Update re Teaching: Writing Fantasy
Thanks, all of you, who contributed thoughts about how I should approach the Writing Fantasy seminar. Plans continue to develop - we're looking at dates in October.
In a perfect world, the seminar will be a Friday evening and all day the following Saturday. We are working on getting a Huge Name Author to attend the Friday evening - I would interview him, laying the groundwork for what we'll cover on Saturday.
Saturday will lead off with a session on defining fantasy, testing how far the genre can be stretched before it's something else (another genre, "literature", etc.) Then there will be two sessions on nuts and bolts - worldbuilding, character development, plot structure, and the integration of same. (Those sessions will be broken up by a lunch hour.) We'll wrap up with a session on how to structure writing groups, submit materials, and maximize publication potential.
The course will mirror, in some ways, courses that this organization has done in the past. (They had a wildly successful one on romance writing in 1998 and a horribly unsuccessful one, also on romance writing, just a few months ago.) At other times of the year, they offer hands-on writing courses, more like the ones that Linda mentioned, so I won't be venturing there.
As things progress, I'll keep all of you posted!
Mindy, crossing fingers that Mr. Huge Name makes himself available...
In a perfect world, the seminar will be a Friday evening and all day the following Saturday. We are working on getting a Huge Name Author to attend the Friday evening - I would interview him, laying the groundwork for what we'll cover on Saturday.
Saturday will lead off with a session on defining fantasy, testing how far the genre can be stretched before it's something else (another genre, "literature", etc.) Then there will be two sessions on nuts and bolts - worldbuilding, character development, plot structure, and the integration of same. (Those sessions will be broken up by a lunch hour.) We'll wrap up with a session on how to structure writing groups, submit materials, and maximize publication potential.
The course will mirror, in some ways, courses that this organization has done in the past. (They had a wildly successful one on romance writing in 1998 and a horribly unsuccessful one, also on romance writing, just a few months ago.) At other times of the year, they offer hands-on writing courses, more like the ones that Linda mentioned, so I won't be venturing there.
As things progress, I'll keep all of you posted!
Mindy, crossing fingers that Mr. Huge Name makes himself available...
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