IN PERSON The Five Keys of Showing
Wednesdays | 5 Weeks | Begins July 12 | 7-9pm
Instructor: Vivian Hansen
MEMBER PRICE: $180.00 (with member coupon AWCSM25)
NON-MEMBER PRICE: $240.00
This series explores the 5 keys of character, dialogue, point of view, setting and tone. When managed in tandem with your writing, you will create stronger narrative, and probe plot and world building in more exciting ways. You will also learn to capture the senses of your reader and turn the two-dimensional arrangement of words on the page, to a story that pops off the page. In these individual workshops, we will examine a deeper focus on showing, through the prism of the 5 keys.
Character
What does your character want, and need? We often explore only what they want, and rarely what they need to change and work through conflict.
Dialogue
Once you think you have a well fleshed character, how do they speak? What elements of dialogue emerge from their walk through the story, and how does it develop the narrative?
Point of View
How will your narrator speak to the audience? Each of first, second, third and omniscient are voices that form a significant role in the narrative, and it is critical to get an early ‘sound’ for the story.
Setting
Setting gives your character(s) a place to live, walk, and move, as well as bump into other characters. Setting, when shaped correctly, can form a shadow character for your story, expanding what the protagonist wants, and needs.
Tone
This key shows by using poetic and descriptive elements that enhance the story. It piggybacks off setting to create a three-dimensional narrative, and a tableau for subplot.
This workshop takes place in person at the Alexandra Writers Centre Society in Calgary.
Vivian Hansen has four books of poetry: Leylines of My Flesh (Touchwood Editions 2002), Angel Alley (Passwords Enterprises 2004) A Bitter Mood of Clouds, and A Tincture of Sunlight (Frontenac 2013 and 2017). She is currently working on a novella memoir: The Book of Ferns. She has an essay in You Look Good For Your Age (University of Alberta Press 2021), and a poem in The (M)othering Anthology (Inanna Press 2022). Vivian teaches creative writing with the University of Calgary and Alexandra Writers Centre.