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Learn about The Writer's Center
Discover how to translate your passion for screenwriting into actionable skills. Every week students will build on the foundations of story, structure, character arcs, the do's and don'ts, industry standards, and the technical side of writing a script until they have a completed short screenplay that will be workshopped during the last weeks of class. We'll start with one page scripts, build to a three-page script, and finally five to ten page scripts for the final workshop. Please come to class with a few ideas you'd like to use to create a final script.
A practical plan that takes you from the mere germ of an idea all the way through the creative process, with an eye on getting a finished book into the hands of potential fans. We'll discuss how to transform the nub of an idea into a book-length project, populated with interesting characters, a twisty-turny plot, snappy dialogue, and an interesting setting. We'll also look at strategies for finding an agent and marketing the finished product. You’ll come away from the class with the encouragement to begin and perfect your writing project.
Participants will bring in work which to be workshopped by the entire class. This workshop will teach participnats how to edit other’s work, read like a writer, scrutinize sentences, and how to submit to magazines.
Helpful exercises and prompts can free your imagination and lead you to surprises in your writing. If you’ve already chosen a genre to pursue, this workshop can help you broaden your approach by using techniques from other genres. If you write poems, perhaps you could write poetic fiction. This will be a positive space in a can’t-fail atmosphere. Your writing is greeted with support and (often) applause from your workshop colleagues. Receive generative tips to take with you. You will leave with a finished poem and flash fiction or memoir excerpts—and the fun you had writing them. Bring your favorite writing instruments. If you have a poem or paragraph you love that makes you want to write, bring that too.