Oct. 29 - Nov 19 - WRITING YOUNG ADULT FICTION w/NY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR BETH REVIS
OCT. 13- NY LIT AGENT PANEL AND PITCH SLAM
OCT. 10-NOV. 7- THE LITERARY ECOSYSTEM: HOW IT WORKS & THE WRITER’S ROLE (GSWP) With CAROLINE CHRISTOPOULOS AND LAUREN HARR
SEPT. 26- WORKSHOP: PITCHING YOUR BOOK TO AGENTS
SEPT. 15-NOV. 3- COMEDY WRITING: SKETCH, MONOLOGUE & STANDUP With TOM CHALMERS
SEPT. 11-OCT. 16- WRITING THE 10-MINUTE PLAY WITH BONNIE GARDNER
SEPT. 10-OCT. 15- CHARACTER BUILDING: A SIX-WEEK CLAsS WITH KIM MAKO
SEPT. 8-NOV. 17 - WRITING FOR TV & FILM: A MASTER CLASS WITH PATRICIA GREEN
SEPT. 5 & 12 - TRAVEL WRITING AS MEMOIR WITH TESSA FONTAINE
AUG. 23-NOV. 8 - SECOND & FOURTH THURSDAY WRITE-INS
AUG. 18- READING: PERMANENT EXHIBIT W/MATTHEW VOLLMER & THE FLATIRON PLAYERS
AUG. 18- WRITING HYBRIDS: HOW TO EXPLODE FORM & GENRE WITH MATTHEW VOLLMER
JULY 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31 - TUESDAY EVENING WRITE-INS
JUN. 20- WRITERS ON DECK: AN OUTDOOR EVENING W/ELIZABETH HEANEY
JUN. 2 - JUMP-START YOUR NOVEL: ONE DAY INTENSIVE WITH HEATHER NEWTON
MAY 24-JUNE 28 - STORYTELLING FOR PERFORMANCE WITH TOM CHALMERS
MAY 12- WRITE BETTER DIALOGUE WITH PAUL ZIMMERMAN
MAY 5 - FROM PAGE TO PODIUM: READING YOUR WORK ALOUD WITH MEL RYANE
APR. 28- *FREE EVENT* CATINA BACOTE, LINA FERREIRA, NAIMA COSTER READING: THIS IS THE PLACE
APR. 28 - CREATIVE NONFICTION: BRAIDING PRIVATE AND PUBLIC HISTORY WITH CATINA BACOTE
APR. 14 - *FREE EVENT* EMILIA PHILLIPS POETRY READING
MAR. 14-APR. 18 - THE FIRST 30 PAGES: A 6-WEEK WRITING WORKSHOP WITH CATHERINE CAMPBELL
MAR. 12-APR. 16 - HARD TO TELL: A 6-WEEK MEMOIR WORKSHOP WITH JENNIFER MCGAHA
FEB. 20-APR. 24 - METHODICAL MADNESS: A FICTION WORKSHOP (GSWP)
FEB. 10- CREATE A PAGE-TURNER WITH WILLIAMAYE JONES
FEB.3- WRITING THE NATIVE AMERICAN VOICE WITH ANNIE SAUNOOKE CLAPSADDLE
JAN. 24-FEB. 28 - WHAT THE #@*% AM I WRITING WITH A.K. BENNINGHOFEN?
JAN. 22-FEB. 26 - WORLD-BUILDING 101 WITH JAMIESON RIDENHOUR
JAN 20 - ALL-DAY POP-UP WRITING RETREAT
JAN. 14-FEB. 18- FRIENDS OF THE MUSE: A 6-WEEK WRITING COACHING GROUP WITH VICTORIA FANN
JAN.9-FEB.13 HUMOR IN CONTEMPORARY POETRY: A 6-WEEK CLASS WITH ERIC STEINEGER
*** 2018 class descriptions ***
Oct. 29 - Nov 19, 2018 - WRITING YOUNG ADULT FICTION w/NY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR BETH REVIS
In this four-session workshop, New York Times bestselling YA author Beth Revis will dive deep into the essentials of story telling: characters, world, and plot. Students will walk away from the course with a clear idea of their character’s voice, methods to make their world stand out, and a plot structure for their entire novel. The final session will focus on what makes a YA book high concept and how to sell your YA book in today’s competitive market.
This course is best suited for authors who come in with an idea of what they want to write or who have a rough draft they need to revise. While the workshop focuses on YA writing, it is suitable for those who want to write high concept or genre novels for any age.
In addition to worksheets, students will receive a copy of Beth Revis's Paper Hearts Workbook. Class meets Mondays for two hours 6:30-8:30pm, but may run over to 9pm.
Beth Revis is a New York Times bestselling author with books available in more than 20 languages. Her next title, Give the Dark my Love, is a dark fantasy about love and death. It will be available this fall. Beth’s other books include the bestselling science fiction trilogy, Across the Universe, and a novel in the Star Wars universe entitled Rebel Rising. She’s the author of two additional novels, numerous short stories,and the nonfiction Paper Hearts series, which aids aspiring writers. A native of North Carolina, Beth is currently working on a new novel for teens. She lives in rural NC with her boys: one husband, one son, and two massive dogs.
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OCT. 13, 2018 - NY LIT AGENT PANEL AND PITCH SLAM - PITCH PORTION SOLD OUT-WAITLIST
The Flatiron Writers Room is excited to bring four New York literary agents to Asheville on Saturday, October 13th, for this two-part event: a pitch slam from 1pm to 2:30 pm, and an agent panel with Q&A from 3 to 4:30pm. The agents participating in this event are Michelle Brower, Aevitas Creative Management; Allison Hunter, Janklow & Nesbit; Annie Hwang, Folio Literary Management; and Anjali Singh, Ayesha Pande Literary.
PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU PURCHASE A TICKET FOR THE PITCH SLAM.
Pitch Slam: Ticketholders for the pitch slam will have the opportunity to pitch their book to one agent during a 5-minute one-on-one meeting. When you register for a pitch ticket, you will be asked to rank your choices of agent. Before registration opens, you should review the agent biographies HERE so that you can state your preferences. While we will make every effort to honor participant preferences on a first-come, first-served basis, we cannot guarantee that you will be assigned to your preferred agent.
You will not be able to change your preferences once you have purchased your ticket, so please take care when you order. You may not purchase more than one ticket for the pitch slam. To the extent that you do not express a preference at the time you register, the Flatiron Writers Room will randomly assign you to an agent. We regret that due to the size and complexity of this event, we cannot make changes to your order once it is placed. You will be notified of your assigned agent and time slot by email prior to the event, along with instructions and guidelines for the pitch slam. Please make sure you register for this event using a valid email that you check regularly.
Ticketholders for the pitch slam may register at a discounted price of $10 for a Pitch Training to be held on Wednesday, September 26th, 2018, offered by Caroline Cristopoulos and Lauren Harr of Gold Leaf Literary. General admission to the Pitch Training is $35. UPDATE: THE PITCH TRAINING IS SOLD OUT BUT YOU MAY JOIN THE WAITING LIST.
Agent Panel: Following the pitch slam, the agents will convene in the Lenoir-Rhyne Board Room with ticket holders for the panel discussion, moderated by Flatiron Writers Room Co-Founder, Maggie Marshall. Topics may include aspects of literary representation such as how to query an agent, what an agent can do for the writer, and current trends in the publishing industry. After ample time for Q&A, the event will end at 4:30pm.
Tickets to both portions of this event are non-refundable. If you find you cannot attend the panel, you may transfer your paper ticket to another person. If you find you cannot attend your assigned pitch session, PLEASE notify the Flatiron Writers Room as we expect a wait list for this event.
We are excited to offer this opportunity to the many talented writers in our region. This event is made possible in part by a Grassroots Arts Program Grant from the Asheville Area and North Carolina Arts Councils, and the generous donation of space by Lenoir-Rhyne University.
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SEPT. 26, 2018 - WORKSHOP: PITCHING YOUR BOOK TO AGENTS - SOLD OUT-WAITLIST
Considering pitching your book to an agent? How about a bookseller? Or even your neighbor? Writing an effective pitch can make the difference between a publishing contract and a yawn. Learn how to hook people in with a concise and compelling book description. Using their combined backgrounds in the industry and craft tools you already know, instructors Caroline Green Christopoulos and Lauren Harr of Gold Leaf Literary will show you the best way to quickly engage your audience, and leave them wanting more.
CAROLINE CHRISTOPOULOS works at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe, where she has been a bookseller for fifteen years and buyer for eleven. She is on the steering committee of the Asheville Grown Business Alliance and the programming committee for the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival. In addition to bringing authors and their works the attention they deserve, her focus includes strengthening community and promoting local business. She and her husband live in Asheville and are proud foster parents.
LAUREN HARR has worked in the book world for fifteen years primarily as a bookseller in Asheville and Albuquerque, but also as an assistant at literary nonprofits in Santa Fe, as an intern at Graywolf Press, and as a marketing assistant and publicist at Coffee House Press. She spent eight years at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe where her passions were connecting readers and books and assisting the events program. She lives in Asheville with her husband and daughter.
This class is $10 for people who have already registered and paid for a ticket to the PITCH SLAM portion of our October 13, 2018, Literary Agent Panel and Pitch Slam. For all others, cost is $35. Space is limited to 20 participants.
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OCT. 10-NOV. 7, 2018 - THE LITERARY ECOSYSTEM: HOW IT WORKS & THE WRITER’S ROLE(GSWP)
The Literary Ecosystem: How It Works and the Writer’s Role with Caroline Christopoulos and Lauren Harr – In this course, writers will hone their goals for their work, craft an elevator pitch, learn the difference between an agent and a publicist, and practice talking about their work as a finished product rather than a manuscript-in-progress. Instructors Christopoulos and Harr are co-owners of Gold Leaf Literary Services, which provides a range of pre- and post-publication assistance for authors. Both have worked as booksellers at Malaprop’s, and Christopoulos is on the programming committee of the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival. Class meets for five weeks on Wednesday evenings from 6-8:30 p.m. at the Flatiron Writers Room in West Asheville, beginning Oct. 10.
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SEPT. 15-NOV. 3, 2018 - COMEDY WRITING: SKETCH, MONOLOGUE & STANDUP With TOM CHALMERS
Tom Chalmers brings his comedy pedigree (Artistic Director: Groundlings East, Staff Writer: Showtime TV, Director: Asheville School of Improv) to this 8-session writing course.
Speech writers often tell you the best thing to do is open with a joke, but that is easier said than done. Comedy writing is an acquired skill where spontaneous laughter is brought about by a practiced precision of words, a studied sense of satire and spoof, and a crafted ear for character voice.
This course will familiarize students with the components that are needed to create effective comedic pieces, whether read on the page or seen performed on the stage. Through a series of writing assignments, the class will emphasize the importance of structure, the benefit of building in a beginning, middle, and end… even for a one-liner. The course covers various styles of comedic writing. Individual and group assignments will cover original character monologues, situational comedy sketches, and standup comedy routines. We will integrate a variety of techniques such as the rule of threes, set up and punchline, the callback, the character catch phrase, and the blackout or closer. Some in-class assignments will involve improvisation, so previous improv experience is encouraged but not required.
All students are expected to write and present their own material unless they have specifically written something for another classmate to perform. Students will present new original material each week as well as periodically present rewrites to be considered for inclusion in the public performance at the end of class.
Classes run Saturdays 10am-12:30pm, September 15-November 3, 2018. Enrollment is limited.
Cost: $250 if you register before September 10, 2017, $300 after.
This workshop is eligible for our need-based scholarship program, details here.
BYO laptop or writing materials.
Tom Chalmers is the host and producer of Listen to This, stories on stage, now in its tenth season, three years in Los Angeles and seven years here in Asheville. A graduate of Columbia University, Tom came out of the NYC storytelling scene in the 90s where he performed at Collective Unconscious, Surf Reality, and the original Stories at The Moth. He has done two one-man shows of his personal stories, Every Bone In My Bodyand Harm for the Holidays. While in New York, Tom was a company member and artistic director of Groundlings East and a member of the original Upright Citizens Brigade house team. After New York, Tom moved to LA where he was a writer for SHOWTIME Television and literary manager of the renowned Sacred Fools Theatre Company. He has taught at NYU and Warren Wilson College. He currently teaches classes through the Flatiron Writers Room and the Asheville School of Improv. He is a member of the Asheville improv troupe, Reasonably Priced Babies, and is the co-host of the sports talk radio show, Steve Sax Syndrome, on AshevilleFM 103.3
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Often considered the “small bites” of the theatre world, ten-minute plays are short but sweet-ish: they can pack small bursts of flavor using limited ingredients of character, time, and place. The bites are sometimes sweet or salty, sometimes bitter or brassy. More and more theatres are producing ten-minute play festivals annually.
In this six-week workshop, each writer will develop one or two short plays. We will begin with a series of prompts, then bring pages of dialog to class each week to share in a script reading format. Writing and revising will occur both in class and between classes. No experience with scriptwriting is required.
As a special add-on, students registered for the class may purchase a 30-minute private coaching session with Bonnie. (Only 4 spaces available).
Please bring to the first class two different news articles that report on people or events that you find intriguing. Please clip or print out each report, as we will swap them in class for an exercise.
To register by check instead of via Eventbrite, mail your check to Flatiron Writers Room, LLC, 5 Covington Street, Asheville, NC 28806. You will be registered when we receive your payment, space permitting.
Class meets Tuesday evenings 6:30-8:30pm starting September 11, 2018.
Cost: $250 if you register by September 10, 2018, $275 after.
Bonnie Milne Gardner, PhD, is an award-winning playwright and life-long Dramatists Guild member who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. She recently became Emeritus Professor of theatre at Ohio Wesleyan University where she taught Playwriting and American Drama. Bonnie has worked as a director, dramaturg, and playwright with theatres around the country. Venues that have produced her plays include San Diego’s Human Rights Theatre Festival, Cleveland Play House, CATCO, Kent State University, New School for Drama, and Lovecreek Productions in NYC. Gardner’s scripts were finalists at E. Albee Playwrights Conference, Dispatch Short Play Contest, OSU Eileen Heckert Drama Competition, and McClaren Comedy Contest, but she is particularly proud of winning the limerick contest during the 2004 Southern Playwrights Festival. She was twice awarded an Ohio Arts Council Excellence in Playwriting grant. Her book, The Emergence of the Playwright-Director in American Theatre was published in 2001 by Edwin Mellon Press.
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SEPT. 10-OCT. 15, 2018 - CHARACTER BUILDING: A SIX-WEEK CLAsS WITH KIM MAKO
Kim Winter Mako brings her background as an actor to this six-weekworkshop on how to write compelling fictional characters. Whether you have a character you’re having trouble with, or you’re looking to generate new work, we’ll explore ways to give life to your characters through the use of craft elements such as point of view, dialogue, place, and physicality. Students should expect writing exercises and prompts in class, handouts to read, as well as sharing and receiving work in a supportive environment.
Class meets Monday evenings 6:30-8:30pm starting September 10, 2018.
Cost: $250 if you register before September 9, 2018, $275 after.
This workshop is eligible for our need-based scholarship program, details here.
Kim Winter Mako was the inaugural 2017 Ramsey Library Community Author at UNC Asheville. Her work has appeared in The American Literary Review, Sou’wester, Cosmonauts Avenue, The Citron Review, The Great Smokies Review, Prime Number, The Nervous Breakdown, and others. She is a recipient of a Regional Artist Project Grant, and fellowships at The Weymouth Center for Arts and Humanities, and The Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Before she started writing, Kim was an actor in NYC and was a founding member of Atheatreco, a small non-profit concentrating on original plays. She also did some acting on Law & Order, As the World Turns, and some independent films. Kim lives in Asheville with her husband and his incredible permaculture garden.
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SEPT. 8-NOV. 17, 2018 - WRITING FOR TV & FILM: A MASTER CLASS WITH PATRICIA GREEN - SOLD OUT
Emmy-winning writer-producer Patricia Green will teach this intensive 10-week workshop on writing professionally for the screen, designed to result in a first draft screenplay or television pilot. Class is limited to ten (10) students, to be chosen from writing samples.
This workshop will cover how to decide which screen to aim for, pitching ideas, story structure and development, character arcs and voices, editing story and dialogue, rewriting, and an overview of film/TV production, including working with actors. Participants will develop a story, write a short outline and a first draft screenplay or teleplay over the 10 week period, guided by Ms. Green, with one-on-one coaching provided as needed. Participants should be able to devote enough time to read their colleagues’ work and give feedback as well as doing their own writing for the class.
Before registering, email a writing sample (film/TV scripts or plays preferred, but not required; writing sample may be of any length, but limit one sample per applicant) to Patricia Green at flatironwritersroom[at]gmail.com with the subject heading: GREEN WRITING SAMPLE.
EXCEPTION: IF YOU HAVE PREVIOUSLY BEEN ADMITTED TO THIS CLASS THERE IS NO NEED TO SUBMIT A WRITING SAMPLE - YOU MAY SIMPLY REGISTER.
Deadline for writing sample submissions is August 17, 2018, but eligible applicants will be admitted on a first-come-first-served basis, so applicants are encouraged to submit as soon as possible. All applicants will be notified of admission no later than August 31, 2018.
Once Ms. Green admits you to the class, complete your registration and payment through Eventbrite, then read your Eventbrite registration confirmation email for what you need to know and bring for the first class.
Some familiarity with film history and access to classic films are recommended. Participants will also be expected to format their work properly. For those who don’t choose to invest in Final Draft, the industry-standard screenwriting program, basic screenplay format templates are available for download.
The class meets Saturday afternoons 2:30-5:30pm. There will be NO CLASS on October 13th. Cost: $350
About Patricia Green
PATRICIA GREEN has written and produced iconic TV dramas including North and South, Cagney and Lacey, L.A. Law, China Beach, Chicago Hopeand Christy. Nominated for seven Emmy awards, she has won three and been honored with the Humanitas Prize for promoting human dignity and freedom through film, as well as Christopher, GLAAD, Golden Globe and Scott Newman awards. She has taught screen and television writing at the University of Southern California, UCLA and The American Film Institute.
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READ THE NY TIMES BOOK REVIEW OF TESSA FONTAINE'S MEMOIR here:
Travel brings with it incredible journeys, both externally and internally. In this course, we will learn the basics of travel memoir, a genre that embraces the adventure and storytelling of travel writing with the personal reflection of memoir.
We will pay careful attention to the salient details and narrative devices that make travel memoir so rich and undertake a variety of writing exercises that will help at any stage of the drafting process - from tips and tricks for a pre-departure strategy to distilling a travel journal/notes into a finished piece. The course will involve outside readings, discussion, in-class writing, out-of-class writing, sharing, and an interest in bringing your story to life.
Class meets Wednesday evenings September 5 and 12, 6:30-8:30pm.
Cost: $75 if you register before August 24, 2018, $90 after.
TESSA FONTAINE is the author of The Electric Woman: A Memoir in Death-Defying Acts, a New York Times Editor’s Choice, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick, an Amazon Editors' Best of the Month featured debut & Best Books of 2018 (so far), an iBooks favorite, and more. Other work can be found in Glamour, LitHub, The Believer, FSG's Works in Progress, Creative Nonfiction, The Rumpus, DIAGRAM, and [PANK]. Raised outside San Francisco, she has an MFA from the University of Alabama and is currently a doctoral student in creative writing at the University of Utah. She won the AWP Intro Award in Nonfiction, and fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, The Taft Nicholson Center, Writing by Writers, and Squaw Valley Community of Writers. In addition to teaching for the New York Times summer journeys and at the Universities of Alabama and Utah, she has also taught for five years in prisons in Alabama and Utah.
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AUG. 23-NOV. 8, 2018 - SECOND & FOURTH THURSDAY WRITE-INS
OUR FINAL WRITE-IN ON NOVEMBER 8TH IS AN OFFICIAL NANOWRIMO EVENT!
Our summer Write-Ins were so popular, we've decided to continue them this fall! Join us for communal writing time at the Flatiron Writers Room on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month from 6:30pm-8:30pm, starting August 23 and running through November 8, hosted by members of Asheville's Flatiron Writers group.
Bring your laptop or paper and pen, beverage and snack of your choice, and any other items for your writing comfort (headphones, lumbar pillow, a sweater if you get cold in air conditioning). We'll provide free wi-fi and a library of craft books and screenplays to peruse.
Your $5 ticket helps the FWR stay up and running. If you prefer, you may pay by check or cash at the door, space permitting (exact change appreciated). After the write in, consider gathering with other writers next door at UpCounty Brewing. Space is limited to fourteen participants per session. We hope to see you there!
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Please join Flatiron Writers Room along with Roots + Wings School of Art and Design, and Malaprop's Bookstore for this FREE event!
Come help us celebrate the release of acclaimed author Matthew Vollmer's PERMANENT EXHIBIT, a collection of short prose originally composed as status updates on a popular social media platform, and now published by BOA Editions Ltd.
Matthew Vollmer opens a browser window into his own mind with these collage-style essays. Exercising a rapacious intellectual curiosity, he seamlessly integrates flying snakes, mass shootings, emojis, pop stars, stargazing, ghosts, circuses, and a hundred other things. Full of keen observations and unexpected insights, Permanent Exhibit reclaims the art of letting one’s mind wander and explore in the age of the status update.
This FREE event will include:
Readings by the Flatiron Players: A.K. Benninghofen, Jeff Benninghofen, Tiffany Cade Santiago, Maggie Marshall, Kevin Patrick Murphy, Robert Dale Walker, and Matthew Vollmer.
Gallery showing of original work by local visual artists Ginger Huebner, Jeannie Regan and Holly de Saillan
Malaprop's onsite sale of Permanent Exhibit as well as other Vollmer books
Hors d'oeuvres, wine and local beer
~ NO ADMISSION CHARGE BUT PLEASE HELP US PLAN BY REGISTERING FOR THE EVENT ~
The reading follows Matthew's workshop on Writing Hybrids: Exploding Form and Genre for which you can register separately HERE.
Matthew Vollmer is the author of two collections of short stories, Future Missionaries of America and Gateway to Paradise, as well as inscriptions for headstones, a collection of one-sentence essays, each unfolding in the form of an epitaph. He is, with David Shields, the co-editor of Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux Lectures, Quasi-Letters, “Found” Documents, and Other Fraudulent Artifacts. He also edited A Book of Uncommon Prayer, an anthology of everyday invocations from over 60 authors, including Flatiron Writer A.K. Benninghofen. A winner of a Pushcart Prize and a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, his latest book, Permanent Exhibit, a collection of short essays, will be published in September 2018 by BOA Editions, LTD. He is an Associate Professor in the English Department at Virginia Tech.
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AUG. 18, 2018 - WRITING HYBRIDS: HOW TO EXPLODE FORM & GENRE WITH MATTHEW VOLLMER
What happens when a story unfolds like a letter—or a police blotter—or a contract—or a sermon? What happens when you write an essay in the form of a prayer—or epitaph—or craigslist ad?
Do you feel compelled to write but don’t know where to start? Do you have an idea for a story but don’t know what shape it should take? Does the idea of structure throw you for a loop? In this lively and generative workshop, author Matthew Vollmer will give you imaginative strategies for seeing the content of your work anew by encouraging you to consider the various and particular forms and genre that writing can take. This workshop will invigorate your writing and provide new avenues for creative expression.
Cost: $35 if you register before August 10, 2018, $45 after.
A FREE staged reading of essays from Matthew's new book, Permanent Exhibit, will follow the class on Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. at Roots + Wings in East Asheville, featuring Matthew and the Flatiron Players. For more information and to RSVP for that event click HERE.
Matthew Vollmer is the author of two collections of short stories, Future Missionaries of America and Gateway to Paradise, as well as inscriptions for headstones, a collection of one-sentence essays, each unfolding in the form of an epitaph. He is, with David Shields, the co-editor of Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux Lectures, Quasi-Letters, “Found” Documents, and Other Fraudulent Artifacts. He also edited A Book of Uncommon Prayer, an anthology of everyday invocations from over 60 authors. A winner of a Pushcart Prize and a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, his latest book, Permanent Exhibit, a collection of short essays, will be published in September 2018 by BOA Editions, LTD. He is an Associate Professor in the English Department at Virginia Tech.
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JULY 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31, 2018 - TUESDAY EVENING WRITE-INS
Join us for communal writing time at the Flatiron Writers Room each Tuesday in July from 6:30pm-8:30pm, hosted by members of Asheville's Flatiron Writers group. Bring your laptop or paper and pen, beverage and snack of your choice, and any other items for your writing comfort (headphones, lumbar pillow, a sweater if you get cold in air conditioning). We'll provide free wi-fi and a library of craft books and screenplays to peruse. Your $5 donation (select a ticket to either pay now through Eventbrite or at the door by check or cash) helps the FWR stay up and running. We'll also be collecting donations of paperback books for Asheville Prison Books, which has been providing books to inmates in the Carolinas for twenty years--dictionaries and books by black authors or targeted to a black audience are especially needed. After the write in, consider gathering with other writers next door at UpCounty Brewing. Space is limited to fourteen participants per session. We hope to see you there!
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JUN. 20, 2018 - WRITERS ON DECK: AN OUTDOOR EVENING W/ELIZABETH HEANEY
Join us for burgers and conversation on the tree-covered outdoor deck of a local B&B and meet Elizabeth Heaney, multiple-award-winning author of a thought-provoking, occasionally humorous and incredibly moving memoir about counseling combat veterans. After a thirty-year career as a professional counselor, Elizabeth began to work on military bases with troops getting ready to deploy or those coming home from war. Her book, The Honor Was Mine, is a look inside the emotions that run deeply—and often silently—in the hearts of warriors and their loved ones.
(from the cover):
A young combat veteran hides in his closet under a pile of clothes on bad days. Another, home for five days after a year of solitary work, can’t figure out how to talk to his wife. In the counselor’s office, a battle-weary captain flinches with fear each time the thermostat cycles. A commander’s spouse recounts the soul-draining effect of attending ninety-three memorial services . . .
Elizabeth will be joined by combat veteran and author Stephen Henderson, a contributor to the new anthology Brothers Like These, a collection of stories written by local Vietnam vets, and the two will discuss how soldiers cope with the devastating aftermath of combat and use writing to decipher their feelings.
The Honor Was Mine won both the Nautilus Book Award and the Military Writers of America Gold Medal. Elizabeth’s work has appeared in Parade Magazine, Guideposts, The Military Times and other national publications. Bringing her two passions together, writing and helping veterans, Elizabeth also co-facilitates an ongoing writing group for Vietnam veterans with PTSD at the VA Hospital.
This is a free event locatedat a beautiful private home/B&B in North Asheville (Beaverdam Rd).We’ll gather on the deck under the trees, enjoy a free dinner provided by the event hosts and savor plenty of time for discussions and questions!
Copies of the Elizabeth’s and Stephen’s books (provided by Malaprops) will be available for purchase on site, though if you want to read them in advance we encourage you to stop by Malaprops and pick up a copy.
While the event is free, you must register here as space is limited. We’ll provide the address and directions once you’ve registered--expect an email from us with event information approximately one week before the event.
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This intensive one-day workshop is for writers with a novel in progress or an idea for a novel who want guidance and inspiration to get it written. In-class exercises will help you focus on what your novel is about, who it is about, how best to tell the story, and how to stay motivated and organized as it grows. Students who register for the workshop will have the option of purchasing an individual coaching session to take place during the summer, in which the instructor will read and critique up to 25 pages of your novel and meet with you for a 30-minute session to discuss it. Class meets Saturday, June 2, 2018, from 10am to 3pm with a one-hour lunch break during which students are invited to bring a bag lunch and discuss their novels informally with the group. Individual coaching sessions may be scheduled between June 2 and August 31, 2018. To register with a check instead of through Eventbrite, mail your check and contact information including email address to the Flatiron Writers Room, 5 Covington Street, Asheville, NC 28806. You will be registered when we receive your check, space permitting.
Heather Newton’s novel Under The Mercy Trees (HarperCollins 2011) won the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award, was chosen by the Women’s National Book Association as a Great Group Reads Selection and named an “Okra Pick” by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance. Her short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Drum, Carolina Table, 27 Views of Asheville, and elsewhere. She teaches creative writing for UNC-Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program and is Program Manager for the Flatiron Writers Room.
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“So this memorable thing happened to me and I want to tell you all about it!”
More and more people in Asheville and elsewhere are crafting short personal narratives to be told on stage for storyslam shows like Stories at The Moth, curated series like Listen to This, and popular podcasts like This American Life. But those who do it well know that it is more than just getting up on stage and winging it, more than simply reporting the recollections of the past.
This six-week course covers techniques for creating a compelling personal narrative piece to be shared on stage; one that speaks to the assigned theme of a storytelling event, comes in on time, and through image-driven language gives the listeners the sense of having lived the memory themselves. Students will learn how to choose a story to tell, how to write a compelling first line, how to structure and deliver their story, and how to know when to end, resisting the temptation to tack on a lesson-learned epilogue. Participants will be given a series of writing prompts to spark different short personal narratives. Class meets Thursday evenings from 6pm-8pm. For their final class, each student will perform their best piece as part of a special student-showcase version of the monthly storytelling series, Listen to This, at 35 Below on Thursday, June 28th at 7:30 PM.
The week before class starts, participants are encouraged to attend the Stories at The Moth performance at The Mothlight in West Asheville on Wednesday, May 16th. Tickets go on sale on May 9th at 3PM at https://themoth.org/events/ego-asheville. They sell out quickly so set your alarm! As part of the second class, students will get to attend the May edition of Listen to This at 35 Below.
Tom Chalmers is the host and producer of Listen to This, stories on stage, now in its tenth season, three years in Los Angeles and seven years here in Asheville. A graduate of Columbia University, Tom came out of the NYC storytelling scene in the 90s where he performed at Collective Unconscious, Surf Reality, and the original Stories at The Moth. He has done two one-man shows of his personal stories, Every Bone In My Bodyand Harm for the Holidays. While in New York, Tom was a company member and artistic director of Groundlings East and a member of the original Upright Citizens Brigade house team. After New York, Tom moved to LA where he was a writer for SHOWTIME Television and literary manager of the renowned Sacred Fools Theatre Company. He has taught at NYU and Warren Wilson College. He currently teaches classes through the Flatiron Writers Room and the Asheville School of Improv. He is a member of the Asheville improv troupe, Reasonably Priced Babies, and is the co-host of the sports talk radio show, Steve Sax Syndrome, on AshevilleFM 103.3
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Dialogue is a vital part of storytelling. Whether you're writing fiction, a screenplay, a stage play, or nonfiction, dialogue serves as a principal tool for developing characters, and moving the action forward. Characters are never "just talking": Everything they say should advance the plot, reveal who they are, and engage the imagination of the reader or the audience. Good dialogue can bring a story fully to life, while dull or awkward dialogue will flatten it. In this one-day workshop, we'll look at methods for creating natural-sounding dialogue that resonates truthfully, and that is carefully constructed so that each line serves the story.
Paul Zimmerman is a writer and teacher who works across genres. As a screenwriter, he wrote the film A Modern Affair, and has developed feature length screenplays and corporate scripts for Tribe Pictures and many other production companies. Among his stage plays, Pigs and Bugs was originally presented at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Festival, and has been produced in Los Angeles and Vermont. His one-person play, Reno, debuted in New York City, and was subsequently produced at performance spaces nationwide. He has published fiction in Confrontation Magazine, and authored the chapter on Character in Gotham Writers' Workshop's book Writing Movies (Bloomsbury USA). Paul is a grant recipient from the New York Public Theater, and holds an MFA in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama. He currently teaches writing classes in New York City at Hofstra University, St. John's University, and the Gotham Writers' Workshop, and works as an independent script consultant.
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MAY 5, 2018 - FROM PAGE TO PODIUM: READING YOUR WORK ALOUD WITH MEL RYANE
Writers are often daunted by the idea of reading their work aloud, whether in a classroom situation or public presentation. This workshop will teach writers to prepare and present confident, clear public readings using the same tools employed by professional actors:
Warming up the vocal instrument
Rehearsing the material
Calming the nerves
Delivering the work
Whether reading for an audience of one or one hundred, every writer can benefit from the self-editing techniques learned when reading their work aloud. Neither acting nor public speaking experience is necessary to benefit from the craft of acting.
During the course of this workshop you will:
Bring a piece of your work you wish to read (one page, double-spaced, two copies).
Be led in voice and body warm-ups using breathing and vocal exercises.
Read aloud excerpts of published works by other writers to study pacing, phrasing, word choice and themes.
Be coached individually by Mel as you read your work, with the class observing.
Time permitting, you will get a second opportunity to read for the class integrating the techniques you've learned.
What participants have said:
--"FANTASTIC CLASS. Mel is my hero! I learned. I faltered. I listened. I tried. I faced my fear and she changed my life. Truly inspiring. A great coach. Unforgettable!"
--"I would highly recommend this workshop! I've already put it to use to increase my confidence at delivering readings."
--"This workshop helped me understand my own writing better— how to interpret it."
Mel Ryane is the author of the acclaimed memoir TEACHING WILL: What Shakespeare and 10 Kids Gave Me That Hollywood Couldn't (Familius). Her writing has been published in the LA Times. In her distinguished acting career, Mel has performed on stages across the U.S. and Canada. She has coached actors on television and film sets and public speakers on the corporate level. She had taught her workshop PAGE TO PODIUM for the last twelve years at writers' conferences across North America.
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APR. 28, 2018 - *FREE EVENT* CATINA BACOTE, LINA FERREIRA, NAIMA COSTER READING: THIS IS THE PLACE
Join us April 28th at 6pm at the Flatiron Writers Room for a free public reading by contributors to the anthology This is the Place: Women Writing About Home, including Catina Bacote, Naima Coster, and Lina Ferreira. This reading follows Catina Bacote’s day-long creative nonfiction workshop “Braiding Private and Public History” at the Flatiron Writers Room, for which you may register separately here:
In This Is the Place, edited by Margot Kahn and Kelly McMasters, women explore the concept of home and the ways it makes, breaks, and shapes us. With voices from diverse backgrounds, this collection of thirty essays connects to issues that are at the forefront of our conversations and our culture, such as immigration, gender equality, sexual and family violence, homelessness, the environment, and poverty.
Registration is not required for the reading but your RSVP will help us plan.
About Our Readers:
Catina Bacote contributed an essay to the anthology This Is The Place: Women Writing About Home that was selected as an editor’s choice for the New York Times Book Review. Her nonfiction has also appeared in the Gettysburg Review, TriQuarterly, Tin House, Ploughshares, The Common, The Sun, the Southern California Review, and elsewhere. Her writing has been supported by the Ann Cox Chambers Long-form Journalism Fellowship from MacDowell Colony and the Alice Judson Hayes Social Justice Fellowship from Radgale. She holds a MA from Teachers College, Columbia University and a MFA from the University of Iowa, where she was admitted as a Dean’s Fellow and subsequently served as the Provost’s Visiting Writer in Nonfiction. She teaches creative writing at Warren Wilson College.
Naima Coster is the author of Halsey Street, a story of family, loss, and renewal, set in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Arts & Letters, Catapult, The Rumpus, Aster(ix), A Practical Wedding, Guernica, and has been anthologized in The Best of Kweli and This is the Place: Women Writing About Home. Naima is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently the 2017 Cosmonauts Avenue Nonfiction Prize, judged by Roxane Gay. Naima studied creative writing at Yale, Fordham University, and Columbia University, where she earned her MFA. She has taught writing to students in prison, youth programs, and universities. She currently teaches at Wake Forest University and is a Senior Fiction Editor at Kweli. Naima tweets as @zafatista and writes the newsletter, Bloom How Must.
Lina M. Ferreira C.-V. graduated with both a creative nonfiction writing and a literary translation MFA from the University of Iowa. She is the author of “Drown Sever Sing” from Anomalous press and “Don’t Come Back,” from Mad River Books, an imprint of the Ohio State University Press. Her fiction, nonfiction, poetry and translation work has been featured in journals including The Bellingham Review, The Chicago Review, Fourth Genre, Brevity, Poets & Writers and the Sunday Rumpus among others. She won the Best of the Net, the Iron Horse Review’s Discovered Voices Award, has been nominated for multiple Pushcart Prizes and is a Rona Jaffe fellow. She moved from Colombia to China to Columbus to Richmond, Virginia where she works as an assistant professor for the Virginia Commonwealth University.
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APR. 28, 2018 - CREATIVE NONFICTION: BRAIDING PRIVATE AND PUBLIC HISTORY WITH CATINA BACOTE
How does your ordinary life reflect a larger human narrative?
In this one-day creative nonfiction workshop we will consider how our own experiences have been shaped by social, cultural, and political dynamics, and the ways our writing can affirm or disrupt well-established accounts.
We will explore how to handle memory, archival documents, diaries, letters, photographs, and oral history (you will be asked to bring in specific material). Writing prompts will help you transform traditional and unconventional research into vibrant prose and offer both introspection and an outward gaze in your work.
This will be a hands-on workshop where you will generate new writing, share your work, and respond to the writing of others.
To guide our discussions and writing, we will read short essays by innovative authors such as Patricia Smith, Bernard Cooper, Kiese Laymon, and Peggy Shumaker, to see how these writers transform broad events into compelling and intimate narratives.
As an add-on, students may purchase individual coaching sessions with the instructor on Sunday morning, April 29, 2018. To register by check instead of via Eventbrite, mail your check to Flatiron Writers Room, LLC, 5 Covington Street, Asheville, NC 28806. You will be registered when we receive your payment, space permitting.
Catina Bacote is an essayist and memoirist. She contributed an essay to the new anthology This Is The Place: Women Writing About Home that was selected as an editor’s choice for the New York Times Book Review. Her nonfiction has also appeared in the Gettysburg Review, TriQuarterly, Tin House, Ploughshares, The Common, The Sun, the Southern California Review, and elsewhere. Her writing has been supported by the Ann Cox Chambers Long-form Journalism Fellowship from MacDowell Colony and the Alice Judson Hayes Social Justice Fellowship from Radgale. She holds a MA from Teachers College, Columbia University and a MFA from the University of Iowa, where she was admitted as a Dean’s Fellow and subsequently served as the Provost’s Visiting Writer in Nonfiction. She teaches creative writing at Warren Wilson College.
At 6pm April 28, 2018, at the Flatiron Writers Room, Catina Bacote and co-contributors Lina Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas and Naima Coster will host a free public reading from the anthology This Is The Place: Women Writing About Home (Seal Press 2017).
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APR. 14, 2018 - *FREE EVENT* EMILIA PHILLIPS POETRY READING
Join us for this free public reading by poet Emilia Phillips at 5:30pm Saturday April 14th in the Board Room at Lenoir Rhyne University in the Asheville Chamber of Commerce Building. This event is part of Asheville Word Fest. www.avlwordfest.com
Emilia Phillips is the author of two poetry collections from the University of Akron Press, Signaletics (2013) and Groundspeed(2016), and three chapbooks, most recently Beneath the Ice Fish Like Souls Look Alike (Bull City Press, 2015). Her poems and lyric essays appear widely in literary publications including Agni, Boston Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, and elsewhere. She’s an assistant professor in the MFA Writing Program and the Department of English at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her third book, Empty Clip, will be published by the University of Akron Press Spring 2018.
No registration required but your RSVP will help us plan.
The reading follows Emilia's afternoon poetry master class at the Flatiron Writers Room, for which you can register separately here
MAR. 14-APR. 18, 2018 - THE FIRST 30 PAGES: A 6-WEEK WRITING WORKSHOP WITH CATHERINE CAMPBELL
The beginning pages of a book manuscript are crucial to impressing agents, editors, contest judges and readers, and making them want to read more.
In this six-week workshop, you'll learn how to refine and prepare the first 30-50 pages of your manuscript so they are ready for submissions to agents and publications. The first four weeks together, we will focus on specific elements of craft in the opening of your novel, memoir or nonfiction book, to make sure they are polished: theme, character, conflict, and structure/pace. The last two weeks we will help you select and prepare an excerpt for publication submissions, as well as write the agent query letterthat will accompany your pages.
Limited to 10 students. Must have a manuscript in progress.
To register by check, mail your check to Flatiron Writers Room, LLC, 5 Covington Street, Asheville, NC 28806. You will be registered when we receive your check, space permitting. For more information, go to www.flatironwritersroom.com.
About the Instructor: Catherine Campbell is an award-nominated fiction writer and essayist. Her work appears or is forthcoming in The New York Times, The Millions, Kenyon Review, McSweeney’s, The Atlantic, Daily Muse, Arcadia, Drunken Boat, Ploughshares online, and elsewhere. She also ghostwrites articles for high-profile clients in national magazines such as Inc., Harvard Business Review, and Foundr Mag. Catherine earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and Writing at UNC-Asheville and her MFA in Writing at Queens University. She was born on a little homestead in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, and lives in Asheville with her son Thaddeus and her partner, the writer Brandon Amico.
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MAR. 12-APR. 16, 2018 - HARD TO TELL: A 6-WEEK MEMOIR WORKSHOP WITH JENNIFER McGAHA
What is that story that nags at you, the one that keeps you up at night, the one you haven’t yet dared to share? And how might telling it transform you?
Writing a story, one that matters to you, takes courage. When you send your work out into the world, you risk judgement and ridicule. You risk alienating friends and family, and you risk being misunderstood. Nonetheless, there are some stories that demand to be told. In this course, we will explore what it means to write with abandon, to go out on a limb and begin writing the stories that matter most to you. Through in-class writings, short readings, writing workshops, and plenty of lively discussion about both the ethics and craft of memoir writing, we will write our way to deeper understandings about the most transformative experiences of our lives. This six-week class meets Monday evenings 6pm-8pm starting March 12, 2018.
About the Instructor: Jennifer McGaha is the author of the memoir Flat Broke with Two Goats. Her writing has also appeared in The Huffington Post, The Good Men Project, PANK, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Baltimore Fishbowl, Your Impossible Voice, and The Brooklyner, among other publications. An experienced teacher of writing students of all ages, Jennifer earned her MA from Western Carolina University and her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in Pisgah Forest with her husband and their two cats, four dogs, ten goats, and ever-changing number of laying hens.
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FEB. 20-APR. 24, 2018 - METHODICAL MADNESS: A FICTION WORKSHOP (GSWP)
Looking forward to writing more and better in 2018? Join me Tuesday evenings starting February 20th (6-8:30 p.m.) for ten weeks of Methodical Madness with the Great Smokies Writing Program:
This course is for writers of fiction who want to generate new work, and have work critiqued for revision in a supportive workshop setting. Students should come committed to writing in response to prompts, and giving and receiving thoughtful criticism as members of a community of writers. You may submit two pieces of up to 12 pages for group critique. For the last class, you will submit a piece of work to a publication or contest. Our text will be Writing Fiction: The Practical Guide From New York’s Acclaimed Writing School(Gotham Writers’ Workshop).
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The beginning of a novel can hook your readers, but chapter endings are just as important if not more so—once you’ve engaged a reader you want to keep them hooked until the last page. Authors use numerous devices to make readers turn the page. This workshop will focus on how to write captivating chapter endings that achieve suspense and mystery in a subtle way, avoid clichés and stereotypes, and push the novel forward. We will explore various fiction genres to discover tools we can use to craft our own chapter endings that create a sense of urgency in readers and engender questions. We will also look at endings that fall flat. As an add on, students may purchase an individual 30-minute coaching session with the instructor, to take place following the workshop (four spaces available).
About the Instructor: In her nearly twenty years as a freelance editor for publishing powerhouses such as Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Random House, and Sterling Publishing, Williamaye Jones has worked on over 1200 books, both fiction and non-fiction, from concept to conception. She received a BA in Literature from UNC-Asheville and an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University. She is now launching her boutique publishing company, Lioness Press, in Hendersonville, NC.
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This workshop will examine the intentions behind writing from Native American perspectives and/or the inclusion of Native characters in fiction writing. We will analyze examples of both successful and unsuccessful approaches to Native characterizations and the potential hazards to avoid. Participants will develop essential questions to consider and appropriate research methods for their own works. Most importantly, the course will focus on the rounding out of Native American characters in a manner that authentically portrays both the writer’s message and character’s culture. Class meets Saturday, February 3, 2018, from 9:30 am to noon. Registered students may purchase an individual coaching session with the instructor to take place in the afternoon following the workshop (space limited to 3).
About the Instructor: Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) resides in Qualla, NC with her husband, Evan, and their sons Ross and Charlie. She holds degrees from Yale University and the College of William and Mary. Her first novel, Going to Water is winner of The Morning Star Award for Creative Writing from the Native American Literature Symposium (2012), and a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction (2014). Recent publications also include: “Undertow” from Carolina Mountain Literary Festival Anthology: Ten Years of Festivals(Press 53 2015), Naked Came the Leaf Peeper (Burning Bush Press 2011), “It All Comes Out in the Wash” from Appalachian Heritage Quarterly (Berea College 2009), and “Camouflage” from Night is Gone, Day Is Still Coming (Candlewick Press 2003), and a series of bi-lingual Children’s books published by the EBCI. After serving as Executive Director of the Cherokee Preservation Foundation, Annette (National Board Certified since 2012) returned to teaching English and Social Studies at Swain County High School. She is co-editor of the Journal of Cherokee Studies and writes periodically for Smoky Mountain Living magazine.
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Is it a short story? Is it a personal essay? Maybe it’s the beginning of a novel? Or a chapter of a memoir?
This six-week prose workshop is designed to help you find the right form for the story you are hoping to tell. Together we will closely examine elements of craft and process, which will allow you to see your work with deeper insight while also generating new material. Students will participate in a series of writing exercises intended to cultivate the skill of making narrative connections between seemingly unrelated images and observations.
Topics include:
~Following Your Own Breadcrumbs -- balancing invention, intention and intuition
~Writing with a Compass Instead of a Map – the power of choosing a direction without necessarily knowing the destination
~The Writer’s Divining Rod – locating the energy in a piece and mining it for all it’s worth
~Economy, Precision and Originality – seeing your work with an editor’s eye
Whether you are just beginning or have a project you’ve been struggling with, this class will offer inspiration and direction that will bring new life to your work. As an add-on, students may also purchase individual coaching sessions with the instructor.
A.K. Benninghofen holds a BFA in Theatre from the University of Southern Mississippi. She worked as an actress in New York and Los Angeles for many years before moving to Asheville where she started a family and began her life as a writer. She is a member of Flatiron Writers Group. A.K.’s work has appeared in Word Riot, Passages North, Evergreen Review, Monkeybicycle, Necessary Fiction, Deep South Magazine, the anthology A Book of Uncommon Prayer and elsewhere. She has been a fiction contributor at Sewanee Writers' Conference, a writing fellow at the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts & Sciences, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities and Wildacres Retreat. In 2012, she was awarded a Regional Artist Project Grant by the North Carolina Arts Council. Currently, she is at work on her first novel, “Gloaming Season,” as well as a collection of linked stories titled “Landmine Maps of the Hospitality State.”
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Do you feel like you know Middle-earth, Hogwarts, or District 12 as well as your own hometown? Do you wonder how authors create worlds so rich and complex they seem like they must really exist? Have you ever wanted to do the same thing—create a nation or a dimension or a planet? This six-weekclass is for you. Class meets Mondays 6pm to 8 pm, January 22-February 26, 2018.
Worldbuilding 101 looks at the mechanics and craft of setting. Whether you are writing a secondary world fantasy, a science fiction epic, or a novel set in a contemporary high school, it’s your job to make the world as real as possible. Using some representative examples and workshoppers’ own work, we’ll look at the pros and cons of description, how to use dialogue and sketching to avoid the setting infodump, and when and how to give backstory or history, and more.
Jamieson Ridenhour is a novelist and playwright. He is the author of the werewolf murder-mystery Barking Mad (Typecast, 2011), the award-winning animated short horror films Cornerboys (2009) and The House of the Yaga (2011), and was a Kennedy Center David Cohen award finalist for his ghost play Grave Lullaby. Jamie has nineteen years experience as a writing teacher and scholar, having published academic essays on 19th century horror fiction, contemporary vampire films, steampunk rap music, and Charles Dickens. His book-length study of the Victorian Urban Gothic novel, In Darkest London, was published in 2014. Palimpsest, a bi-weekly audio ghost story, is currently available on iTunes.
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Writing is a lonely business--but it doesn't have to be! Make writing time one of your New Year's resolutions and join us at the Flatiron Writers Room in West Asheville for a day-long retreat that includes communal writing, time for yourself, an individual session with novelist Heather Newton or screenwriter Maggie Marshall and fellowship with other participants. You can also add on an optional neck and shoulder 'Writer's Massage" with one of our resident professional massage therapists (massage tickets limited).
For an idea of what the day will look like click here:
Let your loved ones know that this gift of writing time is what you want for the holidays! For complete agenda and other information, including the option to register by check, see our website: www.flatironwritersroom.com or email us at flatironwritersroom[at]gmail.com.
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JAN. 14-FEB. 18, 2018 - FRIENDS OF THE MUSE: A 6-WEEK WRITING COACHING GROUP WITH VICTORIA FANN
Have you become disconnected from your writing? Do you long to get back into creative flow? Join us for this six-week group on Sundays 3pm to 4:30 pm as we immerse ourselves in the creative process, reconnect with the Muse and navigate through the landscape of the imagination to find our authentic voices. In the sacred space created by this group, there will be opportunities to share our discoveries as well as become a mirror for others. With a spirit of adventure, we’ll dive into the writing process with fun exercises, inspirational readings and lively group discussions. Coach Victoria Fann will provide weekly email check-ins, handouts and resources. Participants will also be encouraged to share their creative projects with the group in a safe and non-competitive environment. The purpose of the group is to work together with a seasoned writing coach in the company of other writers. This group is limited to 10 participants.
Topics will include: Connecting with your Muse, strengthening your creative voice, developing a creative habit, working through resistance, setting intentions, establishing healthy creative boundaries, increasing creative productivity, accountability, sharing your work, and more!
Each member will receive individual attention on specific issues and challenges he/she is having as a writer. As an add-on, members may also purchase individual coaching sessions with the instructor. This is NOT a critique group, rather it is a group to assist writers who would like to increase their productivity and have support moving forward with their writing projects.
About the instructor: Victoria Fann has been writing essays, short stories, plays and screenplays for over three decades. Her writing has been published in numerous publications and anthologies including Women of Wisdom, Newsweek, Thought Catalog, Elephant Journal, Wake Up World, BioStories,etc. In addition, Victoria has been working with writers as a group facilitator, coach and teacher ever since the founding of her first writing group, Mothers Who Write in 1989. Her book, Creative Alchemy: Accessing the Extraordinary Power of the Muse to Transform Your Art and Your Life will be published in 2018.
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Jan. 9-Feb. 13, 2018 HUMOR IN CONTEMPORARY POETRY: A 6-WEEK CLASS with ERIC STEINEGER
Why does poetry take itself so seriously? Is it possible to write something that is both funny and accomplished? This class focuses on humor in contemporary poetry, while also examining “funny” poems/poets from the past to determine where we have been and where we are going with this underrated subgenre. Among the poets whose work we will examine are Gertrude Stein, Kenneth Koch and the New York School Poets, Kara Candito, Richard Garcia, Gabrielle Calvocoressi and more.
The class combines lecture and workshop, where students will try their hand at crafting humorous or ironic poems in a supportive atmosphere. We will also cover strategies for publication.
Students have the option of purchasing individual coaching sessions with the instructor.
ERIC STEINEGER teaches English at Mars Hill University. He is the Senior Poetry Editor of The Citron Review. His work has been featured in The Los Angeles Review, Rattle: The Poets Respond, Asheville Poetry Review, Tinderbox, and other journals. Occasionally, he curates poetry readings at Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center and teaches in the Great Smokies Writing Program for UNC Asheville. He lives in Asheville with his wife and daughter.
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NOV 10-NOV 12 - NONFICTION BOOK PROPOSAL BOOTCAMP
NOV 15-DEC13 - STORY MEDICINE FOR RACIAL HEALING
OCT 4-NOV 8 - NOVEL INTENSIVE WITH HEATHER NEWTON
OCT 2-NOV 6 - WRITING FROM THE TOP OF YOUR HEAD
SEPT 16-NOV 4 - COMEDY WRITING: MONOLOGUE, SKETCH, & STANDUP
SEPT 12-NOV 14 - HEART OF THE STORY: WRITING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE (GSWP)
SEPT 9 - POV - WHO IS TELLING THIS STORY?
AUG 26 - LEGAL ISSUES FOR WRITERS: COPYRIGHT & DEFAMATION
AUG 26-SEPT 30 - WRITE YOUR LIFE STORY: 6-WEEK MEMOIR WRITING INTENSIVE
AUG 23-SEPT 27 - THE ART OF THE MIDDLE: A NOVEL WRITING CLASS
JUNE 3 - SELF-EDITING: DO WHAT YOU CAN & THEN PAY A PRO TO DO THE REST
MAY 24-JUNE 14 - THE BUSINESS OF WRITING
MAY 20 - FROM PAGE TO PODIUM: READING YOUR WORK ALOUD
MARCH 14-APRIL 11 - DIY BOOK PROMOTION & PROFESSIONALISM (GSWP)
MARCH 1-MAY 17 - WRITING FOR TV & FILM: A MASTER CLASS
FEBRUARY 18-APRIL 8 - CRAFTING SKETCH COMEDY
FEB 13-APRIL 24 - METHODICAL MADNESS-CREATIVE PROSE WORKSHOP (GSWP)
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Nov. 10-12, 2017 - NONFICTION BOOT PROPOSAL BOOTCAMP
with DENISE KIERNAN & JOSEPH D'AGNESE
DON'T MISS THIS EXTRAORDINARY OPPORTUNITY!!!
Take your nonfiction book project from idea to execution in this one-day intensive with New York Times Bestseller Denise Kiernan - author of The Girls of Atomic City and The Last Castle - and her husband, author/ghostwriter Joseph D'Agnese.
While agents and publishers want completed novels before considering fiction, nonfiction books are typically sold on the basis of a book proposal. Proposals (25 to 75 pages or longer) have one job: to entice agents and editors to take a chance on an author’s idea. Though the dynamics of nonfiction are markedly different from those governing fiction, one truth remains: quality writing rises to the top. A well-crafted proposal can mean the difference between a small or large advance, not to mention excellent placement in a publisher’s catalog, and a significant marketing budget.
This day-long workshop will help participants learn the basics of crafting the ultimate publishing sales document, covering:
What are the key elements of a good proposal?
Finding your hook: what’s going to grab and hold an editor or agent’s attention?
How important is fine or beautiful writing to nonfiction?
What’s the secret behind the industry’s most misunderstood word: “platform”?
What are some techniques for evaluating book ideas?
What do you do with your proposal once it’s done?
Course structure: We will convene for a Friday “social,” from 5 to 7 p.m. to meet each other, and to hear from Joe and Denise about what to expect from the course. The next day, Saturday, the group will meet for a day-long intensive to share ideas, workshop approaches, and analyze sample proposals. (You don’t have to share your proposal idea, but it would be helpful if you did.) Be prepared to take copious notes. The Saturday session will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break.
Prerequisites: Upon registration, participants will receive a Dropbox link containing several sample proposals that they should read prior to the Saturday session. Plan on at least 3 to 4 hours of reading prior to attendance. You will get the most out of this workshop if you have a nonfiction book idea or two in mind that you are willing to discuss openly with the group. This is not, however, a requirement.
Cost: Early Bird (before October 31) $175, General Admission $195
Special add-on: Participants may register for an individual, 30-minute coaching session with the instructors. These will take place Sunday and are limited to the first six registrants. Cost: $45
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Nov.15 to Dec. 13, 2017 - STORY MEDICINE FOR RACIAL HEALING*
with META COMMERSE, MFA, CWP
The Seven Learning Tools:
1. An indigenous frame of reference
2. The power of words
3. The value and sacredness of story
4. Memory as raw material and community resource
5. Heart-centered language for what has happened to us.
6. Creating community study, dialogue, and healing
7. New self-care skills necessary for working with this subject
Cost: $175
META COMMERSE is a certified wellness practitioner, an author, seasoned teacher and healer focused deeply on issues of oppression since the early 1990s. In that timeframe, she worked with groups and individuals using story medicine in numerous formats. She's a proud graduate of Goddard College in Vermont where she earned her MFA in fiction writing.
*This class is a non-FWR class being held at the Flatiron Writers Room. Please email storymedicineworldwide@gmail.com or call 828-407-3367 for more information and registration. Space is limited.
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Oct.2-Nov. 6, 2017 - WRITING FROM THE TOP OF YOUR HEAD
with NINA HART
Writing from the Top of Your Head is a one-of-a-kind six-week workshop designed for writers who have a burning desire to write but have a hard time facing the blank page. The course is also beneficial to writers who feel their writing has gotten stale, and want to generate fresh material and increase their access to the flow state. As an optional add-on, students may purchase individual coaching sessions with the instructor in increments of 30 or 60 minutes.
You struggle with procrastination, self-criticism, or perfectionism, and you hide your writer self from the world. Many writers have been “heartbroken” by “the cult of criticism” and other obstacles that get in the way of a thriving creative life. They long for an environment where it’s safe to explore, fall down, make mistakes, and experiment wildly. This is the place you’ve been longing for. Expect some roaring laughter as well as a traversing of the depths, and a deeper sense of freedom on the page.
Writing from the Top of Your Head is inspired by Emily Dickinson, who wrote “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, that is poetry.” In this workshop you will be guided, in a criticism-free environment of support and safety, to “open the top of your head” to access personal images, words, sounds, and memories. You will build a beautifully solid foundation for a resilient creative life, one that enables you to follow through on your creative dreams and goals in a purposeful and fulfilling way. The course incorporates powerful strategies from Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching and Gateless Method writing – both proven techniques that help artists overcome blocks that stem from the creative process.
Cost: $250 Early Bird price; $275 after 9/22/17
Nina Hart is a writer, performer, and creativity coach trained in the Kaizen Muse method. She is also a certified Gateless Method writing teacher – “a method of teaching the art and craft of writing using creative brain science, ancient non-dual teachings and highly-effective craft tools…allowing writers to access the creative genius inside.” Her first collection of surreal short fictions called “Somewhere in a Town You Never Knew Existed Somewhere” was selected as a Short Stories (Adult Fiction) category finalist in Foreword Reviews’ prestigious 2014 IndieFab Book of the Year Awards. She is the founder of a unique method of teaching writing called “Writing from the Top of your Head,” which combines group Creativity Coaching with creative writing. Nina was also an original member of the experimental dance troupe Contraband, in San Francisco and, playing a purple electric bass, has recorded and performed with numerous bands.
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Oct.4-Nov.8, 2017 - NOVEL INTENSIVE WITH HEATHER NEWTON
This intensive six-week course is for writers with a novel in progress who want guidance and feedback in a supportive small group setting: enrollment is limited to five people. Each student’s work will be the focus of 1) a half-hour interview/brainstorming session with instructor and peers; and 2) a critique of up to 20 pages of the novel. Class discussion and in-class writing exercises will address point of view, character, time, plot and structure and strategies for staying organized. Admission is based on instructor permission.
TO APPLY, email a writing sample of up to 15 pages to info@flatironwriters.com. Once the instructor admits you, you may register through Eventbrite or by paper check.
Cost: $350 Early-Bird Discount; $360 after September 24th
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Heather Newton’s novel Under The Mercy Trees (HarperCollins 2011) won the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award, was chosen by the Women’s National Book Association as a Great Group Reads Selection and named an “Okra Pick” by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (“great southern fiction fresh off the vine”). A practicing attorney, she has taught creative writing for UNC-Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program and the NC Writers Network and is Program Manager for the Flatiron Writers Room.
Sept. 16-Nov. 4, 2017 - COMEDY WRITING: MONOLOGUE, SKETCH, & STANDUP W/TOM CHALMERS
Tom Chalmers photo by Mondy Carter
Speech writers often tell you the best thing to do is open with a joke, but that is easier said than done. Comedy writing is an acquired skill where spontaneous laughter is brought about by a practiced precision of words, a studied sense of satire and spoof, and a crafted ear for character voice.
This course will familiarize students with the components that are needed to create effective comedic pieces, whether read on the page or seen performed on the stage. Through a series of writing assignments, the class will emphasize the importance of structure, the benefit of building in a beginning, middle, and end… even for a one liner. The course covers various styles of comedic writing and assignments in this class will be both individual and in groups covering original character monologues, situational comedy sketches, and standup comedy routines. A variety of techniques will be integrated into the assignments such as the rule of threes, set up and punch line, the callback, the character catch phrase, and the blackout or closer.
Some in-class assignments will involve improvisation, so previous improv experience is encouraged but not required. All students are expected to write and present their own material unless they have specifically written something for another classmate to perform. Students will be presenting new original material each week as well as periodically presenting rewrites of the previously presented material for consideration for inclusion in the public performance at the end of class.
Cost: $250 Early Bird Discount; $275 after September 5th
TOM CHALMERS is a graduate of Columbia University. Tom was the Artistic Director of Groundlings East and Literary Manager of LA's Sacred Fools Theatre. He has written for SHOWTIME Television, TBS, and USA Networks. He has taught at NYU, currently teaches at Warren Wilson College, and is the Director of the Asheville School of Improv. He is a member of the Asheville improv troupe Reasonably Priced Babies, and is host and producer of the storytelling series Listen to This.
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Sept. 12-Nov. 14, 2017 - THE HEART OF THE STORY: WRITING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE (GSWP*)
W/JOY NEAVES & CYNTHIA SURRISI
Maurice Sendak wrote, “I don't write for children. I write and someone says, this is for children.” This workshop is designed for serious writers who are working on a longer piece of fiction intended for children or young adults. Weekly class discussions will cover topics from aspects of craft to ways to approach editors and agents, though the course emphasis will be on reading and critiquing each other's work, as well as revision-focused strategies to evaluate your own work critically. Writers should be prepared to share at least 20 pages of their work with the class, and will receive written feedback from the instructors. Co-taught by a children’s book editor and a middle grade/young adult author, the supportive workshop atmosphere focuses on distilling the narrative arc to find the core of the story while fostering the heart of the writer’s aims.
*This is a Great Smokies Writing Program class
being held at the Flatiron Writers Room
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Sept. 9, 2017 - POINT OF VIEW: WHO IS TELLING THIS STORY? WITH HEATHER NEWTON
Point of view is a challenge for beginning and experienced fiction writers, who wrestle with inadvertent point-of-view shifts or the inevitable limitations of the point of view they have chosen to tell their story. Through the use of examples of writing that handles point of view well and badly, this class will teach you to avoid common errors, and help you select the most appropriate point of view for the story you want to tell. Before class, students should familiarize themselves with the basics of first, second and third-person point of view (limited and omniscient): query the Flatiron Writers Room if you want recommendations for helpful craft books that cover this topic.
Cost: $35 Early-Bird Discount; $40 after August 30th
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HEATHER NEWTON’s novel Under The Mercy Trees (HarperCollins 2011) won the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award, was chosen by the Women’s National Book Association as a Great Group Reads Selection and named an “Okra Pick” by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (“great southern fiction fresh off the vine”). A practicing attorney, she has taught creative writing for UNC-Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program and the NC Writers Network and is Program Manager for the Flatiron Writers Room.
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Aug. 26, 2017 - LEGAL ISSUES FOR WRITERS: COPYRIGHT & DEFAMATION WITH HEATHER NEWTON
This class will discuss legal issues writers commonly encounter in the areas of copyright and defamation. Come learn what your copyright protects, what constitutes "fair use" of another's work and when you need permission, and what you need to know if the main character in your novel bears a striking resemblance to your litigious Aunt Maude. The course uses a lecture format with ample time for questions.
Cost: $35 Early-Bird Discount; $40 after August 16th
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HEATHER NEWTON’s novel Under The Mercy Trees (HarperCollins 2011) won the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award, was chosen by the Women’s National Book Association as a Great Group Reads Selection and named an “Okra Pick” by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (“great southern fiction fresh off the vine”). A practicing attorney, she has taught creative writing for UNC-Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program and the NC Writers Network and is Program Manager for the Flatiron Writers Room.
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Aug.26-Sept.30, 2017 - WRITE YOUR LIFE STORY:
A 6-WEEK MEMOIR WRITING INTENSIVE
with VICTORIA FANN
Each life is unique; everyone has a story to tell. Whether you're writing for your family or for publication, the secret to a good memoir is not only the ingredients that go into it, but also the way in which it's told. In this 6-week writing intensive, we will discuss how to:
Take the memories and events from your life and turn them into an interesting story
Decide which memories and events to write about
Do research
Organize your ideas, artifacts and time
Make your writing clear and readable
We’ll also explore the creative process with writing exercises, readings, and group discussions; and learn what steps to take if you're interested in getting your story published. At the end of the intensive, participants will design a writing plan complete with goals and a timeline, and have the option to create a writing critique group.
Cost: $250 Early-Bird Discount; $260 after August 16th
As a special add-on for this course, participants may register for individual coaching sessions with the instructor in increments of 30 or 60 minutes.
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VICTORIA FANN has been writing essays, short stories, plays and screenplays for over three decades. Her writing has been published in numerous publications and anthologies including Women of Wisdom, Newsweek, Thought Catalog, Elephant Journal, Wake Up World, BioStories,etc. In addition, Victoria has been working with writers as a group facilitator, coach and teacher ever since the founding of her first writing group, Mothers Who Write in 1989. Her book, Creative Alchemy: Accessing the Extraordinary Power of the Muse to Transform Your Art and Your Life will be published in late 2017.
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Aug. 23-Sept. 27, 2017 - THE ART OF THE MIDDLE:
NOVEL WRITING CLASS with CATHERINE CAMPBELL
A 6-week workshop with craft lectures, in-class writing and discussion.
There are plenty of classes on how to write dynamic first sentences, opening chapters, and closing lines, but very few resources to help an author conquer the hardest part of a book: the middle. Encountering the depressing middle work is often referred to as "sag syndrome," and many would-be novelists abandon their projects altogether during this period.
This class is designed to save you from that.
During THE ART OF THE MIDDLE, writers with a novel-in-progress will work intensely to add new sections to their book each week by roughly drafting the middle of their novel. Each 2.5-hour weekly class will feature manuscript feedback on your work, critical reading, craft talk, lively discussion, and in-class writing time.
You will also write outside of class. In six weeks, you can potentially add six more chapters to your novel.
We will dive into short but specific examples of how authors use time (Graham Greene, John Banville), place (Jessie Burton, Patricia Highsmith), character (Donna Tartt, Paul Yoon), POV (Jeffrey Eugenides, Lauren Groff), and backstory (Michael Chabon, Stephen King) to buoy the dense midsections of their novels as well as maintain pace in plot. This will help class participants better understand how to write a novel in which the middle sustains momentum and narrative depth.
COST: $250
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CATHERINE CAMPBELL is an award-nominated fiction writer and essayist. Her work appears or is forthcoming in The New York Times, The Millions, Kenyon Review, McSweeney’s, The Atlantic, Daily Muse, Arcadia, Drunken Boat, Ploughshares online, and elsewhere. She also ghostwrites articles for high-profile clients in national magazines such as Inc., Harvard Business Review, and Foundr Mag. Catherine earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and Writing at UNC-Asheville and her MFA in Writing at Queens University. She was born on a little homestead in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, and lives in Asheville with her son Thaddeus and her partner, the writer Brandon Amico.
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June 3, 2017 - SELF-EDITING: DO WHAT YOU CAN & THEN
PAY A PRO TO DO THE REST WITH LOUANN POPE
This is a workshop on editing your own writing. Whether you’re just getting started with writing or have already published, in this workshop you’ll get tips that will enable you to expand your writing craft, improve the quality of your written work, and save money on editing. You’ll do short exercises in class and then practice on your own during the break between the two sessions of the workshop. Topics covered include the following:
Journey of a manuscript
Point of view
Dialogue: realism, formatting, and punctuation
Showing vs. telling
Characterization and world building
Punctuation and grammar tips
Publishing law
Bonuses:
All participants will receive discounts on future services
All participants will receive handout versions of the slides
One lucky participant will receive a free book related to self-editing
Cost: $75
LOUANN POPE, a copyeditor who lives in Mount Pleasant, SC, applies her detail-oriented, analytical mind-set to copyediting a wide range of books (fiction and nonfiction), blogs, and other materials, teaching classes, and offering Ask a Copyeditor help-desk services. She is a member of various publishing organizations, including the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA), the American Copy Editors Society (ACES), and the Association of Independent Publishing Professionals (AIPP). http://louannpope.com
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May 24-June 14, 2017 - THE BUSINESS OF WRITING:
A FOUR-PART SERIES WITH CATHERINE CAMPBELL
Learning the commerce side of writing is never easy but having a guide to the most effective ways to get your work out there is golden! Join us for writer and marketing pro Catherine Campbell's workshop on dealing professionally with submitting your work and seeking paid employment as a writer.
This class will consist of 4 parts, each dealing with a different aspect of navigating the business side of writing:
Write Your Best Agent Query Letter - Workshop and 1-on-1 Analysis (5/24)
Getting Started as a Book Critic (with Brandon Amico) (5/31)
Getting Started as a Ghostwriter (6/7)
Literary Magazine Submissions For Beginners (6/14)
Participants can enroll in one or all of the four classes.
May 24: Write Your Best Agent Query Letter:
Workshop and 1-on-1 Analysis In this workshop (for both new and established writers who may or may not be familiar with the agent querying process) we’ll examine the elements of a successful query, review examples of query letters that landed agents, and write a query letter of your own. Bring your current query letter for one-on-one feedback from instructor Catherine Campbell.
May 31: Getting Started as a Book Critic (with Brandon Amico):
As a book reviewer, you can position yourself as a literary tastemaker, be a champion for emerging authors, and provoke the audience’s deep reflection and thought about a specific work. Brandon Amico and Catherine Campbell will host an overview discussion followed by a Q&A and walkthrough of how to get started as a book reviewer and stay organized for success.
June 7: Getting Started as a Ghostwriter:
Ghostwriting (“ghosting”) is the act of writing for someone else under their name. This workshop will teach guidelines, best practices and responsibilities you must be aware of in order to build a successful career ghostwriting speeches for politicians, nonfiction articles for company owners, blogs for influencers or celebrities, or even short stories and novels.
June 14: Literary Magazine Submissions For Beginners:
You've been writing stories, essays, poems and plays for a while and now you're ready to submit your work to magazines for possible publication. But where do you start? And how do you keep it organized? With hundreds of literary and mainstream publications out there, the process can feel daunting.This workshop is designed to help save you time, energy and stress by thinking through and taking your next step as a writer: your submissions strategy.
Cost: $35/per class or $125 for all four.
CATHERINE CAMPBELL is an award-nominated fiction writer and essayist. Her work appears or is forthcoming in The New York Times, The Millions, Kenyon Review, McSweeney’s, The Atlantic, Daily Muse, Arcadia, Drunken Boat, Ploughshares online, and elsewhere. She also ghostwrites articles for high-profile clients in national magazines such as Inc., Harvard Business Review, and Foundr Mag. Catherine earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and Writing at UNC-Asheville and her MFA in Writing at Queens University. She was born on a little homestead in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, and lives in Asheville with her son Thaddeus and her partner, the writer Brandon Amico.
BRANDON AMICO is a writer living in North Carolina. His poetry can be found in journals including The Awl, Booth, The Carolina Quarterly, The Cincinnati Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Hunger Mountain, New Ohio Review, Sixth Finch, Slice, Southern Humanities Review, Waxwing, and Verse Daily. His reviews have been featured by 32 Poems, The Los Angeles Review, Mid-American Review, The Rumpus, and Southern Humanities Review. He is a 2017 BOAAT Retreat Fellow and served as the assistant poetry editor for Tahoma Literary Review. https://brandonamico.com/
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May 20th 2017 - FROM PAGE TO PODIUM:
READING YOUR WORK ALOUD WITH MEL RYANE
Writers are often daunted by the idea of reading their work aloud, whether in a classroom situation or public presentation. This workshop will teach writers to prepare and present confident, clear public readings using the same tools employed by professional actors:
Warming up the vocal instrument
Rehearsing the material
Calming the nerves
Delivering the work
Whether reading for an audience of one or one hundred, every writer can benefit from the self-editing techniques learned when reading their work aloud. Neither acting nor public speaking experience is necessary to benefit from the craft of acting.
During the course of this workshop you will:
Bring a piece of your work you wish to read (one page, double-spaced, two copies).
Be led in voice and body warm-ups using breathing and vocal exercises.
Read aloud excerpts of published works by other writers to study pacing, phrasing, word choice and themes.
Be coached individually by Mel as you read your work, with the class observing.
Time permitting, you will get a second opportunity to read for the class integrating the techniques you've learned.
Previous participants say:
"It was a superb privilege and pleasure to work with someone as knowledgeable and professional as Mel."
"It was absolutely wonderful. Serious business, but also so much fun. As writers, we aren't always the best readers of our work. Mel, who has worked with big-name actors in LA and NYC, is the consummate pro. She's straight-ahead, no fluff, but she also does this magical thing: she gives you, by the end of the day, a fresh confidence in yourself and your work."
"The inspiration we felt as we watched our fellow writers transform into confident, dynamic readers digging into the heart and soul of their own writing was priceless."
"I have my first public reading in June for my MFA graduation. Until your workshop, I was really dreading my thesis reading...but now I see the importance of practicing and embracing the opportunity. Thank you for making me feel like my story was worth a listen!"
Cost: $65
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MEL RYANE has had a long and distinguished acting career in both the United States and her native Canada. Her work has included both classical and modern theatre as well as film and television. She was a company member of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and Shaw Festival, and has performed on the stages of the Manitoba Theatre Center, Vancouver Playhouse, Belfry Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, New Mexico Rep, Magnus Theatre, Old Globe Theatre, Toronto Free Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille, among others. She has also worked as an acting and dialogue coach on film and TV projects, taught presentation technique at the corporate level, and has presented this workshop at writer’s conferences across North America.
Mel’s Book, Teaching Will: What Shakespeare & 10 Kids Gave Me That Hollywood Couldn't, was released by Familius in 2014: "Lively...funny."~ Publishers Weekly "Hilarious...a bravura performance."~ Kirkus Reviews (featured review)
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March 14-April 11th, 2017 - DIY BOOK PROMOTION AND PROFESSIONALISM (A GSWP CLASS) WITH CHRISTINE HALE
This class formed from the instructor’s experience launching her memoir. The small-press publisher was unable to provide a promotion budget, so her promotion efforts have been largely DIY. Many aspiring writers are already promoting their own books or small presses or journals, or seeking agents or publishers for a book in development and have stories and ideas about branding and self- promotion. Many writers have questions and anxieties about what they must or should do to give their books the best possible chance at finding a publisher and readers in today's rapidly evolving publishing environment. This class is structured as a crowd-source forum for sharing advice and caveats about seeking visibility in the literary marketplace. Over the five weeks the class meets, students will work on a promotion strategies for their writing, identifying connections and strengths they can leverage, as well as those they lack and wish to work on. The goal of the course is for each participant to leave with at least one new, exciting idea of what they feel able and willing to do to promote themselves and their work.
Cost: $152.50 for 5 weeks
CHRISTINE HALE is the author of A Piece of Sky, A Grain of Rice: A Memoir in Four Meditations (Apprentice House Press 2016), set in the southern Appalachian Mountains, where she and her parents grew up. Her debut novel Basil’s Dream (Livingston Press 2009) received honorable mention in the 2010 Library of Virginia Literary Awards. She earned her MFA from Warren Wilson College, and teaches in the Antioch University-Los Angeles Low-Residency MFA Program as well as the Great Smokies Writing Program.
NOTE: This is a Great Smokies Writing Program (GSWP) class being held at the Flatiron Writers Room.
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March 1-May 17, 2017 - WRITING FOR TV & FILM:
A MASTER CLASS WITH PATRICIA GREEN
An intensive 12 week writing workshop designed to result in a first draft screenplay or television pilot, limited to a maximum of ten students to be chosen from writing samples (film/TV scripts or plays preferred, but not required).
Emmy-winning writer-producer Patricia Green will teach writing professionally for the screen, including how to decide which screen to aim for, pitching ideas, story structure and development, character arcs and voices, editing story and dialogue, rewriting and an overview of film/TV production, including working with actors.
Participants will develop a story, write a short outline and a first draft screenplay or teleplay over the 12 week period, guided by Ms. Green, with one-on-one coaching provided as needed. Participants should be able to devote enough time to read their colleagues’ work and give feedback as well as doing their own writing for the class.
Some familiarity with film history and access to classic films are recommended. Participants will also be expected to format their work properly. For those who don’t choose to invest in Final Draft, the industry-standard screenwriting program, basic screenplay format templates should be available for download.
Cost: $350 for 12 weeks
BYO laptop or writing materials.
PATRICIA GREEN was born in Brooklyn, raised in Bristol, Tennessee and graduated from Wellesley College. She has written and produced iconic TV dramas including North and South, Cagney and Lacey, L.A. Law, China Beach, Chicago Hope and Christy. Nominated for seven Emmy awards, she has won three and been honored with the Humanitas Prize for promoting human dignity and freedom through film, as well as Christopher, GLAAD, Golden Globe and Scott Newman awards. She has taught screen and television writing at the University of Southern California, UCLA and The American Film Institute. She lives and writes in Asheville, North Carolina.
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TO APPLY FOR ADMISSION to this Master Class, please submit a writing sample (film/TV scripts or plays preferred, but not required; writing sample may be of any length but only one sample per applicant) to Patricia Green at info@flatironwriters.com, with the subject heading: WRITING SAMPLE.
Deadline for writing sample submissions is February 21 but eligible applicants will be admitted on a first-come-first-served basis, so applicants are encouraged to submit as soon as possible.
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Feb. 18, 2017 - April 8- CRAFTING SKETCH COMEDY WITH MARYEDITH BURRELL
MaryEdith Burrell
Do you want to write character monologues, commercial parody or political satire? Are you in a comedy group and need to learn how to turn an inspired improv into a written scene? If so, this class is for you!
There’s a reason SNL, The Tonight Show, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee etc. staff their writing rooms with Second City, Groundlings and Upright Citizens Brigade alums. The skills learned at those comedy institutions are invaluable. Maryedith Burrell (Second City, Groundlings, SNL, Fridays, Seinfeld ) and Tom Chalmers (Artistic Director Groundlings East, Staff Writer: Showtime TV, Director Asheville School of Improv) bring their comedy pedigrees to this 8-session writing course.
Through games, writing prompts and collaboration exercises, students will learn how to develop comedy material; how to take an idea and shape it, how to recognize a character with legs, and how to avoid crippling blocks to creative flow.
Cost: $250 if you register before Feb. 11, 2017, $275 after.
BYO laptop or writing materials.
Limited enrollment.
MARYEDITH BURRELL's career as a writer/performer began with Second City and The Groundlings. She went on to do the TV shows Fridays, Throb, Ron Howard’s Parenthood and The Jackie Thomas Show. She also enjoyed recurring roles on Seinfeld and Home Improvement plus guest appearances on everything from The Tonight Show to SNL. Ms. Burrell is a script doctor who has written for every major network and film studio in the U.S., Britain and Australia. A published journalist, her essay “An Affair To Forget” appears in the bestseller What Was I Thinking? (St. Martin’s Press.)
TOM CHALMERS is a graduate of Columbia University. Tom was the Artistic Director of Groundlings East and Literary Manager of LA's Sacred Fools Theatre. He has written for SHOWTIME Television, TBS, and USA Networks. He has taught at NYU, currently teaches at Warren Wilson College, and is the Director of the Asheville School of Improv. He is a member of the Asheville improv troupe Reasonably Priced Babies, and is host and producer of the storytelling series Listen to This.
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“Creating Your Writing Life” With the Flatiron Writers
The Flatiron Writers’ signature workshop is “Creating Your Writing Life.” This all-day seminar, moderated by novelist Heather Newton, is designed for those who want to want to make regular and sustainable room in their lives for writing. The workshop focuses on Routines and Rituals, Space and Environment, Writing Process, and Community. We build in social time to connect with others to network and explore forming or joining critique groups.
Praise for the "Creating Your Writing Life" seminar from past participants:
--"I thoroughly enjoyed your workshop and have many ideas to take home with me!"
--"Practical and utilitarian. Exactly what I was looking for."
--"Impressive speakers--I liked hearing their experiences."
--"Thank you so much--I was hanging on every word!"
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“Publicity and the Writing Life” With Kima Jones
These days, whether you land a contract with a large publishing house, small press or self-publish, responsibility for publicizing your book will fall on you. Publicity means sales. But how does publicity work? This workshop (for poets, fiction and non-fiction writers), taught by Los Angeles book publicist Kima Jones, helps writers and artists develop social media strategies that support their larger artistic goals by teaching the how-to's of personal brand curation and writing compelling content that leads to online community growth.
About Kima Jones:
Kima Jones founded and operates Jack Jones Literary Arts, a book publicity company. Her clients include Nina Revoyr, Khadijah Queen, Tyehimba Jess, Sarah Schulman, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Desiree Cooper, Kimbilio Fiction and BinderCon. As a writer, she has received fellowships from PEN Center USA Emerging Voices, Kimbilio Fiction,Yaddo and The MacDowell Colony, as the 2014-2015 Gerald Freund Fellow. She has been published at Guernica, NPR, PANK, Scratch Magazine and The Rumpus among others. Her short story "Nine" received notable mention in Best American Science Fiction. She is an MFA candidate in fiction and Rodney Jack Scholar in the MFA Program.
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“Prose to Picture” With Maryedith Burrell
This four-hour workshop introduces writers of other media to the fine art of screenplay, but is for any writer who has ever wondered how a good book can become a bad movie or vice versa. Using lecture, film clips, on-site exercises, discussion and handouts, students get the basics of visual storytelling and dramatic structure plus an opportunity to try their hand at adaptation. No one becomes a screenwriter overnight, but “Prose To Picture” can be an invaluable first step!
About Maryedith Burrell:
Maryedith Burrell is an award-winning writer/performer/director who has written for every major studio and network in the U.S. and England. With eight features, twelve TV movies, six series and three TV pilots to her credit, shelanded a coveted overall deal with Disney that set her up to be a script doctor on numerous film and television projects. Most recently, she scriptedEmily Post for Sony. Also a documentarian, Ms. Burrell has produced for National Geographic, TLC, A&E, History Channel with the latest being NYC: Inside Out for Discovery. Her essay “An Affair To Forget” appears in the bestseller What Was I Thinking? (St. Martin’s Press.) As an actress, she starred in the TV series Fridays, Throb, Parenthood, Jackie Thomas Show, played recurring characters on Seinfeld and Home Improvement, and has appeared on everything from SNL to The Tonight Show. #OUCH!, a one-woman comedy about her orthopedic adventure in the American health care system, is currently touring and enjoying sold-out audiences.
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“Plot: The Map of Your Story” With Lynne Barrett
Writers are often daunted by plot, but understanding it can help you find the core of your story. This workshop with Florida Book Award winner Lynne Barrett will cover the fundamentals of plot and structure with an emphasis on revision strategies, scene, significant action, the roles of characters, complication, movement, and satisfying resolution. The concepts apply to all forms of fiction and are useful for narrative nonfiction and memoir.
About Lynne Barrett:
Lynne Barrett’s book Magpies won the Gold Medal for General Fiction in the Florida Book Awards. Her other story collections are The Secret Names of Women, and The Land of Go and she co-edited Birth, A Literary Companion and The James M. Cain Cookbook. Barrett has received the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe award for best mystery story and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. Her work has been published in Blue Christmas, Delta Blues, Miami Noir, One Year to a Writing Life, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, The Written Wardrobe, The Southern Women’s Review, and many other anthologies and magazines. She lives in Miami, where she is a professor in the M.F.A. program at Florida International University. You can learn more at www.LynneBarrett.com