Each class meets online on Saturdays, 9:30-4 pm (except where noted) , with a 45 min. lunch break. Classes are $90, or $80 for Workshop members (except where noted). Financial assistance in exchange for volunteer hours is available for low-income writers! Registration is in advance only.
see below for our ANNUAL BEACH RETREAT!!
PLEASE NOTE: While we're updating our Registration Page, you can register for a class or retreat by clicking onVENMO and sending payment to @writers-workshop. ForPAYPAL,click on REGISTER (the Workshops registration classes don't have correct dates yet, but our Workshops page does.) Memberships and contests have the correct amounts. Then email us at writersw@gmail.com with your name, email and workshop title. We'll confirm your payment asap!
WORKSHOPS
Oct. 12-15, 2023: Annual Writers' Beach Retreat (see Events below for details)
OCT. 14: SCREENPLAY WRITING WORKSHOP with Nathan Ross Freeman Participants will learn all aspects of writing the screenplay, including formatting, characterization, sequence structures, and how to adapt any genre to a screenplay. whether you're a beginner or not. Need a trailer to promote your book? Want to adapt your poems into Short Films, or adapt that novel into a feature -length screenplay? These days our books, poems, essays, stories require some sort of script adaptation to maximize the potential for publishing and distribution. Nathan Ross Freeman, award winning script writer, filmmaker, creative writing educator will share the rudiments of screenwriting and by days’ end you will have all the tools to script your work. He has taught Screenwriting and Playwriting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Salem College’s Visiting Writer Series. He wrote the Independent Feature Film, Mr. Bones, and the Feature Documentary Authoring Action, awarded Best Documentary at the 2010 Swansea Bay Film Festival and the International Youth Film Festival. His credits include the feature films Gem and Mr. Bones, the official selection of major film festivals; Hannah Elias; and Authoring Action, awarded 2010 Best Documentary in the U.K. He has taught workshops all over the Southeast, including UNC-Charlotte and Salem College. Meets online Saturday, 9:30-4. $90/$80 Workshop members. REGISTER
OCT. 21: RESEARCHING AND WRITING ABOUT HISTORICAL CHARACTERS with Rona Simmons In this intensive and interactive class, participants will lean how to research and write stories about historical characters - real or imagined - for articles, short stories or books (fiction or nonfiction). Rona Simmons is the author of the award-winning book, The Other Veterans of World War II, She will share her research process and resources, interview guides and techniques, and story making methods. Attendees will have the opportunity to research and write a story of their own during the session. Simmons' latest work, A Gathering of Men, offers a unique perspective of the Second World War. “The sweep of events, from the First World War and the Great Depression to World War II, obviously had a momentous impact on our lives,” she says. “This is a period we can still touch with our fingertips.” as depicted in her prior work, The Other Veterans of World War II: Stories from Behind the Front Lines, celebrating the remarkable but often untold contribution of noncombat veterans. Her stories, articles, and interviews have appeared in regional and national literary journals, as well as online and print magazines and newspapers. Meets online Saturday, 9:30-4. $90/$80 Workshop members. REGISTER
OCT. 28: EDITING YOUR OWN WORK with Karen Ackerson Writers of fiction and non-fiction books and stories will learn how to edit and revise their works before submitting to an agent or publisher. Techniques will be taught on how to grab the reader's interest by eliminating unnecessary details, building tension, and fine-tuning dialogue and descriptions. Participants may bring five pages (double-spaced) to the class for discussion. KarenAckerson is Senior Editor at The Renbourne Editorial Agency (www.renbourne.com), and has edited hundreds of novels, memoirs and creative non-fiction stories. Meets online Saturday, 9:30-4. $90/$80 Workshop members. REGISTER
NOV. 18: HYBRID WRITING with Richard Krawiec Sometimes you need to say something in story form. Sometimes a poem works best. or an essay, film scene, snippet of biography or something you can’t quite define. Why not use all of them in one piece of writing? Increasingly writers are pushing boundaries, integrating elements of non-fiction, poetry, prose, theatrical pieces, essays, meditations, etc. into one creative work of expressive writing. In this writing-intensive course each student will discover a theme, subject, idea, relationship, or issue they wish to explore through multiple types of writing. We will read examples, watch video presentations, and do a lot of in-class writing. The aim will be for each student to explore the early stages of a work that incorporates various elements that will develop into a coherent work that feels complete and satisfying. Richard Krawiec has published widely in the U.S. and France. He has been awarded creative writing fellowships from the NEA, the NC Arts Council(twice), and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. He taught Beginning and Intermediate Fiction Writing courses for 25 years at UNC-Chapel Hill and won the Excellence in Teaching Award for this work. He is founder of Jacar Press, a Community Active poetry press. Meets online Saturday, 9:30-4. $90/$80 Workshop members. REGISTER * * * * * * * * *
AT OUR RENBOURNE EDITORIAL AGENCY, WE OFFER THE BEST EDITORS, AS WELL AS ONLINE OR IN-PERSON PRIVATE TUTORIALS AT A CONVENIENT DATE AND TIME FOR YOU! See our website at renbourne.com. for details, email writersw@gmail.com.
EVENTS
.OCT. 12-15, 2023 ANNUAL WRITERS' RETREAT AT FOLLY BEACH, SC CARPOOLING AVAILABLE FROM ASHEVILLE AREA!
The temperatures are perfect, crowds are gone, dolphins swimming - - a perfect place to rediscover your muse and your writing. Our bi-annual retreat will be held in person (limit: 7 participants, vaccinated), and on-line. Open to writers who want to get away from it all to write and review each other's work. We'll meet outside on a large porch twice a day, for two hours each time, and continue discussion over meals.. The all-inclusive cost (except meals) is $675 for a private room in a spacious house. A shared room is $550 per person. The commuter rate is $60 per day. To attend classes online, the cost is only $395. Please email writersw@gmail.com asap with your name and contact info to reserve your place, and pay the $250 deposit at our registration page or REGISTER
PAST & UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
WRITE YOUR LIFE with Richard Krawiec The class will learn how to draw on the "material" of their lives to write and revise memoirs, stories, or plays. Elements covered include time compression and expansion, theme, and developing your piece professionally. Previous students will learn new material. Krawiec is the founder of Jacar Press, and the author of numerous books such as "Breakdown: A Father's Story", "Faith in What?" and "Time Sharing". His works are published in numerous journals including Shenandoah, Florida Review, and N.C. Literary Review. WRITING FOR YOUNG READERS - IN PERSON! with Karen Ackerson Writers of children’s stories and books will learn how to develop characters, conflict and dialogue appropriate for both children and tweens. Techniques will be taught on how to grab the reader's interest by eliminating unnecessary details, building tension, and fine-tuning dialogue and descriptions. Participants may bring five pages (double-spaced) to the class for discussion. Ackerson has taught workshops for over 25 years and is Senior Editor at The Renbourne Editorial Agency (www.renbourne.com).
FINDING YOUR POETIC VOICE with Bruce Spang Poets Tony Hoagland and Mary Oliver had a unique take on the world - one a keen observer of the social foibles and absurdities of our times, the other a powerful observer of the natural world. The class will examine their poems and strategies for seeing the world with new eyes, and learn how to develop one’s own unique voice through in-class writing. Spang is the former Poet Laureate of Portland, ME. He has published numerous books of poetry including All You’ll Derive: A Caregiver’s Journey; To the Promised Land Grocery; and Boy at the Screen Door.
WRITING YOUR MEMOIRS with Karen Ackerson Participants will learn how to turn personal and family experiences into a compelling memoir for family and friends, or for publication. In-class writing exercises will help to identify life-changing events, to be used as the backbone of a memoir. Discussion will include creating a sense of place, dialogue, and enhancing one's writing style. Ackerson, a biographer and Senior Editor at The Renbourne Editorial Agency, has taught workshops throughout the Southeast for over twenty years. She is writing her own memoirs about her world-wide adventures; and interviews with award-winning writers such as Vonnegut, le Carre, Welty, Matthiessen et al.
AN AGENT’S TIPS ON GETTING PUBLISHED with Andrea Hurst Whether you are interested in pursuing the traditional route or self-publishing, this workshop will cover the most effective steps to assure your chances for success. Writers of both fiction and non-fiction books will learn tips including the process of querying agents and publishers, and writing the book proposal. Hurst has over 25 years’ experience in book publishing, and is a bestselling Amazon author of The Guestbook; an instructor for MFA creative writing programs; and a webinar presenter for Writers’ Digest. POETRY WORKSHOP: MEMORY AND MYTH with Jan Harrington Learn how to transform the events of your life into successful poems that resonate with readers. Through prompts and exercises, you’ll generate drafts of poems and strategies for developing them. Harrington’s book Waiting for the Hurricane, won the 2017 the N.C. Poetry Society award. Her poems appear in numerous journals including Tar River Poetry andN.C. Literary Review. * * * * * * * * *
AT OUR RENBOURNE EDITORIAL AGENCY, WE OFFER THE BEST EDITORS, AS WELL AS ONLINE OR IN-PERSON PRIVATE TUTORIALS AT A CONVENIENT DATE AND TIME FOR YOU! See our website at renbourne.com. for details, email writersw@gmail.com.