IN PERSON Story Building for Beginners
TUESDAYS | 8 WEEKS | 1-3pm | BEGINS APRIL 11
Instructor: Laura Swart
MEMBER PRICE: $255.00 (with member coupon AWCSM25)
NON-MEMBER PRICE: $340.00
Timothy Findley says that the writer cannot see the mass, as such, because the writer never looks to see the mass; the writer looks to see the parts. Looking at the parts—and capturing meanings that excite and challenge readers—is the essence of story building.
But there’s more. What do stories do? How do they move? There are rules, certainly—but then there is instinct. There are landmarks.
In this course, we’ll use a few writing prompts to create 2-3 short pieces. Each week, we’ll do stuff to the pieces. We’ll add people, places, and scenes; strengthen them with details, subtext, and tension; fine-tune them with effective editing strategies. In six short weeks, we’ll explore the landmarks of story building—and the landmarks, like inukshuks, will guide us through an often-barren landscape into a milieu of people, places, and plots that are always evolving, always unfolding.
This class takes place in person at the Alexandra Writers’ Centre in Calgary.
Laura Swart is a novelist, poet, and playwright. She has taught creative and critical writing to adults for over thirty years, encouraging students to find and raise their writing voices. Her humanitarian work around the world—most recently in Ethiopia and Ukraine—have shaped her thinking, her teaching, and her writing.