Creating
This section features discussions on the literary craftsmanship and techniques of composition.
Love it or hate it, creating believable, interesting dialogue is one of the most important skills to learn as a writer —and it can be one of the most challenging. Meredith Carroll and Ted Wenskus will lead a lively presentation focused on helping writers give voice to their characters and hone their dialogue-writing skills whether for fiction, plays, or audio dramas. We’ll share important tips on the uses of dialogue, examine its construction, and touch on some of the unique challenges that face writers of speculative fiction. We’ll also share examples of good and bad dialogue (feel free to bring your own examples, too) and run a brief workshop to see these tips in action.
Moderator: Ted Wenskus + Meredith Carroll
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: October 7, 2014 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
What is flash fiction and microfiction? How do I start? What about character and plot development? What do I leave in? And what must I leave out? This is a fun opportunity to write a really short story from scratch using speculative fiction prompts we will provide. Then, if you desire, you'll read your flash story aloud to receive feedback. Bring your favorite (but quiet) writing system – quill & ink, pen & paper or electronic tablet. (Please, no typewriters.) After describing the exercise process and selecting prompts, the Writing Phase begins.
Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: September 2, 2014 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
The topic of the meeting was writer's block. Janice Carello led a discussion of the problems, their causes, and some solutions, including some ideas about processes to reach solutions.
Click the title for links to sites with wild mythological and otherwise imagined animal art.
Let's say that you want to write a piece of fiction and you have no starting point whatsoever. No sense of time. place, location. No characters. No idea of the problem or challenge that they're facing, no notion of the beginning, the development, the outcome. A total blank.
What do you do?
