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Workshop Descriptions & Instructors


Faith Adiele
Mary Allen
Kate Aspengren
Thomas Fox Averill
Nancy Barry
Timothy Bascom
Linda Bendorf
Venise Berry
Bruce Bond

Michael Dennis Browne
Susan Taylor Chehak
John Dalton
Thomas K. Dean
Amber Dermont
Kelly Dwyer
Hope Edelman
Josh Emmons
Katie Ford
Patricia Foster
Laura Fraser
Cecile Goding
Douglas Goetsch
Kevin González
John Griesemer
Sands Hall
Christine Hemp
Jim Heynen
Rick Hillis
Charles Holdefer
Richard Jackson
Cheryl Fusco Johnson
Wayne Johnson
Bret Anthony Johnston
Daniel Khalatchi
Zachary Lazar
Carolyn Lieberg
BK Loren
Fritz Mc Donald
James McKean
Gordon Mennenga
Katherine Min
Sharelle Byars Moranville
Michael Morse
Barbara Robinette Moss
Marc Nieson
Shannon Olson
Lon Otto
Juliet Patterson
Anjali Sachdeva
Sarah Saffian
Sam Samuels
Leslie Schwartz
Sandra Scofield
Mary Kay Shanley
Carol Spindel
Karen Subach
Mary Vermillion
Ashley Warlick
Jan Weissmiller
Bart Yates

Kelly Dwyer

Generating Fictional Ideas
Weekend Workshop
June 14–15

Plotting The Plot: Novel
Weekend Workshop
June 21–22

or

Weekend Workshop
July 12–13

 

Novel Ideas
One-Week Workshop
June 22–27

Stinky Magic: The Middle Grade Novel
Weekend Workshop
July 19–20

Biography

 

Generating Fictional Ideas
Weekend Workshop
June 14–15

You’ve set aside an afternoon to do nothing but write. The laundry’s done, the phone’s unplugged, you’re sitting in front of your computer/yellow legal pad, a cup of coffee/tea beside you, and: nothing.

In this weekend workshop, we’ll generate ideas through various in-class exercises and explore ways in which these ideas might turn into stories or novels. We’ll work on beginnings for the ideas we like best and share our results with one another, asking questions such as: What might this character do? Where might the plot be heading? What might be interesting ways to pursue the language or voice evoked? We’ll also work on generating momentum, so that a compelling first paragraph might lead to an interesting conflict.  Throughout it all, we’ll try to remember that as difficult as the struggle sometimes is, we’re writing because it’s fun.

By the end of the weekend, you’ll have enough characters, plots, and opening lines to break through the most pernicious writer’s block.

Plotting The Plot: Novel
Weekend Workshop
June 21–22

or

Weekend Workshop
July 12–13

“I don’t work with plots. . . . Plot implies narrative and a lot of crap.”—John Cheever

I too eschewed plot for some time, believing that it was an element beneath the attention of the serious literary writer, the domain of potboiler novelists, something mechanical and lowly. Then two things happened: I realized that I wanted to have more readers, and I wrote a plot outline for the first time. To my surprise, I found the exercise immensely helpful.

In this workshop, we’ll do various exercises to help us develop and deepen our plots. We’ll work on ways in which our plots might arise out of character, and we’ll discuss issues such as how to create more intensity and how to juggle and integrate more than one plot at a time. This workshop is for writers of all levels. Our primary focus will be on generating new material.

Novel Ideas
One-Week Workshop
June 22–27

Perhaps you feel you have a novel in you. Perhaps you even have a number of pages, but feel thwarted by the seemingly Herculean task of structuring a novel. Perhaps you’re asking yourself: now what?

It has been said that there are three rules to writing a novel but that, unfortunately, no one knows what they are. Still, we can probably agree that a novel should have a compelling beginning, an idea inspiring enough to sustain the writer through many drafts, and that a general outline or skeletal plot might come in handy. In this workshop, we will concentrate on generating novel ideas, on creating characters and conflicts, on writing an outline and finally, the beginning of a novel. We will then share our results with one another in a supportive and constructive workshop environment.

This class is for those who are struggling to write a novel, those who are thinking about writing a novel, and those who have always wanted to write a novel but were afraid to try.

Stinky Magic: The Middle Grade Novel
Weekend Workshop
July 19–20

Princesses and unicorns. Talking beasts. Fourth-graders who want to kill their little brothers. This is the territory of the middle grade novel, those books written for 8–12 year olds, who are in the period of what is often considered “the golden age of reading.”
           
In this workshop, we’ll do exercises and engage in discussion on elements such as how to develop plot, deepen characters, improve dialogue, and create setting, and we’ll also spend some time discussing general guidelines for this genre. After this workshop, you should come away with some ideas about what makes a strong middle grade novel, as well as some ideas for how to write—or continue to write—your own. This workshop is for writers of all levels. Our focus will be on generating new material.

Biography
A graduate of Oberlin College and The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Kelly Dwyer has written two novels, The Tracks of Angels and Self-Portrait with Ghosts,both published by Penguin Putnam Inc., and two children’s books, Sophie’s Magical Windmill and The Dream Tree,published by ArchitectureKIDS. She has been awarded a Michener/Engle Fellowship, a Wisconsin Arts Board Grant, and a Library Association Award for Outstanding Novel written by a Wisconsin Writer. Kelly lives in Baraboo, Wisconsin, with her husband and young daughter.

 

 

 

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Sponsored by the Division of Continuing Education
Iowa Summer Writing Festival
C215 Seashore Hall
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242

Phone 319-335-4160
FAX 319-335-4743
iswfestival@uiowa.edu

Last updated on February 11, 2008