THE PERSONAL ESSAY
1. Read an essay. We’ll give you a short personal essay to read ahead of class
2. What makes an essay an essay? We’ll briefly discuss the many forms an essay can take, the many elements it can comprise
3. Brainstorm essay ideas
4. Write your own essay. Or get started. Come away with at least one short essay or essay start and a whole lot of inspiration for writing more.
SATURDAY, JULY 8, 9:30 am to noon – SUBSTANCE OF THE SHORT STORY
1. Read a short story. We’ll provide you with one to read before class
2. Elements of a successful short story. Beginnings, middles and sometimes-daunting ends
3. How short stories differ from novels There’s more to it than just length
4. Working with the shorter character arc in stories. Make your characters come alive in a few pages
5. Brainstorm story ideas and begin your own!
THE DETAILS: Cost: $47 for one workshop, $87 for both; ten-student limit Venue: TaborSpace, 5441 SE Belmont Street, Portland.
Contact Debbie: dguyol@aol.com or Charlotte: chardixon@comcast.net
PREVIOUS PORTLAND WORKSHOPS:
Let’s Go Write presents:
STRUCTURE SIX WAYS (OR MAYBE SEVEN)
A One-day Workshop
Jean Anouilh: “Life is very nice, but it lacks form. It’s the aim of art to give it some.”
- You’re working on a book-length project, or
- You’re writing short stories or essays, or
- You’re confused about structure and need help applying it.
WE CAN HELP!
Our workshop explores many facets of structure.
1. The long and the short of it. Are there rules of structure? Are they different for short-form versus book-length pieces? An overview of the big picture and big questions.
2. The structural skeleton – beginning, middle, end; or set-up, build-up, payoff. Learn why structure is like sex.
3. Working with more than one story line or character or idea. Parallel structure in which the stories or characters or ideas progress in tandem; Braided structure in which apparently different threads are woven together – and tied with a bow at the end.
4. Playing with time – flashback and backstory.
5. Short form – the essay, “a glorious thought excursion” according to Phillip Lopate.
6. Short form – the short story. One formula, by Alice Adams: ABCDE. Learn what it means and how it works.
7. Structure in five big scenes. A group exercise that will leave you begging for more.
THE DETAILS: February 18, 2017, 9:30 am to 4:00 pm $97 including lunch; 10-student limit Another Read Through, 3932 N Mississippi Ave., Portland, OR 97227 Debbie: dguyol@aol.com; Charlotte: chardixon@comcast.net.
PREVIOUS PORTLAND WORKSHOPS:
Let’s Go Write presents
CREATING CHARACTERS
A One-day Workshop
- You have an idea for a book, or
- You’ve started writing one, or
- You’ve written a bunch – 50 pages or even 100 –
AND:
- You’re having trouble creating a character, or
- You are not satisfied with a character you’ve created, or
- A character you’ve created is rebelling.
WE CAN HELP! Our workshop concentrates on character:
1. Meet your character: name, age, living situation; her ordinary world and how she interacts with it; what makes her tick; her backstory.
2. Problems: She has to have at least one. What people or forces thwart your character? Another character? Circumstances? Or a conflict within the character herself? How does your character respond to the forces arrayed against her?
3. “Character is revealed through action” is a truism found in every writer’s handbook. What drives your character? What does your character drive? How do her actions – and words – express her character?
4. The dark side: Every character has one – let’s find hers.
5. Help from the self-help world: You can flesh out your character with help from some popular “category” systems. Myers-Briggs (16 types), Enneagrams (9 types), astrology (12 signs); Five Elements of traditional Chinese medicine.
6. Point of view: How does a character present herself, how is she perceived by other characters, how does an impersonal narrator present her?
7. Archetypes: A brief tour of archetypes (e.g., hero, villain, mentor) and how to use them.
THE DETAILS: December 3, 2016, 9:30 am to 4:00 pm $89 including lunch; twelve-student limit
Venue: Desk & Mug , 6006 N.E. Glisan, 97213
Debbie: dguyol@aol.com Charlotte: chardixon@comcast.net