Rejection is an integral part of being a writer. Stephen King received 30 rejections from publishers before selling Carrie. Kathryn Stockett received 60 rejections from agents before she found representation for The Help. How can we keep from giving up in discouragement as the pile of rejection slips grows? How can we avoid the unproductive emotion of envy when we compare ourselves with others? How can we feel good about our writing lives if we never publish? This workshop will give you practical strategies for managing submissions and attending to self-care so that you don’t give up writing. It will help you redefine success, and present ways to think about your creative life so that you can draw satisfaction from your identity as a writer whether or not you ever get that big publishing contract.

Cost: $45 general admission, $40 for current FWR Co-Working members.Partial need-based scholarships are available for this workshop.

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, and is forthcoming in audiobook from Dreamscape Media in fall 2019. Her short prose has appeared in Enchanted Conversation Magazine, The Drum, Dirty Spoon and elsewhere. Mixed in with these successes, she has received hundreds of rejections, written novels nobody would publish, made bad judgements, missed opportunities or had them snatched from her by forces outside of her control. In short, she has long experience with failing (or as she likes to call it, “not yet succeeding”) and looks forward to exploring with you ways to fail better.

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WRITING STORIES THAT SELL

w/NY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR BETH REVIS - 5-WEEK CLASS

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Tuesday evenings, November 5 to December 3, 2019, 6:30-8:30 PM

Whether you plan to self publish or traditionally publish your work, every decision you make--from the initial idea to the revision process--will determine how well it will sell. In this five-week course, NY Times bestselling author Beth Revis will take you through the process on coming up with, writing, and revising a book that will sell in today’s competitive market. This course is suitable for someone just starting to develop their idea, all the way to someone who’s completed a first draft and needs to know what to do next. Beth will conclude the course by personally critiquing each student’s final pitch or query.

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.

Cost: $230 General Admission, $207 for current FWR Co-Working members. Partial need-based scholarships are available for this workshop.

Beth Revis is a New York Times bestselling author with books available in more than 20 languages. Her newest title, Give the Dark my Love, is a dark fantasy about love and death. 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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FICTION TOOLS FOR CREATIVE NONFICTION WRITERS

w/LAURA HOPE-GILL - 3-WEEK CLASS

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Thursday evenings, Nov 7, 14, & 21, 2019, 6:30-8:30 PM

Creative Nonfiction, particularly memoir, begins in a very personal, sacred and beautiful space. As we move deeper in the drafting process, we discover wonder and insight. Alas, as with everything in life, there's a downside. Writing Creative Nonfiction can lull us into a state of explaining or navel-gazing. We get caught up in our own research and self-discovery and forget the reader is there, waiting for us to talk to them, to thrill them even.

Elements of Story are the same for Fiction and Creative Nonfiction, and in this 3-session workshop (Mondays 6:30pm-8:30pm), you will begin new work or revise current work to incorporate well-wrought characters, settings, conflicts, and atmospheres that will keep your readers turning the pages.

We will look at excellent works of Creative Nonfiction: Wild by Cheryl Strayed, American Eden by Victoria Johnson, and Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward. These three represent the memoir, journalism, and essay within the Creative Nonfiction fields. We will also look at examples of short fiction from such works as Zadie Smith's "The Embassy of Cambodia," Kazuo Ishiguro's "Crooner," and Alice Munro's "Dimension," as well as other works. The instructor will provide handouts. Reading like writers, in 20-minute discovery sessions, we will identify narrative elements--dialogue, setting, voice, structure, gaps, time, etc.--used in both genres--and then in 10-minute creative sessions we will write our own applications of these tools and share our processes.

This workshop will be energetic and inspiring, and it will provide you with instruments for keeping your writing, even in the drafting process, fresh and exciting. It may also open new pathways for storytelling, memory, and self-discovery.

Cost: $180 General Admission, $162 for current FWR Co-Working members. Partial need-based scholarships are available for this workshop.

Laura Hope-Gill holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers and is a North Carolina Arts Fellow for Creative Nonfiction. She is the author of two architectural histories of Asheville (Grateful Steps, 2010, 2011) and one collection of poems (The Soul Tree, Grateful Steps 2008) for which she was named the poet laureate of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Parabola, Bellevue Review, Fugue, Cincinnati Review, North Carolina Literary Review, and other journals have published her essays, memoir, short stories, and poems. She currently directs the Thomas Wolfe Center for Narrative at Lenoir-Rhyne University's graduate campus in Asheville. Her work in narratology in healthcare opened her eyes to the value of the study of narrative in creative writing, and she is excited to present this approach in a live-action and high-creativity workshop for writers at all stages in their craft. She heads the Asheville Wordfest literary festival.

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PODCASTING 101 w/MATT PEIKEN

Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Sunday, November 3, 2019 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Podcasting today is like blogging a decade ago—seemingly everyone is either doing it or plans to. But of the more than 750,000 podcasts available through Apple’s podcasting app, fewer than 1 percent crack 1,000 listeners per episode, and most don’t reach 200. What will you do to stand out and succeed?

In this fast-paced course, Blue Ridge Public Radio producer and veteran podcaster Matt Peiken will help you sort through your show concepts, recording and editing options for modest budgets, potential time and money traps, and the marketing of your proposed podcast.

This three-hour course is for everyone: from beginners who don’t know where to start to current podcasters who want to improve the quality of their shows.

Class meets Sunday afternoon November 3, 2019, 2pm-5pm with a short break.

Cost: $50 General Admission, $45 for current FWR Co-Working members. Partial need-based scholarships are available for this workshop.

Matt Peiken moved to Asheville in August 2017 to become the Arts & Culture Producer with Blue Ridge Public Radio. He's a career journalist—a former longtime staff arts and features writer with the St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press and an arts reporter with the digital arm of WCPO-TV, in Cincinnati. He founded and managed a variety of online journalism efforts, including the video program 3-Minute Egg, the music-talk podcast Metal Brainiac, and the community op-ed page Opine Season. He also served as managing editor of the Walker Art Center’s magazine and as a longtime contributing writer to Modern Drummer Magazine.

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SCRIVENER BASICS: UNLOCKING THE BEST SOFTWARE FOR WRITERS w/CHARLOTTE LIT'S PAUL REALI (1-Day Class)

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Saturday, November 2, 2019 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Scrivener is an invaluable piece of software for writing and organizing a book-length project—when you know how to use it. Developed by writers for writers, it does so much, but how do you know where to begin? How do you customize it for the way you work, and what can you leave aside? This course will enable you to unlock Scrivener’s most important features and leave ready to work. Students should download Scrivener in advance (30-day free trial available at www.literatureandlatte.com). If you bring your laptop with work in progress, you’ll get your book project set up before you leave.

This workshop meets from 10am-3pm on Saturday, November 2, 2019, with a one-hour lunch break between noon and 1pm.

Cost: $85 General Admission, $76.50 FWR Co-Working members. Partial need-based scholarships are available for this workshop.

This workshop is taught by Paul Reali, co-founder of Charlotte Lit. He is the co-author of Creativity Rising: Creative Thinking and Creative Problem Solving in the 21st Century. In addition, his work has been published in Winston-Salem Journal, InSpine, Office Solutions, Lawyers Weekly, and others. His fiction has been awarded first place in the Elizabeth Simpson Smith and Ruth Moose Flash Fiction competitions, and he received a Regional Artist Project Grant from Charlotte’s Arts & Science Council in 2018. Paul has an M.S. in Creativity from the International Center for Studies in Creativity at SUNY Buffalo State, where he also is an adjunct instructor and the managing editor of ICSC Press. Paul has been a trainer and facilitator for more than 25 years, in the areas of creativity, innovation, and business and writing skills.

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THE LITERARY ECOSYSTEM W/GOLDLEAF LITERARY

(A GSWP @ FWR CLASS*)

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Tuesdays, October 1-29, 2019 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

The literary world can be intimidating and confusing. Even writers who have already published books are unsure of how the literary ecosystem works, who does what, and what an author’s role is within it. Some of the ideas we’ll tackle are the idea of literary stewardship, the roles of various members of the publishing industry, self vs. traditional publishing, and how to promote your work and build your community both before and after publication. We’ll talk about how best to connect to other authors, editors and agents, bookstores, and the media. In this course, you will hone your goals for your work, craft an elevator pitch, learn the difference between an agent and a publicist, and practice talking about your work as a finished product rather than a manuscript-in-progress. Our goal is to give you a better sense of the environment you will find yourself in as a published author and to give you the confidence to pursue your literary goals.

Caroline Christopoulos works part-time at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe, where she has been a bookseller for eighteen years and buyer for thirteen. 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.

Caroline and Lauren are the founders of Gold Leaf Literary Services.

*This is a Great Smokies Writing Program class being held at the Flatiron Writers Room.

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FROM PAGE TO PODIUM: READING YOUR WORK ALOUD

w/MEL RYANE

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Sat, September 28, 2019, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM

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."

Cost: $85 General Admission, $76.50 for current FWR Co-Working members. Partial need-based scholarships are available for this workshop.

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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BLACK FROM THE FUTURE: A COLLECTION OF BLACK SPECULATIVE WRITING *FREE EVENT*

Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Saturday, September 14, 2019 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Please join us Saturday, September 14, 2019 at 6pm for a FREE reading and book talk by Stephanie Andrea Allen and Lauren Cherelle, editors and contributors to the anthology Black From the Future: A Collection of Black Speculative Writing.

This anthology from BLF Press encompasses the broad spectrum of Black speculative writing, including science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, and Afrofuturism, all by Black women writers. Editors Stephanie Andrea Allen and Lauren Cherelle have gathered the voices of twenty emerging and established voices in speculative fiction and poetry; writers who’ve imagined the weird and the wondrous, the futuristic and the fantastical, the shadowy and the sublime.

“Within this revelatory 22-piece anthology of prose and poetry across the horror, fantasy, and science fiction genres, editors Allen and Cherelle have gathered works by some of the best and boldest voices in African-American speculative writing... There’s something for everyone in this outstanding anthology.” — Publisher's Weekly (Starred Review)

Books will be available for sale at the event. This event is FREE but your RSVP will help us plan. Refreshments will be served.

Stephanie Andrea Allen, Ph.D., is a native southerner, writer, scholar, and educator. She is a Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Gender Studies at IU-Bloomington, co-directs a literary non-profit for Black women writers, and is publisher and editor-in-chief at BLF Press. Her work can be found in Lez Talk: A Collection of Black Lesbian Short Fiction, Sinister Wisdom, and in her debut collection of short stories and essays, A Failure to Communicate. She is also co-editor of Solace: Writing, Refuge, and LGBTQ Women of Color, and Black From the Future: A Collection of Black Speculative Writing (Forthcoming 2019). She is a Hurston/Wright Foundation Workshop Alum. Stephanie is currently working on a collection of Black speculative short fiction and her first novel.

Lauren Cherelle uses her time and talents to traverse imaginary and professional worlds. She is an independent publishing consultant and editor with a BFA in graphic design and MBA from the University of Tennessee, and writing certifications from the University of Louisville. She recently co-published an IGI Global book chapter about Black feminist treatment for sexual trauma survivors. In 2016, Lauren co-founded a literary collective for Black lesbian and queer women of color. Her co-edited projects include Solace: Writing, Refuge, and LGBTQ Women of Color and Lez Talk: A Collection of Black Lesbian Short Fiction. You can find her southern/Black characters in Lez Talk, The Dawn of Nia (Resolute Publishing, 2016), and G.R.I.T.S: Girls Raised in the South — An Anthology of Queer Womyn’s Voices & Their Allies (Freeverse Publishing, 2013).

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STORYTELLING FOR PERFORMANCE

w/TOM CHALMERS (7-Week Workshop)

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Thursday evenings, September 12 to October 24, 2019, 6:00-8:00 PM

“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 story-slam 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 seven-week course (including final performance) 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 6:00pm-8:00pm. 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, on October 24, 2019, at 7:30 PM.

Class will meet at the Flatiron Writers Room on September 12, 19, and October 3, 10, and 17. It will meet at 35 Below on September 26 (class 6pm-7pm + Listen to This at 7:30pm, tickets provided), and October 24 (student showcase).

Cost: $275 General Admission; $247.50 FWR Co-Working Members. Partial need-based scholarships are available for this workshop.

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 Body and 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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WE ARE WHAT WE EAT: FOOD-INSPIRED WRITING

w/MARJORIE KLEIN - 6-WEEK CLASS

Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Wednesday evenings September 11 to October 16, 2019, 6:30-8:30 PM

This delicious six-session class will focus on food as a touchstone for narratives—fiction or memoir—composed from prompts during free-writes in class. Each week’s session will concentrate on an aspect of craft, such as character, setting, description, voice and dialogue, with food as our subject. We'll be writing about any and everything; food will just be our excuse.

There will be no required reading, but from time to time, the instructor will email links to food-related essays and stories that pertain to our writing in some way, as well as any commentary or information she may wish to add to what is discussed in class. At the end of our six-course meal, dessert will be your own portfolio of prompt-inspired writing to develop and refine in the future.

Class meets Wednesday evenings, 6:30pm-8:30pm beginning September 11, 2019.

Cost: $275 General Admission, $247.50 for current FWR Co-Working members. Partial need-based scholarships are available for this workshop.

Marjorie Klein's first novel, Test Pattern (Wm. Morrow Publishers, 2000; HarperCollins/ Perennial 2001, now an e-book) was a Barnes and Noble "Discover Great New Writers" selection. Her narrative nonfiction has appeared in various publications, including 20 years of free-lance work for Tropic, the Miami Herald's former Sunday magazine. Recipient of a Florida Individual Artist Fellowship, she served as a preliminary judge for the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts for 13 years and is a member of the Flatiron Writers group in Asheville. She has taught at the University of Miami, Florida International University, Warren Wilson College, University of North Carolina/Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program, and UNCA’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI).

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GRANT & PROPOSAL WRITING w/PATRICK CUMBY - 3-WEEK CLASS

Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Tuesday nights, Sept. 10 to Sept. 24, 2019, 6:00-8:30 PM

This 3-session workshop is designed for anyone who wants to learn the basics of developing a winning grant or government proposal. It covers the key strategies important to being awarded any type of contract solicitation or grant competition (government, commercial, non-profit) of any scope and scale.

Among other things, you’ll learn the important process of understanding the client requirements and how to respond to each requirement, how to develop “win themes” that set you apart from your competition, how to present your strengths and “ghost” your competitor’s weaknesses, how to avoid the trap of writing “fluff,” how to pass the “who cares?” test, and how to conduct a series of “murderboards” to ensure that your writing captures the attention of the reader.

During this workshop you’ll work together in one or more teams to respond to a real-world grant solicitation. In each workshop the instructor will guide you through the proposal development process and help you brainstorm a winning response to the grant requirements. At the end of each of the first two workshops you’ll be given team homework and will work together as a team, just like the pros, to create a draft proposal that will be evaluated using real-world criteria at the start of the next workshop. If there are enough attendees to form multiple teams, each team will compete to win our grant competition.

Be aware that signing up for this course requires that you commit to the homework! You will work together within your team to create a draft proposal and supporting documents. You should anticipate 3-4 hours of homework after the first two sessions, preferably meeting as a team. You’ll submit your team draft to the instructor no later than 1 day prior to the next session.

This isn’t a class on writing. It’s a class on winning. Open your mind--this may not be the class you expected! During your final session the instructor will lead an open discussion about how you might use the workshop information in your own professional situation. You will also receive follow-on readings and resources if you want to hone your skills. This class is a fundraiser for the Flatiron Writers Room. Proceeds will go to support FWR programming and scholarships.

Cost: $180 General Admission, $162 FWR Co-Working members. Partial need-based scholarships are available for this workshop.

Patrick Cumby loves to bring lots of storytelling and fun classroom sharing to his popular business writing workshops. He holds an MBA from the Mason School of Business at William & Mary, where he also occasionally teaches. Over the past decade he’s delivered proposal writing workshops to graduate programs internationally, and has participated in proposal efforts resulting in over $100M in awards. In his former day job as an executive consultant, he led large-scale strategic change programs for a variety of U.S. Federal government agencies and large corporations. He lives with his wife in North Asheville, surrounded by chipmunks, turkeys and bears.

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HOW TO PITCH TO AN AGENT w/GOLDLEAF LITERARY - SOLD OUT!

Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Monday, Sept. 9 OR Monday, Sept. 23 6:00 - 8:30 PM

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.

You may purchase a ticket to ONE of the two How To Pitch TRAINING sessions, to be held on Monday nights, September 9 and September 23, 2019. The two sessions are identical - PLEASE only register for ONE Pitch Training session.

These sessions take place at the Flatiron Writers Room in West Asheville, 5 Covington St., Asheville, NC 28806.

Cost: $45 General Admission

Partial need-based scholarships are available for this training.

Caroline Christopoulos works part-time at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe, where she has been a bookseller for eighteen years and buyer for thirteen. 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.

Caroline and Lauren are the founders of Gold Leaf Literary Services.

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PODCASTING 101 w/BPR's MATT PEIKEN - SOLD OUT!

Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Sunday, September 8, 2019 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Podcasting today is like blogging a decade ago—seemingly everyone is either doing it or plans to. But of the more than 750,000 podcasts available through Apple’s podcasting app, fewer than 1 percent crack 1,000 listeners per episode, and most don’t reach 200. What will you do to stand out and succeed?

In this fast-paced course, Blue Ridge Public Radio producer and veteran podcaster Matt Peiken will help you sort through your show concepts, recording and editing options for modest budgets, potential time and money traps, and the marketing of your proposed podcast.

This three-hour course is for everyone: from beginners who don’t know where to start to current podcasters who want to improve the quality of their shows.

Class meets Sunday afternoon September 8, 2019, 2pm-5pm with a short break.

Cost: $50 General Admission, $45 for current FWR Co-Working members. Partial need-based scholarships are available for this workshop.

Matt Peiken moved to Asheville in August 2017 to become the Arts & Culture Producer with Blue Ridge Public Radio. He's a career journalist—a former longtime staff arts and features writer with the St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press and an arts reporter with the digital arm of WCPO-TV, in Cincinnati. He founded and managed a variety of online journalism efforts, including the video program 3-Minute Egg, the music-talk podcast Metal Brainiac, and the community op-ed page Opine Season. He also served as managing editor of the Walker Art Center’s magazine and as a longtime contributing writer to Modern Drummer Magazine.

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TIME & PERCEPTION in FICTION w/NANCY REISMAN - SOLD OUT!

Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Saturday, September 7, 2019 from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM

Photo of Nancy Reisman by Joanna Eldredge Morrisey
In your stories, novels, and flash fiction, your ability to control and fine tune the time sense of the piece – from the time frame of the story, to the implications of tense and points of telling, to the ways characters and readers experience time – can make the difference between an interesting, promising draft and a fluid, accomplished piece. In this workshop, we’ll explore the temporal in fiction, and the various craft and technical options you might use in representing time and guiding reader perception. We’ll think about architecture and sequencing, narrative decisions, echo and repetition, movement within scenes, real-world elements and temporal markers, and syntactical and sentence level choices, among other possibilities.

Class meets Saturday, September 7, 2019, 1pm-3:30pm.

Cost: $45 General Admission, $40 for current FWR Co-Working members. Need-based partial scholarships available for this workshop.

To register by check instead of Eventbrite, mail your check and a valid email address to the Flatiron Writers Room, 5 Covington Street, Asheville, NC 28806. You will be registered when we receive your check, space permitting.

Nancy Reisman is a writer and educator born in Western New York and based in Nashville. She's the author of the novels Trompe L'Oeil and The First Desire, a NY Times Notable Book, and the story collection House Fires, which won the Iowa Short Fiction Award. Her fiction has also appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, among them Tin House, Subtropics, New England Review, Yale Review, Best American Short Stories, and O'Henry Award Stories. She taught in the MFA programs at the University of Michigan and the University of Florida prior to joining the MFA/Creative Writing faculty at Vanderbilt University, where she is an Associate Professor.

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MEET THE TEACHERS for the FWR!

UpCountry Brewing Company | 1042 Haywood Road | Asheville, NC 28806

Friday, September 6, 2019 from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM

Are you taking, or thinking about taking, one of our writing workshops at the Flatiron Writers Room this fall?

Then join us Friday, September 6th from 6pm-7:30pm at UpCountry Brewing to meet some of our faculty!

Our fall lineup includes Podcasting, Grant & Proposal Writing, Food Writing, Writing from Art, Storytelling for Performance, Reading Your Work Aloud, Writing Stories That Sell, Fiction Tools For Nonfiction Writers, Time & Perception in Fiction, Pitch Trainings and MORE.

This informal event is free.

You'll find parking for this event in the UpCountry lot, plus the overflow (1000 Haywood) lot across from the Flatiron Writers Room on Covington Street.

Come and raise a glass, ask questions, share ideas, or just have fun getting to know some of the students and teachers that make up the Flatiron Writers Room. We look forward to seeing you!!

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TIPS FOR SELF-EDITING w/EDITOR TOM RASH

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Tue, May 14, 2019 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM EDT

Editor Tom Rash will teach this last session of the Novel Revision workshop, devoted to copy editing and polishing your manuscript for submission. We are opening up this session of the class for students who wish to focus only on copy editing and polishing but do not want to enroll in the previous 5 sessions of the Novel Revision workshop.

This class is free for students registered for the FWR's Novel Revision workshop. PLEASE DO NOT REGISTER FOR THIS CLASS IF YOU ARE ENROLLED IN THE NOVEL REVISION CLASS - IT IS INCLUDED.

About the instructor:

Tom Rash graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in English and completed his master’s in English at Clemson University. A book reviewer and essayist, he has taught English and writing at Clemson University, A-B Tech Community College, and Shaw University. Rash has worked as a freelance editor since 1985 and is the owner and managing editor of Asheville Editing. His editing clients include his brother, award-winning author Ron Rash. Tom is also currently working on a documentary film detailing the influence of Thomas Wolfe’s novel Look Homeward, Angel.

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PLAYWRITING 101 WITH BONNIE MILNE GARDNER

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Sat, May 11, 2019 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM (EDT)

Are you interested in writing plays? How does dramatic writing differ from other genres such as fiction and poetry? What are the basic characteristics of dialogue, character, and dramatic action? How do you incorporate stage directions? What are the industry standards for formatting and submitting plays?

This one-day introductory workshop is for performers and writers who want to pursue the craft of writing for the stage. Some experience as a writer or performer is helpful, but not required.

The workshop will begin with an interactive demo: the instructor will lead the entire group through the process of crafting an original six-line play. Next, each participant will create their own six-liners, using the skills practiced in the group work. Each writer’s first draft will then be “tested” in a private reading by other participants. After further rewrites, each short play will be presented in a staged reading to the whole group. In the final hour of the workshop, the instructor will share basic industry standards of submitting plays for workshops, festivals, production, and publication.

Class meets Saturday, May 11, 2019 from 10am-3pm with a lunch break.

Cost: $75 if you register by May 1, 2019, $85 after.

Bonnie Milne Gardner, PhD, is an award-winning playwright and life-long Dramatists Guild member. 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, 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. Her short play “Tonka Mom” will be included in The Best 10 Minute Plays of 2019 from Smith and Kraus.

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CHARACTER BUILDING WITH KIM WINTER MAKO

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Sat, April 20, 2019 - 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM EDT

Kim Winter Mako brings her background as an actor to this one-day workshop on how to write compelling fictional characters. Whether you have a character you'd like to develop further, or you’re looking to generate new characters, we’ll explore ways to go deeper and bring life onto the page through craft elements such as 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 Saturday, April 20, 2019 from 10am-3pm with a lunch break.

Cost: $75 if you register before April 10, 2019, $85 after.

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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ADAPTATION: OR "A BOOK, AN AGENT

AND A MOVIE WALK INTO A BAR..."

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Saturday, April 27, 2019 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM (EDT )

Have you ever wanted to adapt your novel or memoir to a screenplay? Maybe somebody told you your short story would make a great musical, or wants to option your article for a TV series, or your agent is asking you to get your book "smaller" for a TV pilot, or your book just sold to a film studio. No matter what kind of writer you are, it is important to understand how prose and dramatic narrative are two different animals. This class will equip you for adaptation, whether you want to take a crack at writing that screenplay of your book yourself, or decide it's best to leave it to the pros. Either way, knowledge is power --- especially before you sign your next contract!

Bring a notebook, pen and/or your charged laptop. There will be a short lecture to start, then all workshop with readings and exercises designed to immerse you immediately in dramatic form.

This workshop meets from 10am-3pm on Saturday, April 27, 2019, with a half-hour lunch break between 12:30 and 1pm. You may wish to bring your lunch, or there are fast-food restaurants close by. Cost: $75 early bird (deadline April 17, 2019), $85 general admission.

MARYEDITH BURRELL is an author and Hollywood hyphenate with a resume that includes a deal at Disney to adapt books into movies. Her documentary RAISE HELL: The Life And Times of Molly Ivins won raves at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and is featured at SXSW this month. She teaches Stage & Screen at Western Carolina University and is a member of Flatiron Writers.

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STORYTELLING FOR PERFORMANCE

w/TOM CHALMERS(6-Week Workshop)

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Thursday, April 18, 2019 at 6:30 PM - Thursday, May 30, 2019 at 8:30 PM (EDT)

“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 story-slam 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 6:00pm-8:00pm. 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, on May 30, 2019, at 7:30 PM.

Class will meet at the Flatiron Writers Room on May 2, 9, 16 and 23. It will meet at 35 Below on April 25th and May 30th. The first night of class on April 25th will meet for instruction at 35 Below from 6pm to 7pm, followed by the April performance of Listen to This. Students are also encouraged to attend Stories at the Moth on April 18, 2019 (purchase tickets on your own at https://themoth.org/events/bamboozled-asheville).

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 Body and 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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MEMOIR BUILDER W/TESSA FONTAINE

A SIX WEEK CLASS

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Wednesday, April 10, 2019 at 6:30 PM - Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at 8:30 PM (EDT)

In this six session course, you will learn how to translate personal experience and research into effective memoir. We will strive to understand the components of an effective “memoir” by reading a variety of work, and generating our own content each week. We will use prompts to invigorate both right and left brain memories and ideas, incorporate research, understand when to use invention, juxtaposition, patterning, and more. Through reading and discussing outside examples, we’ll understand a variety of approaches for both our current memoir projects and future lives as a writer. At the end of the course, each writer will have a lot of new material ready to be shaped into a larger project.

Class meets Wednesday evenings April 10-May 15, 6:30-8:30pm.

Cost: $250 if you register before March 30, 2019, $275 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. READ THE NY TIMES BOOK REVIEW OF TESSA'S MEMOIR HERE.

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REVISING YOUR NOVEL

w/ Catherine Campbell, Heather Newton & Tom Rash

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Tuesday, April 9, 2019 at 6:30 PM - Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at 9:00 PM (EDT)

When you think you're done writing that novel, you probably aren't. Revision is integral to the novel-writing process and can transform a good draft into a great book.

This intensive six-week course is for writers who have completed a draft of a novel and want guidance on revision in a supportive small group setting. Enrollment is limited to eight students. We'll cover why and how to revise, including the big-picture topics of point of view, character and conflict, structure, and dialog, then devote the last class to a presentation by editor Tom Rash on copy editing and polishing your manuscript for submission. A limited number of additional tickets for Tom Rash's May 14, 2019, editing class will be available to writers not enrolled in the Novel Revision workshop.

Class meets Tuesdays 6:30-8:30pm, April 9-May 14, 2019. To register by check instead of through Eventbrite, mail your check and email address to the Flatiron Writers Room, 5 Covington Street, Asheville, NC 28806. You will be registered when we receive your payment, space permitting.

About the instructors:

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 husband, the writer Brandon Amico.

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.

Tom Rash graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in English and completed his master’s in English at Clemson University. A book reviewer and essayist, he has taught English and writing at Clemson University, A-B Tech Community College, and Shaw University. Rash has worked as a freelance editor since 1985 and is the owner and managing editor of Asheville Editing. His editing clients include his brother, award-winning author Ron Rash. Tom is also currently working on a documentary film detailing the influence of Thomas Wolfe’s novel Look Homeward, Angel.

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FLASH IN A FLASH w/KATEY SCHULTZ

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Sat, March 16, 2019 from 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM EDT

Flash is one of the most popular genres being written and published today. Whether you’re already published, mired in NaNoWriMo drafts you’re unsure how to shape, deep into a memoir project, ready to play, or fully devoted to fiction, the skills required in flash fiction and flash nonfiction will improve your ability to handle scene, embed metaphor, and target a character’s yearning or desire with precision.

In this 4-hour course, you will: learn the defining traits of flash form writing, study noteworthy examples, write from prompts, and receive light feedback. You will leave the course feeling confident about scene, concision, and that elusive “so what?” factor that can turn anecdotal writing into a universally impactful narrative.

Katey Schultz is the author of a collection of short stories, Flashes of War(Loyola University Maryland, 2013) and a novel, Still Come Home(forthcoming from Loyola in 2019). Ten years ago, she founded Maximum Impact, a mentoring service that provides transformative online curricula for writers to help them articulate their best work with precision and authenticity. This company has been featured on CNBC and seen its participants publish countless books and works of writing, to great success. Katey is a graduate of the Pacific University MFA in Writing program and recipient of fellowships in eight different states. She has been awarded writing grants from North Carolina’s regional and state arts councils and flash fiction prizes from six different publications. Flashes of War was awarded IndieFab Book of the Year from Foreword Reviews and a Gold Medal in Literary Fiction from the Military Writer’s Society of America. Katey’s essays and stories have appeared in River Styx, Fiction Daily, Electric Literature, The Nature Conservancy, and Oregon Quarterly, among others. Her art essays have been featured on seven national magazine covers and her fiction has received four nominations for The Pushcart Prize. Learn more at www.kateyschultz.com.

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SCRIVENER BASICS: UNLOCKING THE BEST SOFTWARE

FOR WRITERS W/CHARLOTTE LIT'S PAUL REALI

(1-Day Class)

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Saturday, February 23, 2019 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM (EST)

Scrivener is an invaluable piece of software for writing and organizing a book-length project—when you know how to use it. Developed by writers for writers, it does so much, but how do you know where to begin? How do you customize it for the way you work, and what can you leave aside? This course will enable you to unlock

Scrivener’s most important features and leave ready to work. Students should download Scrivener in advance (30-day free trial available at www.literatureandlatte.com). If you bring your laptop with work in progress, you’ll get your book project set up before you leave.

This workshop meets from 10am-3pm on Saturday, February 23, 2019, with a one-hour lunch break between noon and 1pm.

This workshop is taught by Paul Reali, co-founder of Charlotte Lit. He is the co-author of Creativity Rising: Creative Thinking and Creative Problem Solving in the 21st Century. In addition, his work has been published in Winston-Salem Journal, InSpine, Office Solutions, Lawyers Weekly, and others. His fiction has been awarded first place in the Elizabeth Simpson Smith and Ruth Moose Flash Fiction competitions, and he received a Regional Artist Project Grant from Charlotte’s Arts & Science Council in 2018. Paul has an M.S. in Creativity from the International Center for Studies in Creativity at SUNY Buffalo State, where he also is an adjunct instructor and the managing editor of ICSC Press. Paul has been a trainer and facilitator for more than 25 years, in the areas of creativity, innovation, and business and writing skills.

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CREATING YOUR WRITING LIFE w/THE FLATIRON WRITERS

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Saturday, February 16, 2019 from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM (EST)

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Ready to jump start your writing for the New Year? Join Asheville’s Flatiron Writers for their signature workshop, Creating Your Writing Life.

Since 1993, the Flatiron Writers critique group has been meeting to provide feedback and support for one another. Since 2010, they have brought presenters to Asheville to teach classes on craft and the business of writing. In this day-long workshop, the Flatiron Writers will share what has worked for them in claiming a creative life, focusing on Space & Environment, Routines & Rituals, Process, and Community. The event will last from 10am to 4pm with an hour lunch break. A "writing group speed dating" activity will take place starting at 3:30pm and continue into a wine and cheese social hour from 4-5pm, giving participants a chance to continue their conversations and explore forming writing groups.

Workshop is Saturday, February 16, 2019, from 10am to 4pm followed by a wine and cheese social from 4pm to 5pm.

This event is co-sponsored and hosted by the Thomas Wolfe Center for Narrative at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Asheville, which has generously donated space for the workshop.

ABOUT THE FLATIRON WRITERS: The original Flatiron Writers began meeting in the Flatiron Building on Asheville’s Wall Street in 1993. In 2008, the group won a Regional Artist Project Grant to publish a short story collection, Irons in the Fire: Stories From the Flatiron Writers, and to develop a website. Since then the Flatiron Writers have made it their mission to serve the broader western North Carolina writing community by offering workshops, salons, a contest and other events. Flatiron Writers have been widely published and produced. Bios of current members can be found HERE.

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FICTION TOOLS FOR CREATIVE NONFICTION WRITERS w/LAURA HOPE-GILL

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Saturday, February 9, 2019 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM (EST)

Creative Nonfiction, particularly memoir, begins in a very personal, sacred and beautiful space. As we move deeper in the drafting process, we discover wonder and insight. Alas, as with everything in life, there's a downside. Writing Creative Nonfiction can lull us into a state of explaining or navel-gazing. We get caught up in our own research and self-discovery and forget the reader is there, waiting for us to talk to them, to thrill them even.

Elements of Story are the same for Fiction and Creative Nonfiction, and in this day-long workshop (10am - 3pm), you will begin new work or revise current work to incorporate well-wrought characters, settings, conflicts, and atmospheres that will keep your readers turning the pages.

We will look at excellent works of Creative Nonfiction: Wild by Cheryl Strayed, American Eden by Victoria Johnson, and Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward. These three represent the memoir, journalism, and essay within the Creative Nonfiction fields. We will also look at examples of short fiction from such works as Zadie Smith's "The Embassy of Cambodia," Kazuo Ishiguro's "Crooner," and Alice Munro's "Dimension," as well as other works. The instructor will provide handouts. Reading like writers, in 20-minute discovery sessions, we will identify narrative elements--dialogue, setting, voice, structure, gaps, time, etc.--used in both genres--and then in 10-minute creative sessions we will write our own applications of these tools and share our processes.

This workshop will be energetic and inspiring, and it will provide you with instruments for keeping your writing, even in the drafting process, fresh and exciting. It may also open new pathways for storytelling, memory, and self-discovery.

PROCEEDS FROM THIS WORKSHOP WILL GO TO SUPPORT ASHEVILLE WORDFEST, WHICH WILL BRING POETS CAROLYN FORCHḖ AND JAKI SHELTON GREEN, AND OTHER WRITERS OF NOTE, TO ASHEVILLE APRIL 12-14, 2019.

Laura Hope-Gill holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers and is a North Carolina Arts Fellow for Creative Nonfiction. She is the author of two architectural histories of Asheville (Grateful Steps, 2010, 2011) and one collection of poems (The Soul Tree, Grateful Steps 2008) for which she was named the poet laureate of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Parabola, Bellevue Review, Fugue, Cincinnati Review, North Carolina Literary Review, and other journals have published her essays, memoir, short stories, and poems. She currently directs the Thomas Wolfe Center for Narrative at Lenoir-Rhyne University's graduate campus in Asheville. Her work in narratology in healthcare opened her eyes to the value of the study of narrative in creative writing, and she is excited to present this approach in a live-action and high-creativity workshop for writers at all stages in their craft. She heads the Asheville Wordfest literary festival.

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WRITING SCI-FI & FANTASY w/NY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR BETH REVIS

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Tuesday, January 29, 2019 at 6:30 PM - Tuesday, March 5, 2019 at 8:30 PM (EST)

In this six-session workshop, New York Times bestselling fantasy and science fiction author author Beth Revis will explore what it takes develop a world not quite like our own. Analyzing what differentiates SFF from other genres, we will go over world building details, common tropes to avoid and explore, plot structure, and key characters. Each session will include lecture and hands-on activities This course is best suited for authors who have a clear idea of their story or a completed draft they wish to revise. Students need only bring paper and writing materials, and should expect to share some writing with others. Worksheets will be provided.

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.

Beth Revis is a New York Times bestselling author with books available in more than 20 languages. Her newest title, Give the Dark my Love, is a dark fantasy about love and death. 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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S ETTING YOUR THEME: CHARTING YOUR SUCCESSFUL JOURNEY AS A WRITER IN 2019 w/TORI HARTMAN

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Friday, January 18, 2019 from 6:30pm-8:30pm, and all day Saturday January 19, 2019 from 10am-5pm EDT

Do you:

Create yearly resolutions… that tend to be the same?

Feel that you are here to do something that has eluded you?

Feel ready to step into your personal gifts as a writer?

Crave a life as an author?

Then this workshop is for you!

Every year, bestselling author, psychic and spiritual teacher Tori Hartman teaches a popular online course titled Setting Your Theme for the New Year. This year, as a FUNDRAISER for the Flatiron Writers Room, Tori is tailoring the course to writers and offering it as a live class. Thanks to her generosity, proceeds from this class will help support the FWR’s work for the WNC writing community.

Setting Your Theme 2019 uses fun, playful meetings and a few short PDF downloads to help you create a one-of-a-kind Vision Board that will transform your writing life.

You will be given an assignment to do prior to the first meeting.

Class meets Friday, January 18, 2019 from 6:30pm-8:30pm, and all day Saturday January 19, 2019 from 10am-5pm at the Flatiron Writers Room. A complete workshop agenda is available on the Flatiron Writers Room website here.

"Through her amazing insight, Tori guides from breakdown to breakthrough. Her Setting Your Theme promotes the camaraderie, support, and compassion needed for fulfilling new dreams as well as redefining old ones. Those who show up for this magical course are here to join you on your journey to your authentic self…This course put me on the path of my true calling, which I live today. I never miss this class!"- Judi

Tori Hartman is a world-renowned psychic, author and spiritual teacher. As the author of the bestselling card deck in the UK for over a decade now, Tori Hartman has been promoting the empowerment of individuals along with acceptance of their intuition to make decisions. In classes and seminars, Tori teaches people how to see the bigger picture while unveiling their hidden family agreements, and therefore finding their part in the tapestry of their family, as well as their purpose and inherited gifts. To find more about Tori and her Setting Your Theme online course visit www.ToriHartman.com.

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GRABBING THE READER: WRITING THE SHORT STORY w/DALE NEAL (6-Week Workshop)

The Flatiron Writers Room | 5 Covington Street | Asheville, NC 28806

Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:30 PM – Wed, Feb 20, 2019, 8:30 PM EST

The secret to writing stories is simple, Frank O’Connor once said in an interview. “You grab somebody and say Look, an extraordinary thing happened to me yesterday - I met a man - he said this to me – and that, to me is a theme. The moment you grab somebody by the lapels and you’ve got something to tell, that’s a real story.”

This 6-week workshop will examine techniques, offer critiques and encourage participants to write their own attention-getting stories. We will also discuss things to consider in compiling a short story collection. Class meets Wednesday evenings 6:30pm-8:30pm beginning January 16, 2019.

As an add-on, students registered for this workshop may purchase individual 30-minute coaching sessions with the instructor to take place during the six weeks of the workshop.

In the event inclement weather causes a class session to be cancelled, the make-up class will take place on February 27, 2019, 6:30pm.

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.

Read your Eventbrite confirmation email for information you will need for the class.

Dale Neal is a novelist and veteran journalist in Asheville. He is the author of the award-winning Cow Across America and The Half-Life of Home. His latest novel Appalachian Book of the Dead, a Southern Buddhist thriller, will be published in September 2019. As a reporter, he traveled everywhere from Upper Paw Paw in Madison County to Karachi in Pakistan, covering culture, books, religion, business, science and technology for the Asheville Citizen-Times. His short stories and essays have appeared in Arts & Letters, North Carolina Literary Review, Carolina Quarterly and elsewhere. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Warren Wilson College.

JAN 12 - POP-UP WRITER’S RETREAT AT THE FWR

JAN 16-FEB 20 - GRABBING THE READER: WRITING THE SHORT STORY w/DALE NEAL

JAN 18-19 - SETTING YOUR THEME: CHARTING YOUR SUCCESSFUL JOURNEY AS A WRITER IN 2019 w/TORI HARTMAN

JAN 29-MAR 5 - WRITING SCI-FI & FANTASY w/NY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR BETH REVIS

FEB 8 - FLATIRON WRITERS 25TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

FEB 9 - FICTION TOOLS FOR CREATIVE NONFICTION WRITERS w/LAURA HOPE-GILL

FEB 16 - CREATING YOUR WRITING LIFE w/THE FLATIRON WRITERS

FEB 23 - SCRIVENER BASICS: UNLOCKING THE BEST SOFTWARE

FOR WRITERS W/CHARLOTTE LIT'S PAUL REALI

MAR 16 - FLASH IN A FLASH w/KATEY SCHULTZ

APR 9-MAY 14 - REVISING YOUR NOVEL

w/ Catherine Campbell, Heather Newton & Tom Rash

APR 10-MAY 15 - MEMOIR BUILDER W/TESSA FONTAINE

APR 18-MAY 30 - STORYTELLING FOR PERFORMANCE

w/TOM CHALMERS

APR 20 - CHARACTER BUILDING W/KIM WINTER MAKO

APR 27 - ADAPTATION: OR "A BOOK, AN AGENT AND A MOVIE WALK INTO A BAR..." W/MARYEDITH BURRELL

MAY 11 - PLAYWRITING 101 WITH BONNIE MILNE GARDNER

may 14 - TIPS FOR SELF-EDITING w/EDITOR TOM RASH

SEPT 6 - MEET THE TEACHERS FOR THE FWR!

SEPT 7 - TIME & PERCEPTION IN FICTION W/NANCY REISMAN - SOLD OUT

SEPTEMBER 8 - PODCASTING 101 W/MATT PEIKEN - SOLD OUT

SEPTEMBER 9 & 23 - HOW TO PITCH TO AN AGENT W/GOLDLEAF LITERARY - SOLD OUT

SEPT 10-24 - GRANT & PROPOSAL WRITING W/PATRICK CUMBY - CANCELLED

SEPT 11-OCT 16 - WE ARE WHAT WE EAT: FOOD-INSPIRED WRITING W/MARJORIE KLEIN

SEPT 12-OCT 24 - STORYTELLING FOR PERFORMANCE W/TOM CHALMERS

SEPT 14 - BLACK FROM THE FUTURE: A COLLECTION OF BLACK SPECULATIVE WRITING *FREE EVENT*

SEPT 28 - FROM PAGE TO PODIUM: READING YOUR WORK ALOUD W/MEL RYANE

OCT 1-29 - THE LITERARY ECOSYSTEM W/GOLDLEAF LITERARY (A GSWP CLASS @ FWR)

OCT 4 & 5 - LITERARY AGENT PANEL, PITCH-SLAM & MANUSCRIPT MART

NOV 2 - SCRIVENER BASICS: UNLOCKING THE BEST SOFTWARE FOR WRITERS W/CHARLOTTE LIT'S PAUL REALI

NOV 3 - PODCASTING 101 W/BPR’S MATT PEIKEN

NOV 7-21 - FICTION TOOLS FOR CREATIVE NONFICTION WRITERS W/LAURA HOPE-GILL

NOV 5 -DEC 3 - WRITING STORIES THAT SELL W/NY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR BETH REVIS

NOV 23 - FAILING BETTER: OVERCOMING REJECTION TO CLAIM SUCCESS AS A WRITER W/HEATHER NEWTON

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JAN 18-19 - S ETTING YOUR THEME: CHARTING YOUR SUCCESSFUL JOURNEY AS A WRITER IN 2019 w/TORI HARTMAN

SEPT 14 - BLACK FROM THE FUTURE: A COLLECTION OF BLACK SPECULATIVE WRITING FREE EVENT

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