Fall 2008 Workshops

SHARON POLLOCK

“Plotting Character in Action”

Saturday, September 13, 2008

1pm - 3pm

Calgary Public Library - Memorial Park Branch

“What happens next?” keeps a reader turning pages late into the night, and audiences glued to their theatre seats. This workshop will cover attributes of character and components of plot that together create conflict and complication fueling the dramatic engine that drives narrative forward, whether your play or fiction is event or character driven.

Participants are asked to provide, prior to the workshop, a sample (10 - 15 pages) of their writing. Participants’ work will provide the basis of discussion and dialogue, as well as illustrate specific aspects of the workshop topic.

A brief written review of participants’ submitted work available, if requested.

Deadline for submission: September 01, 2008

REGISTRATION IS FREE BUT SPACE IS LIMITED

To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 245

MARY JANE MAFFINI
"Step Over to the Dark Side: The Basics of Mystery Fiction"
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
6pm - 8pm
Ottawa Public Library - Main Branch

Find a voice for your inner sleuth at this initiation to mystery writing. This two-hour session aims to answer the questions: Why does crime fiction matter? What makes a good mystery? What are the unwritten rules? You'll also discover the trends and opportunities in contemporary crime and mystery fiction in Canada and elsewhere. The workshop will explore the building blocks of mystery: character, plot and setting, as well as other tools you need to involve and captivate your readers. We'll talk about local and national crime writing groups, networking and support opportunities and current markets. You'll take away list of crime writing guides, reference materials, websites and next steps. Come for fun and leave with the essential tools to embark on your life of crime.

REGISTRATION IS FREE BUT SPACE IS LIMITED

To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 245

MARNIE WOODROW

"Eventful Fiction"

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

7pm - 9pm

Books & Company Bookstore

Picton, ON

'What happened? And THEN what happened?' Our insatiable curiosity about events keeps us reading newspapers. Events (and human reactions to actions) are also at the core of compelling stories and novels. An energetic, exercise-driven workshop geared to generate new fiction through creative exploration of personal, local and world events.

Marnie Woodrow is the author of two short fiction collections and a novel, Spelling Mississippi. A freelance writer, editor and researcher, she is also a recipient of the Excellence In Teaching Award at University of Toronto Continuing Studies. After 20 years in Toronto, she now lives and works in beautiful Prince Edward County.

REGISTRATION IS FREE BUT SPACE IS LIMITED

To register, or for more information, please email or call 416-504-8222 x 245

June/July 2008 Workshops

MARK FRUTKIN
"The Alchemy of Fiction"
Saturday, June 7, 2008
1pm - 3pm
Library & Archives Canada
Ottawa, ON

The workshop will focus on four main areas: How to Begin, Plot, Characters, and The Writing Itself. We will investigate the following: How do we transcend hesitation? Should the writer use a map or wander in the wilderness? How do we make characters come alive?

Following this short discussion of the writing process, particularly in relation to fiction, the main portion of the workshop will involve an on-site short writing exercise that will be reviewed and analyzed during the workshop.

Mark Frutkin has published seven books of fiction and three books of poetry. His work has appeared in Canada, the US, England, Russia, Poland, Holland, South Korea, Spain and India. In 2007, his novel, Fabrizio’s Return, won the Trillium Prize for Best Book and the Sunburst Award, and was nominated for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Canada/Caribbean region). In 1988, his novel, Atmospheres Apollinaire, was short-listed for the Governor General's Award for fiction and for the Trillium Award. He has also written articles and reviews for The Globe & Mail, Harper's, the Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Amazon and numerous other publications.

 This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.


EILEEN WHITFIELD
"Secrets of Biography"
Saturday, June 14, 2008
1pm – 3pm
Toronto Public Library - Beaches Branch
Toronto, ON

A good biographer must combine the skills of an historian, investigative reporter, and researcher. He must have the imaginative empathy of an actor, and the narrative skills to endow historical facts with the pace and excitement of a novel.

Workshop participants will learn how biographers choose a subject, research the life, articulate their point of view and shape the results into compelling narrative. They will learn such framing devices as epilogues, prologues and chapter titles. Research techniques will be examined, as well as accuracy, footnotes and bibliography. Finally, writing another's life will be discussed as an act of self-exploration, as every good biography tells us as much about the writer as it does about the subject.

Eileen Whitfield is an actor, writer and editor whose work has appeared in Saturday
Night and Toronto Life. Her play, Alice and Emily, about artist Emily Carr, was produced at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton which was closely followed by her 1997 biography Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood which inspired three documentaries, including PBS's “The American Experience.” Presently, Eileen lives in Toronto and is writing a biography about silent film clown and director Buster Keaton.

 This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.


ANNE LAUREL CARTER
"Writing for Children"
Saturday, June 21, 2008
1pm – 3pm
Toronto Public Library - Lillian H. Smith Branch
Toronto, ON

Mine your childhood memories and daydreams for story ideas. Could they become a picture book or Young Adult novel? Explore the elements of story and learn how to get published with the award-winning author of Last Chance Bay and Under a Prairie Sky.

Anne Laurel Carter has an M.Ed and taught primary school in Ontario and Quebec before staying home to raise a family and write stories. With four active children she finds stories are always happening. Her published work includes six picture books, several juvenile and YA novels and a collection of YA short stories.

 This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.


PHYLLIS SMALLMAN
“The Writing Workshop”
Saturday, June 28, 2008
1pm – 4pm
Salt Spring Island Public Library
Salt Spring Island, BC

The award-winning author of Margarita Nights leads a lively discussion on what makes a great novel and other mechanics of writing (what are the easiest things to fix in a finished manuscript but the hardest to see?).

Margarita Nights was short listed for the Debut Dagger in the UK and won the Arthur Ellis award for Unhanged Arthur in June 2007. Phyllis Smallman was a potter before moving to British Columbia and turning to a life of crime. Now, depending on the weather, she can be found on Salt Spring Island, B.C., Hamilton, Ontario or a beach in South Florida.

 This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.


LINDA GRIFFITHS
"Overheard Conversations"
Saturday, July 5, 2008
2pm - 4pm
Toronto Public Library - Beaches Branch
Toronto, ON

One of the major building blocks of theatre is the two person scene. How to move from dependence on monologues to the interactive dynamism necessary to keep a play alive. In this workshop, participants come having done the preliminary homework. They must come with an overheard conversation between two or more people. In this exercise the writer becomes a spy, but also hones skills in observation both of language and character. Participants will be asked to describe the characters they observe, the interaction between them, as well as what was said. Good spying places are coffee shops, malls, bus shelters, libraries...or a conversation may arrive in your lap. You may only get a snippet of the conversation, this is fine. Then we’ll work with the dialogue and characters in the workshop. Conversations in a language you don’t understand are fine, as long as there is a dynamic between characters.

Linda Griffiths is a playwright and actor, the winner of five Dora Mavor Moore awards, a Gemini award, two Chalmer’s awards, the Quizanne International Festival Award for Jessica, and Los Angeles’ A.G.A. Award for her performance in John Sayles’ film Liana. She has twice been nominated for the Governor General’s Award for playwrighting (The Darling Family, 1992 Alien Creature, 2000). Best known for writing (in collaboration with Paul Thompson) and performing a triple role in the play Maggie & Pierre. She is an Adjunct Professor to the University of Toronto’s Masters Program in Creative Writing. New projects include two one-person-shows, The Last Dog of War and Baby Finger and a Victorian epic, Age of Arousal.

 This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.

BRAD CRAN
“My Story: From Life to Fiction”
Saturday, July 12, 2008
2pm – 5pm
Vancouver Public Library – Carnegie Branch
Vancouver, BC

Brad Cran will lead a discussion and workshop on narrative writing in poetry and prose. Presenting a selection of successful narrative works to find out what makes them worthy of print with an emphasis on the music of language, structures of story telling and the simple sentence. We’ll end the day with a discussion on the publishing industry and what it takes to get published, with some advice on where to send your writing.

A portion of the discussion will be dedicated to discussing participants’ own work and participants are encouraged to submit a sample of writing (no more than ten pages) of either poetry, fiction or non-fiction. A reading package to be read prior to the workshop will be distributed upon registration.

Brad Cran is a poet, essayist and photographer. He is the publisher of Smoking Lung Press, a co-founder of the Vancouver based Stillworks photography collective, and a contributing editor at Geist magazine. He recently co-edited Hope in Shadows, a collection of stories and photographs of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. His book of poetry, The Good Life, was published in 2002.

 This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.

Richard Scarsbrook @ the Palmerston Library in Toronto | The Story Starters Workshop

Notes from "Turning Fact Into Fiction" with Gail Anderson-Dargatz

In Inside Memory Timothy Findley talked about how, as he was writing Not Wanted on the Voyage and trying to gain the perspective of one of the characters, who happened to be a cat, he was caught at the beach on his hands and knees sniffing the rocks. A family came by and assumed he was a drug addict on a binge and told their kids to stay away, then debated amongst themselves whether or not they should phone the police. "As soon as they were gone," he wrote, "I got to my feet and ran up into the trees. What if these people really do call the authorities? What will I say? I was just pretending to be a blind cat?"

Like Timothy Findley, I believe a writer must be willing to embarrass himself in the pursuit of the world and everything it has to offer. If I, as a writer, can engage my senses and emotions, then I can engage my readers as well.

The Blind Cat Exercise*

I try to get the writers in my workshops to engage their senses as much as possible. So, the exercise? Pretend, like Timothy Findley, to be a blind cat. Sniff everything in the spice rack. Run your hand over every piece of material you can find in your house. Take your socks off and walk over the bristly rug at your front door. Go squish your toes in the mud as you did as a child. Sit and really listen to the city sounds outside. Take in the news and allow your emotions to be truly engaged by the terrible, happy, boring, heart sobbing stories. Then turn the radio off and sit with those emotions awhile. Go to the fridge and taste an olive. But really taste it. Let it fill your mind. Then take notes about each of these experiences. What is this experience? What does it bring to mind? What memory does it elicit? What else is it like? Where does this smell take you? Sit with the experience a while and allow it to inspire you. Allow the world to fully engage you, so you can fully engage your reader. Write down what you discover. You’ll be amazed at how authentic the writing that comes out of this simple exercise is. And if you find it useful, as I do, I suggest you make it a regular exercise. I do this every day.

For more on writing and the writing life, visit Gail's website.

*the Blind Cat Exercise originally appeared in The Writer's Gym edited by Eliza Clark.

Notes from "Cutting, Tweaking & Rehearsing" with Guillermo Verdecchia

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER WHEN RE-WRITING YOUR PLAY

• Does every line do some work for you?


• Can it do more work?


• Does every line move forward?


• Are you telling too much?
  
• Are you telling us enough?


• Does the character need to say this or does your audience need to know it?


• Are you walking us through the thoughts or allowing us to join the dots, make leaps of intellection?


• Would a transition be better replaced by a pause or silence?


• Are you showing SIGNIFICANT ACTION?


• Is your inarticulate dialogue eloquent or simply inarticulate?


• Is your spare dialogue rich or empty?


• Is there a payoff?


• Does the payoff work?


• Do these words belong to this speaker?


• Do these words belong in this play?


• Has the play outgrown this idea, image, line, metaphor, scene?


• Do actors thrive, grow, struggle productively with this text or do they wilt under it?

Notes from "Putting It All Together" with Zoe Whittall

How to Get Funding for your Poetry Manuscript

Before applying, keep in mind the following:

1. You will be rejected. Lots. Even the most established writers have stories of being rejected and feeling terrible about themselves as a result. Accept it as part of the writing life. Once you’ve sent in your application, put it out of your mind. Never expect to get funding until you have that gold letter in your hand.

2. Grants are like lotteries. Your work may be excellent, but the people who happened to be judging this time didn’t like it. It often comes down to personal taste. You could just as easily have been the favourite of another juror had they been asked to adjudicate. If opinions of the jurors vary wildly, the writers who may end up getting funding might not even be the first choice of anyone on the jury - simply the ones that they could all agree on. If you do not get funding, do not take is as a sign that you work doesn’t cut it.

3. Read all the application rules over and over again and use the check-list provided. If you have any questions, call the grant officer and ask. Set aside an entire day to do the necessary assembling and proof-reading of materials. In an ideal world, you should always have a second person proof your application materials. Take special care to spell names correctly.

4. Never, ever send in rough drafts. If you were to place the original version of your poem on a table next to the poem you are sending in and they look at all similar, do not pass go. Edit, edit, edit.

5. Update your CV regularly. No one cares if your hobbies are unicorn-collecting and that you worked at a summer camp in the 80s. Keep it all writing-related, and as up-to-date as possible. If you are not design-savvy, ask an artist friend to format your CV to be concise and as pretty as possible. Presentation matters.

6. Keep in mind when re-reading your materials that the person you are most interesting to is yourself. To other people who have to read about 85 submissions, brevity is paramount. Short and concise, always. Keep cover letters to one page, no smaller than 12pt font and CVs to two pages maximum.

7. Remember that you are competing. Sell yourself. Use everything you have to make your submission look like they’d be ridiculous to turn you down. Highlight pull-quotes from reviews, get amazing letters of reference and send only the best of your very best work. Do not be humble or self-deprecating, as great as those qualities are in your every day life, in grant-writing land, they’re kind of annoying to people who have to read through the pile.

8. Celebrate the day you get your grant. Go out to dinner before squirreling it away, especially if you’ve spent a lot of time broke and struggling - take the time to feel it!

Types of Grants Available

Municipal

The Toronto Arts Council

WRITERS - Project Grants for Individual Artists - This program supports the creation of new works or works-in-progress in the genres of fiction, literary non-fiction, poetry and oral traditions such as storytelling, dub, rap and spoken-word poetry.The program provides two levels of grants for writers: LEVEL ONE: $2,000 – for new or emerging writers with little or no prior history of publication. LEVEL TWO: $7,500 – for mid-career or senior writers with a history of professional publication.

Provincial

The Ontario Arts Council

1. Writers’ Reserve Program

This is a great way to start out applying for funding and to network with potential publishers and magazine editors.

This program is administered by third-party recommendations from the literary community.

Eligibility: This program is open to published Ontario-based professional writers working on projects in fiction, poetry, literary criticism, commentary on the arts, graphic novels, history, biography, political or social issues, science or travel. Grant amounts range from $1500-$5000.

2. Writers Works In Progress

This program is excellent once you have a substantial amount of work done on a project or know exactly what you’d like to write but do not have the time to do the work.

Purpose: To assist professional writers to complete book-length works of literary merit.

Eligibility: Ontario-based professional writers may apply for support for the continuation of new work in poetry or prose, including graphic novels. Grant amount is $12,000.

Federal

Canada Council for the Arts

1. Grants for Professional Writers

The Grants for Professional Writers program covers subsistence, project and travel expenses. The Creative Writing Grants component gives Canadian authors (emerging, mid-career and established) time to write new literary works, including novels, short stories, poetry, children’s literature, graphic novels and literary non-fiction.

Deadline: October 1.

Eligibility: at least one literary book published by a professional publishing house, or 10 published poems. The grant amounts offered are from $3,000 to $12,000 for emerging artists.

2. Spoken Word & Storytelling Program

Deadline: April 15.

The Creation and Production component supports literary projects that are not based on conventional book or printed magazine formats. Grants are for the creation, production, performance, broadcast or promotion of spoken word and storytelling. Eligibility: professional spoken word artists or professional storytellers who have been paid in the past for their public literary performances or are recognized, in writing, by two established spoken word artists or storytellers. Grants range from $1,000 to $25,000, depending on the nature of the project.

For more information on both programs above look here.

Recommended places to submit your poetry

The Antigonish Review
ARC: Canada's National Poetry Magazine
Broken Pencil
Bywords.ca
The Capilano Review
Carousel
Chiaroscuro
ContemporaryVerse2
Dalhousie Review
dANDelion
Descant
Eleventh Transmission
Event
Exile
The Fiddlehead
fillingstation
Forget Magazine
Front & Centre
Grain
Kiss Machine

The Malahat Review
Nashaak Review

The New Quarterly

Other Voices

paperplates
PINE
Prairie Fire
Prism International
Queen's Quarterly
QWERTY

Room of One's Own

The Shore
Stonestone (online)
sub-TERRAIN
Taddle Creek
Tickle Ace
torkstar.com: underground fiction
Wascana Review
West Coast Line
The Windsor Review

Notes from "Creating Memorable Mystery & Crime Fiction Characters" with John McFetridge

"We start with a theme, or a situation and then come up with the best characters to tell it." --David Simon, creator of "The Wire"

"I start with a character and think about the kind of situations he can be in."
--Elmore Leonard

So, pretty much opposite approaches, they can’t both be right? And yet they both are. Because there is no right or wrong, only interesting or boring.

There are a lot of good books about writing fiction and specifically about creating characters. Right now the Donald Maass book, Writing the Breakout Novel is the hot one. He’s also got Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. Rachel Ballon’s, Breathing Life Into Your Characters: How to Give Your Characters Emotional & Psychological Depth has a lot of four star reviews at Amazon. Then there’s 45 Master Characters, Dynamic Characters, Character and Viewpoint, Writer’s Guide to Character Traits, and on and on. They can’t possibly hurt.

Other things to think about:

1. Series character – the big dilemma.

Publishers (and maybe readers) want series characters. The dilemma? It’s hard enough to create a character interesting enough for one book, let alone a series.

As Ben Yagoda says in the enclosed article from Salon magazine: There are, “2 problems: The main character, who is invariably romanticized or sentimentalized and who is always a combination of three not especially interesting things: toughness, efficacy and sensitivity. (When the writer resists applying any or all of these traits, the character ends up being bland.) The second is the very formulaic quality that lets a book be part of a series. Similar things happen in similar ways, which is probably as apt a definition as you'll ever find of how not to make good literature.”

2. Flat and Round. Still relevant?

The James Wood article in the Guardian says, “In Aspects of the Novel, EM Forster used the now-famous term "flat" to describe the kind of character who is awarded a single, essential attribute, which is repeated without change as the person appears and reappears in a novel... Round characters "surprise" us each time they reappear; they are not flimsily theatrical.” He goes on to say Forster is wrong.

3. Character vs. Plot.

This is another discussion almost unique to crime fiction. Probably again because of the structure of crime fiction – usually there’s a mystery and a solution. So, people ask, which is more important, the mystery or the characters? Sometimes books are described as plot-driven or character-driven. In fact, they need to be both. (Bill Pronzini article)

4. Setting as character.

In crime fiction we usually associate particular characters with the cities in which they work – Rebus is Edinburgh, Inpecter Gamache is Three Pines, Quebec, Kiney Milhone is Santa Teresa, California. They couldn’t just be moved around with no consequences because the way they interact with their setting is such an important part of their character and their stories. Still, we hear it often enough, don’t set your book in Canada. Even after the success of Louise Penny and Giles Blunt (and many others) we hear it. Is the problem the Canadian setting, or that not enough of the Canadian character is coming through? If you look at setting as something that can simply be changed, move it from Toronto to Buffalo, Muskoka to the Finger Lakes or Halifax to Boston without making any other changes then there’s something wrong with the story – not the setting.

--

John McFetridge is the author of the Toronto-set crime novel, Dirty Sweet, and the co-author (with Scott Albert) of the short story collection Below the Line. His latest crime novel, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (with many characters from Dirty Sweet) will be published in spring, 2008. Visit his website for more information.

The RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers

WRITERS’ TRUST REWARDS YOUNG WRITER!
Winner of the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers Announced

A literary award with a track-record for identifying some of this country’s finest developing writers was presented last night to Marjorie Celona, a twenty-seven year old from Victoria.

The RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers is given to a Canadian author or landed immigrant under the age of thirty-five, not yet published in book form, for a sample of short fiction. New prize supporter RBC Foundation raised the prize’s cash value to $5,000 (from $1,000).

Celona has a degree in creative writing from the University of Victoria and is currently completing an MFA at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her writing has appeared in THIS magazine, The Indiana Review, and Best Canadian Stories '07.

Finalists were selected by a jury comprised of Michelle Berry, Natalee Caple, and Andrew Pyper. Of Celona’s short story, “Othello,” they wrote:

“Othello” has the mark of a mature and experienced writer. A teenage boy learns about loneliness and life’s misperceptions during a summer road trip stop at a convenience store in the town of Othello. An autistic boy and his depressed father create a powerful frame around this coming of age story, teaching us that suddenly, out of nowhere, perceptions can shift a little and in an instant the future is clear. The non-linear writing is bare and raw – an entire life summed up in so few pages. This story is a gift, a world created and presented perfectly.

Two finalists each received cash prizes of $1,000: Ben Lof for “When in the Field with Her at His Back” and Grace O'Connell for “The Bottlenecks.”

Bronwen Wallace was a mentor for many young writers as well as a creative writing teacher at St. Lawrence College and Queen’s University in Kingston. She was also the editor of Quarry Magazine, and during her editorship the magazine gave many writers their first publication. Wallace wrote four books of poetry and a collection of short stories before her death at age forty-four.

Bronwen Wallace felt strongly that unpublished writers should receive recognition at an earlier age. As a result, her close friend Carolyn Smart founded the award as a tribute to Wallace and younger writers. The award, presented for the first time in 1994, alternates each year between poetry and short fiction. Past winners include Michael Crummey, Alissa York and, most recently, Jeramy Dodds.

To celebrate the three finalists, the Writers' Trust has produced a book featuring all three stories. To receive a free, electronic version in PDF format, please send us an email with "Bronwen Wallace Book Request" in the subject heading.

2008 Spring Workshop Sessions Announced

JOHN MCFETRIDGE Creating Memorable Mystery & Crime Fiction Characters Saturday, February 23, 2008 1pm – 3pm Toronto Public Library - Beaches Branch John Rebus, Stephanie Plum and Inspector Murdoch – in mystery and crime fiction it’s all about the characters. Police detectives, private eyes, or amateur sleuths, we keep coming back to find out more about them, watch them solve crimes and deal with their own lives. What makes a character so endearing, so interesting? How are they created and how do they develop and progress? In this workshop we will discuss the creation of great mystery and crime fiction series characters.

This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.

DENNIS FOON Possible Worlds Saturday, February 23, 2008 2pm – 4pm Vancouver Public Library - Central Library If the world as we know it collapsed tomorrow, how would it happen? What would you do? Where would you go? What would you become? In this workshop, we’ll examine how you create an imagined world – and the characters that live in it. Speculative fiction and fantasy make huge demands on the writer. We’ll be looking at some of the obstacles, exploring ways of overcoming – and exploiting them, and seeing how a seed of an idea can evolve into a fully realized world.

> This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.

TERRY JORDAN The Art & Craft of Fiction Tuesday, February 23, 2008 7p m- 9pm Refinery Arts & Spirit Centre - Jessie Miller Room Saskatoon, SK A workshop to discuss the art and craft of writing fiction and aspects of the writerly life. Time will be allotted to meet the needs of the writers present; particular attention will be paid to the individual manuscripts of the participants.

> This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.

MONA FERTIG The Shape & Sound of Poetry Saturday, March 8, 2008 1pm – 3pm Salt Spring Island Public Library Salt Spring Island, BC Participants will experiment with the shape and sound of their poetry by playing with line breaks, and reading each others poems. In addition, participants will make a single-sheet, folded poembook for one of their poems. Participants must bring two to three poems-in-progress (one page in length maximum), one finished poem in 12 pt font (to cut up for the poembook), glue stick and scissors. Other materials will be supplied.

> This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.

DON HANNAH Economy & Depth: Writing & Revising a Scene Saturday, March 8, 2008 1:30pm – 4:30pm Toronto Public Library - Lillian H. Smith Branch A workshop for dramatists, this workshop will focus on telling a story through dialogue and action; emphasizing ways that rewrites and revisions can help a writer delve deeper into their material. Each participant must submit a short scene for two to three characters involving a conflict. This conflict can be small or large; the only stipulations are that it be revealed (or arise) during the scene, and that it affect and change the relationships of the characters. More information to be provided upon registration.

> This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.

ZOE WHITTALL Putting It All Together Sunday, April 6, 2008 2pm – 4pm Toronto Public Library - Lillian H. Smith Branch How do you know when you're done your first book of poems? When is it good enough to try to get published? And most importantly, why are you writing it? Why poetry? Zoe will lead a discussion on how to know when you're finished, when to scrap the poems that aren't working, and offer practical advice about the poet life including tips on grant-writing, CV prep and how to promote your work. Participants are asked to bring 2 finished poems to read and a synopsis of their poetry project. Be prepared to receive feedback from both participants and the facilitator.

> This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.

GAIL ANDERSON-DARGATZ Turning Fact Into Fiction Saturday, April 12, 2008 1pm – 3pm Okanagan College - Salmon Arm Campus Salmon Arm, BC Most of us have remarkable family histories and many of us have lived fascinating lives. Working from personal and family stories is often tricky business and doing so inevitably raises a number of fears for a writer. But how to turn those real stories into fiction? Guiding participants through her process, Gail will offer ideas on how to move those true-life stories past the personal and into the universal, from fact into fiction. Be prepared to do at least one fun exercise (little or no writing involved!) during the afternoon.

> This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.

PETER OLIVA A (Very) Brief History of the Novella Saturday, April 12, 2008 1pm – 3pm Calgary Public Library - Memorial Park Branch In this workshop, Peter Oliva will give a background of this misunderstood form of writing, describe what the novella does best, where it came from, what it's doing now, and suggest ways to begin writing your own novella.

> This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.

GUILLERMO VERDECCHIA Cutting, Tweaking, & Rehearsing Saturday, April 12, 2008 1pm – 3pm Toronto Public Library - Palmerston Branch A lean script is often a better script. How can we tighten up our dialogue and scenes to make our plays communicate more effectively? We'll look at examples of scenes improved by editing and we'll discuss some of your work and the rehearsal process. How can playwrights make use of what happens in rehearsal to improve our scripts and how can we best contribute to the rehearsal process?

> This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.

DAVE CARLEY Writing Plays: Getting Started & Keeping Going Saturday, April 19, 2008 2pm – 4pm Peterborough Public Library Peterborough, ON In this workshop, Dave Carley will outline the perils and joys of playwriting, as well as read briefly from his own work. Depending on workshop numbers, some short writing exercises will be included; designed to help writers turn up the heat on projects they’ve left too long on the back burner…

> This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.

NALO HOPKINSON Practical Realities of a Career in Fiction May 3, 2008 1pm – 3pm Toronto Public Library - Beaches Branch So you want to make a career writing fiction. But where do you submit your work? What should you do if you get an offer? What can you expect to be paid? Can you live off writing short stories? Do you need an agent? What does an editor really do? Will you have to give readings? How do you keep yourself fed while you're churning out pellucid prose? Will you need a day job as well? And what if you get sick? This workshop is about some of the practical realities of living as a working fiction writer.

> This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.

BILLIE LIVINGSTON Fiction: The Devil in the Details Saturday, May 10, 2008 1pm – 3pm Vancouver Public Library - Central Library A story with believable characters and situations is something a writer strives for. What makes you love or loathe a person? What makes a situation feel awkward or anxious? It has been said: “Write what you know.” But what does that mean? How do you find out what it is your subconscious is picking up on every day? Why don’t you trust your building manager or that cashier at Safeway? In this workshop we’ll discuss not only how to unearth the details but how to steal them to make compelling fiction.

> This is a free workshop however space is limited. To register, or for more information, please email or call 416.504.8222 x 243.

Notes from "The Non-Fiction Book Proposal" with Derek Lundy

An Idiosyncratic Summary

The Opening
Get their attention anyway you can. You only have a few minutes, maybe less. You might simply state your intention with verve and economy; or you may use a killer quote; or you might make a funny, or outrageous, or provocative, statement. In any case, your purpose is to grab the jaded publisher/agent/editor reader and convince them they cannot possibly avoid reading on. Mug them right away with your unique and writerly voice. You’re staging a literary, metaphorical stickup to get their undivided attention.

The Contents
Describe what you’re going to write about, the details of your story. Be succinct and make sure your tone is appropriate to the kind of story you propose to tell. This is the meat of the proposal. It must communicate the gist and import of your book. It should say why this is a worthy subject, or why it’s fascinating, funny, or profound. If you can suggest chapter titles, or a draft form of organization, do so. Describe the various themes you’ll discuss and explore. Try to give the reader no choice but to keep reading yet further.

The Market
You must deal with this. Small Canadian presses which get big government subventions, and university presses, don’t necessarily have to make a profit. But all other publishers must try to do so on each book they produce. Acquisition decisions are made as much by marketing departments as by editors. You need to know, and to tell the publisher up front, what else is out there that’s similar to yours - and there’s almost bound to be something. In that case, how is your book distinct? Will the market bear yet another book in the same vein? “Of the making of books there is no end ...” says Ecclesiastes, and that’s certainly how publishers feel. Then you must identify the market for your book. Who is going to want to read it, and why? Does it have subsidiary rights possibilities, and why? Can it be sold in other countries, and why?

Research
Unless it’s straight memoir, non-fiction requires research, field work, travel, interviews. Tell the publisher what you think is required and how long it might take. How much it might cost, too, because that will bring up the subject of an advance on royalties. Even a first-time writer can ask for some up-front money to fund research.

The Author
If you are, as yet, unpublished, this is the dicey part. Without a track record, you must convince the publisher to talk further with you on based entirely on the immediate appeal of your idea, and the quality of the thinking and writing in your proposal. If you’ve already had stories and journalism published, this isn’t as critical. If you’ve got a book out, you’re in a much stronger position, of course, and the proposal doesn’t have to bear the entire weight of your effort to be noticed and responded to. Make as much of yourself and your writerly skills as you reasonably and honestly can. Confront your lack of experience if you don’t have any; acknowledge it, and then tell the publisher it doesn’t matter in your case. As your superb proposal demonstrates, you’re a natural, and you can do the job.

Sample Material
You don’t necessarily need to send this along with your proposal (check publishers’ web sites to find out what they want). But if you’re unpublished, and a publisher likes your proposal, they’ll want to see sample chapters right away. You must have these ready to go before you send out a proposal. If you delay in responding to a request for material, they’ll forget you, and you’ll have to mount another campaign for visibility and acceptance when you do get sample material written and ready to submit.

Details
Do not make grammatical or spelling errors. Do not assume the publisher knows a damn thing about the subject matter you’re proposing to write about, but don’t insult their intelligence either. This is a hard balance, especially with a new, young generation of editors who don’t necessarily share the cultural touchstones of preceding generations, and who may not, in fact, be particularly well-read. You’ll need a working title. One of the advantages of non-fiction is that you get to have a sub-title, too. Your idea of a good title will seldom be held by the publisher, and especially by the marketing department (who have an increasingly large say in title selection), and will almost certainly be screwed around with. Still, a good working title is helpful. Needless to say, the internet is the source of information about publishers, their publishing programs, and their submission requirements. Do your research before you contact them. Tailor your proposal for each publisher, or group of publishers. You may write one version of your idea and its execution for a small Canadian press and another for a multi-national branch plant.

In case you’re interested, books about cats, diets, golf, Nazis, and terrorism always sell well. Keep trying.

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Derek Lundy is the author of The Bloody Red Hand: A Journey Through Truth, Myth and Terror in Northern Ireland and The Way of a Ship: A Square-Rigger Voyage in the Last Days of Sail, which was a B.C. Book Prize finalist, and a Globe and Mail Best Book in 2002. He has written a short biography, Scott Turow: Meeting the Enemy, and was General Editor of "Barristers and Solicitors in Practice" (Butterworths, 1998), a comprehensive text on the practice of law in Canada. He has written for "Men’s Journal," "Canadian Lawyer," the London "Sunday Times," "Cruising World," "Books in Canada," the "National Post," the "Globe and Mail," and other Canadian dailies. He has degrees in history, international relations and law. He was born in Belfast, N. Ireland, and lives with his wife and daughter on Salt Spring Island, B.C.

White Hot Rage Rants from "Dramatic Monologues" Workshop With Judith Thompson

A dramatic monologue must be powered by an emotional release, conflated with an intense need.

When writers find the source of their rage, whether it be their interfering sister or global warming, or a no good boyfriend or their own self-hatred, along with their need to persuade us to feel the same rage, their monologues are perfect. Over writing, or self-consciously literary writing, which often gets in the way of good dramatic writing, is no where to be found. The acceleration, the rhythm and the length are always, if they have listened to instructions carefully, perfect.

Rage is empowering, especially if it is expressed with words, which is a measure of control, and it is an emotion all human beings share.

I was bowled over by the power of these white hot rage rants.

Participant #1 (click to enlarge image):

Participant #2 (click to enlarge image):

Participant #3 (click to enlarge image):

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Participant #5 (click to enlarge image):

Character Development Exercises by Kathy Page

What makes an engaging or compelling character?

How do you create one?

What can you do to make the people in your head come over on the page?

The two main purposes for these development exercises are 1) to help you solidify your characterization by imaging your character in a variety of situations; and 2) to you work with the information you have. Knowing your character as you do, you have to write about him or her in a way which makes use of the knowledge you have. The image often used here is an iceberg: most of what you know about your character will never be seen (or, stated) directly. Much of it will never be used at all. However, it is good for you - the writer - to know everything so that you can be confident about your character and how he or she will react in any given situation.

1st development exercise: writing in the third person, describe your character is an environment familiar to him/her, carrying out some habitual action (work, eating, sleeping, domestic chores, driving, shaving,), whilst in the grip of some intense emotion. Suggest as much as you can about your character without spelling things out or ‘telling’. Convey the mood, without naming it. Aim for about a page.

2nd development exercise: list the contents of your character's purse, pockets, grocery cart, brief case or car. Then write a short scene in which someone other than your character is looking for something in the purse, car or whatever.

Character questionnaire:

Name and age?

Nickname? Who gave it?

What is most noticeable about your character’s appearance/physical presence? How does he or she feel about it?

Describe his or her voice, verbal ticks, pet phrases etc.

Describe a gesture your character makes.

Where does he or she now live? Describe the city, town or village, the house itself. Be very specific. It doesn’t have to be in Canada. Any feelings about this place?

Has s/he lived elsewhere? What does s/he remember of these places?

What part of her home is her favourite? Least favourite? Why. Describe, using specific details.

What does your character’s bedroom/sleeping place look like? (lots of detail please)

What does he or she wear to sleep in?

What does your character dream of at night?

Who are/were her parents? Rest of family? What does she feel for them?

Class, ethnic group, religious background?

Who does s/he love, or has s/he loved? Or what. Detail.

Who loves him or her?

Married/ in relationship/single? Give names and specifics.

How does your character feel about sex/intimacy? What sexual relationship(s) is he or she involved in?

Exactly what does your character do to make a living (or in the case of a child, what do his/ her parents do; or in the case of independent wealth, how does he or she pass the time?)? How much does s/he earn? Feelings about work? What is the best part of the job, the worst?

Who or what does/he fear?

What about his or her life would he or she change if s/he could?

Does the character have a hobby? Secret passion? (Can be something ordinary like soccer playing or yoga classes or mountain biking or sewing or fixing up old trucks - or an unusual interest like some Greek poet from the third century, or collecting spiders, or walking the tightrope…

What would be his or her favourite smell ( why)?

What kind of shoes does he or she wear, (e.g. furry slippers or gumboot or trainers… new or old, style, what colour, fitting properly or too tight or too loose, nice and clean or old and smelly)? Describe exactly.

Favourite meal? Attitude to food?

Favourite clothes?

What is the worst thing that could happen to him or her right now?

What vehicles does your character use/own? (for example: bike, skateboard, truck, yacht, stroller, canoe, spaceship, battered pickup, etc.. please be as exact as possible). What are his/her feelings towards it/them. What kind of journeys does he or she make?

What is his or her most treasured possession?

What illnesses has he or she suffered, if any?

What’s his/her philosophy of life? For example’ You’ve got to look after Number 1’ or ‘Never say die’ or ‘Don’t ask for reasons.” What are his or her most strongly held beliefs?

What does he or she feel guilty about?

Biggest mistake ever made?

Best thing he/she ever did?

What, right now, does your character want most of all? His or her deepest desire – a glass of water, to get out of her marriage, a new pair of shoes, peace and quiet…

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Kathy Page is the author of six novels, including The Story of My Face (short-listed for the 2002 Orange Prize) and Alphabet (finalist for the 2005 Governor General's Fiction Award). Complex characters and compelling narrative are Page's trademarks, as is suspense, both psychological and existential. She is an award-winning short fiction writer and has 20 years experience as a workshop leader. Kathy moved to Canada from the UK six years ago. She lives on Salt Spring Island and currently teaches fiction courses at Malaspina University College.

Notes from "Grant Writing for Writers" with Michel Basilières

For both professional and emerging writers, a step-by step walk through of how to prepare your application for literature grants. I will guide you through the process, showing you how to avoid the most common mistakes, You’ll learn what jurors want to see, and what will make them reject an application on sight. We will cover all levels of Government funding (municipal, provincial and government councils) and by the end of the workshop, you will understand what happens to your application once it leaves your hands until the letters of acceptance are mailed out.





Preparing your application:

1. read the Guidelines to make sure you’re eligible, and that you’re applying for the right program. There are a lot of different programs. If you’re in doubt, telephone the council to ask.
2. read the form thoroughly. Familiarizing yourself with the form before you take up your pen will go a long way to making it less mysterious.
3. fill out the form, by hand, preferably in black ink (blue or other colours will not copy or scan properly). Most councils now provide forms on their website which you can fill out on your computer.
4. fill out every portion of the form, write legibly, and make sure you’re giving the information requested. If you think something doesn’t make sense or you don’t understand what they want, telephone them and ask.
5. prepare your manuscript: make sure you read the guidelines to see what format they require. Usually this corresponds to standard manuscript format, but not always. Follow their guidelines, and when in doubt, telephone the council to ask. Set your manuscript aside for several days, and/or ask someone to proofread it for you.
   
6. make all the required photocopies of the form, your resume, list of publications and your manuscript. The Council will not do this if you forget or neglect it.
7. mail or deliver your application before the deadline. Avoid feeling rushed or panicked.
   

Things to remember about the grant process:

Know your deadlines: there are no extensions or exceptions. Even for famous people. Even if you go in person. Don’t expect them to keep the office open after working hours while you sit there and fill out the forms. They will not make photocopies for you.

Make sure you meet the eligibility requirements: if you don’t you’re wasting your own time, and the council’s, too. This looks bad now, and in the future. There’s no fudging this. You either have the required credits, or not. If you don’t, wait until you do and then apply.
Be realistic about your level of standing: if you are an emerging writer, apply in the emerging writer category. Yes, your work may be as good as anyone’s, and the grants are smaller. But if you apply in a category for which you don’t meet the requirements, you’ll be disqualified. Also, once you apply at mid-career or senior levels, you can’t go back. And the higher you go, the stiffer the competition.

Start early: waiting until the last minute means making mistakes. Make sure you’ve collected all your material early and that you’ve got enough time to do the job.

Ask questions: if you’re unsure how to interpret guidelines, telephone the council. they are always helpful and prompt. if you do this one or two weeks ahead of the deadline, you’ll get all the attention you need.

Make your support material scrupulously professional: after all, it’s your work that gets the grant. And you’re competing with the best. Don’t sabotage your chances by assuming the jurors will ignore shoddy packaging. Every jury has to struggle with eliminating candidates they really want to fund. This means they are looking for a reason to cut the list down. Poor presentation is a valid reason.

Have someone look over your completed application, even if it’s your mother: a second set of eyes often catches errors or typos that will be invisible to you. Or, at the very least, set your completed application aside for as long as you can: at least for a few days. You’ll catch some errors when you come back to it. Make sure you correct them.

Making contact: Once your application is in forget it. Live your life. Keep writing. don’t make follow-up calls. You won’t be told if they’ve received your application, if the jury has met yet, who is on the jury, whether you received a grant or not, or even when anything at all might happen. If the funding body needs to contact you for some reason, they will. If you’ve been approved for a grant, they’ll mail you the cheque.

Why does it take so long? Often the delay between the deadline and the announcement of results seems enormous. Typically, it’s between 4 and six months. This seems like a long time to wait, but if you’ve had any experience writing professionally – for magazines, book publishers, radio or television – you’ll know it’s not uncommon. Think of how long things take in other areas of your life: in school, at work (especially in large organizations or institutions), even driving through town. The simple fact is, everything takes longer than it should. And managing applications, juries and government procedures is a big job. Consider:

• the sheer volume of submissions.
  

• the administrative work. Once the deadline has passed, each submission is opened and checked: is it complete, or is a piece missing? Is the author eligible? Then, all the information must be entered into the Council’s database: your name and contact info, the project name, the amount requested, the time period covered by the grant, etc. This has to be done separately for each submission.

• once the office work is done, the submissions have to be separated into packages, one set for each member of the jury and one set for the council archives.

• the jury must be selected. The Program Officer maintains a database of potential jurors. Each jury must represent a variety of values. Members are recruited from different geographical locations, different cultural communities, and different artistic sensibilities. Councils are mandated by policy to create juries as diverse as our Canadian Mosaic. It’s not easy.
  

• once potential jurors are selected, they are asked to participate. Often candidates have valid reasons for not accepting; timing conflicts, conflicts of interest (they may be applying for a grant in the very same competition!), or personal reasons such as family or health. When candidates refuse, they must be replaced, and the cycle starts again. Also, Councils must avoid using the same jurors time and time again.

• the actual adjudication must be coordinated between all jury members and Council Staff. This means getting six to eight busy people in the same room at the same time. Some jurors have to travel from out of town, adding extra time to the process.

• after the jury has made it’s decisions, there’s more administrative work to do. The minutes must be recorded, the results tabulated, the grants officially approved by the Board of Directors Then, the letters to each applicant (successful or not) must be written and signed, the cheques cut, press releases written, and web sites updated. These last must all be ready for release on the same day.

• as all this progresses, the Council staff are juggling several competitions in different areas at once. One competition may just be starting as another finishes, and a third will overlap them both. Councils give money not just to individuals, but to publishers, magazines and organizations. All these go through a similarly complicated process, out of the same department.

• and, every arts council is understaffed. The miracle is how good a record all the councils have of getting their work done on time.
  

What if you don't receive a grant? Don’t call to complain. Council staff cannot help you. Bothering the council staff with your anger will only make you look bad, and it won’t help you in the future. It won’t hurt your chances, either, because decisions are made by the juries, not the council staff. And there is no appeal. If you disagree with the process, take it up with your MP.

Who is the jury? Juries are composed of professional writers, editors, publishers, and others in the field. Jurors are chosen for their experience, competence and generosity. Jurors have almost always been applicants themselves, and usually have been both successful and unsuccessful. This means they understand the position of the applicants and are sympathetic. Generosity is sometimes hard to define, but essentially jurors are expected to look favourably on the process, be interested in supporting others, and be team players. No one wants a disagreeable, unfriendly person holding up the process or sabotaging anyone’s chances. The names of the jury will be kept confidential until the release of the competition results. Why? So they can make their best judgements without interference or conflict of interest. Sometimes jurors are called upon to judge the work of people they know personally. This can be awkward for everyone unless it’s done in camera. Afterwards, the names of jury members are announced in the press release, and usually available on the web site. Knowing someone personally does not necessarily put a juror in conflict of interest. Jurors are expected to (and do) declare any potential conflict. When this happens, said juror retires from the process and the remaining jurors decide on that particular application.

What do Jurors want to see?

• Professional presentation: jurors want to see that you know how to conduct yourself and present your material. What you want to do (is it poetry, short stores, or a novel? Memoir? Essay?)

• Who you are: jurors want to see that you’ve spent some time pursuing your career and you’ve taken opportunities. Did you study writing? Have you published, and where? How often? Fiction, poetry, or both? Plays? Screenplays? Are you responsible? Jurors want to know that if they grant you funding, you’ll follow through. This means letting them know about past projects, even ones not directly related to writing. For instance, do you have a degree? Have you ever been in charge of a project that was completed and delivered?

• Your work. Jurors want to see that you can write. Well, duh. But think about it. You have to make sure jurors can read your submission (this is the same as being professional). Use standard manuscript format, a normal, readable typeface and most importantly eliminate any mistakes from your manuscript. This means spelling, grammar, correct word usage (a lot of people fall down here) and typos. Make it as clean as possible. Make it better than perfect.
  

What do jurors hate to see? Coloured paper, odd-sized paper, unusual, hard-to read fonts, binders of any kind, staples, covers with pictures, text printed sideways on the page, your life story, your opinion of your own (or anyone else’s) work, pages without numbers and titles.

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Michel Basilières is the author of Black Bird, which won the 2004 Books in Canada First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. He has received grants from each of the Toronto, Ontario and Canada councils multiple times, and has served on juries for the Ontario Arts Council. He reviews books for the Globe & Mail and the Toronto Star, has written two dramas for CBC Radio, and is t