Writing Seminar - Pemberton

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WHISTLER WRITERS’ GROUP TAKES BEGINNER WRITERS TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Blue Square creative writing seminars run Mondays from Oct 19th – Nov 23 2009 and teach participants to recognize the germ of a good story, and how to make it bloom.


October 5, 2009

Pemberton, BC – Following the success of the Vicious Circle (Whistler Writers’ Group)’s Green Circle creative writing seminars in Whistler and Pemberton, the group is offering another 6 week writing course for “intermediate” level writers.
The Green Circle program, “Feeding the Seed: Growing the Brand New Writer”, ran for 6 weeks at the Pemberton and District Library in the spring, and was targeted at entry-level writers. Says instructor, Rebecca Wood Barrett, “The course went really well and the participants progressed remarkably, both in terms of their understanding of craft, and the ideas and stories they explored and developed.”  
Commencing October 19th, and running Mondays, from 7:00 – 9:00pm for six weeks at the Pemberton & District Library, the Blue Square program is now taking registration.
While Feeding the Seed was designed for people who have never written before, Growing a Story will focus more on the craft of writing stories.  15 spaces are available, and while graduates from the Feeding the Seed program will be taking part, participants do not need to have taken the earlier course to participate.
The main difference between this program and the earlier one is that, instead of focusing on growing new writers’ confidence in themselves, empowering them to take on the title of “writer”, the Blue Square program aims to open up new and challenging terrain, showing writers how to ripen their ideas and help them thrive, through an understanding of the fundamental craft elements of writing fiction and creative non-fiction.

Weekly lectures on the craft of writing will cover topics including What is Story, and How is it Different from an Anecdote?; Building Blocks of Fiction: including Exposition, Narrative Summary, Scene (Dialogue and Action); Creating Characters; Advancing Plot; Deciding on Point of View and Tense; The Writer’s Voice; and Where and How to Publish your Story.

In-class exercises, feedback and revision will draw on the lecture topics over 6 weeks to develop one story that, ultimately, will be ready to launch into the world. The final session, Wood Barrett will cover writing markets and where to publish the stories.
Wood Barrett is an honours graduate in Film Studies from Ryerson, and is completing her Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing at UBC. She is a published short story writer, an award-winning filmmaker, a television producer with Resort TV, and winner of the 2008 Postcard Jam. A self-described ‘genre-crosser’, she’s also delivered several workshops at previous Whistler Writers Festivals, including How to Pitch, and How to Write for Film.
To sign up for the course, which is offered for $120, go to www.theviciouscircle.ca/store.

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Contact: Stella Harvey, Whistler Readers & Writers Festival Director, Tel: 604 932 4518, Stella25@telus.net