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 Khalastchi
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

Shannon Olson

He Said/She Said: Writing Prose Dialogue
One-Week Workshop
June 8–13

The Art Of The Anecdote
One-Week Workshop
June 15–20

Biography

He Said/She Said: Writing Prose Dialogue
One-Week Workshop
June 8–13

When dialogue in a piece of fiction or nonfiction is working, it breathes air and life into a narrative, drives the story forward, complicates it, and helps to create rich, believable characters. But when dialogue isn’t working, it’s like tossing a wrench in the machinery of your story—things get messy and clunky and the reader gets turned off. So how do you write the kind of believable dialogue that keeps your work running smoothly? When should we hear a character speak, and when should information be related to the reader through other narrative techniques? What are the limitations of dialogue? How does it work in concert with scene and character development? How can dialogue be used to complicate a character or story? Are some forms of dialogue more realistic and others more stylized?

In this workshop, we’ll examine dialogue in a number of different short fiction and nonfiction pieces, and we’ll do in-class writing exercises designed to help you develop your work and write smarter, sharper, richer dialogue. Each student will have an opportunity to workshop one piece in progress. This is designed to be a fun, informal workshop for writers at all levels who are looking for advice about and fresh approaches to writing dialogue. We’ll start with the very basics (how does dialogue function with the other elements of a scene?) and move on from there.

The Art Of The Anecdote
One-Week Workshop
June 15–20

We’ve all read memorable anecdotes writing we found amusing, entertaining, or profoundly moving. The anecdote has been the focus and the building block of both fiction and nonfiction writers as different in style and voice as Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker, Jim Heynen, Erma Bombeck, Jo Ann Beard, and Garrison Keillor. All of these writers have been able to take (or create) a small, often humorous personal story or event and develop it into a more extensive piece of prose. Through readings, in-class exercises, short assignments, discussion, and critique, we will practice this art of the small story.

Biography
Shannon Olson is the author of the novels Welcome to My Planet: Where English Is Sometimes Spoken (Viking 2000; Penguin 2001) and Children of God Go Bowling (Viking 2004). She has an M.F.A. from the University of Minnesota, where she has taught fiction and nonfiction writing, and recently co-taught a humor writing course with Garrison Keillor. She has written articles and reviews for The Guardian (London), InStyle, The Minneapolis StarTribune, and Minnesota Monthly. She is currently Assistant Professor of English at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.

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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