WS301 The Craft of Writing - Fall Edition

• Dates:   September/October Saturday afternoons. 2:00 to 4:00 PM

  1. September 30 Alecia McKenzie – Setting 

  2. October 7 Ellen Bryson – Revision 

  3. October 14  Janet Skeslien Charles – Architecture of Story 

1. Setting  —  This session will focus on how writers can enrich and enhance their descriptions of place and time by fully employing their senses, developing their own style, and avoiding clichés. We will also explore the relationship between setting and characters, as well as plot and perspective. The session will include writing exercises.

2. It Ain't the Writing, It's the Rewriting —  The real pleasures of writing comes after that never-very-good first draft we have all written.  We'll look at how to pluck out the unnecessary, how to lift up your verbs, how to heighten emotion and tension by word choice and placement, and even how to use sentence length and white space to increase interest and tension. Focusing first on outside examples, we will then practice on texts of yours. 

3. The Architecture of Stories —  How do writers tell stories? In this two-hour workshop, we’ll examine elements such as voice, description, and point of view. Each is an important building block that helps create a story. We’ll read and discuss works by other writers to study how they have “built” their stories. In a warm, supportive atmosphere, an in-class exercise will focus on improving powers of observation.

About the Instructors

1. Alecia McKenzie, author of Satellite City, and Sweetheart.   www.aleciamckenzie.com

2. Ellen Bryson, author of The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno.    ellenbryson.com 

3. Janet Skeslien Charles, author of The Paris Library and in 2024 The Librarians of Rue de Picardie.                                                 JSkeslienCharles.com

PLEASE NOTE: WICE Members can take a single class at 50€. Please email creativewriting@wice-paris.org if you need more information.