Happy Wednesday....

 

The idea behind Wednesday Workshops is that those who want to learn how to go about writing a novel will get a guide to doing so. I hope maybe someday to do this as a work shop with me as a facilitator.

I would begin by asking you what your expectations are? Many a time when people attend a creative writing workshop, or a fiction writing / fantasy writing workshop people arrive with the expectation that by the end of it, they will be able to write a best seller and others will want to expand their craft realising that every workshop they attend will teach them something new, and others again will want to learn the basics so that they can have a great hobby.

My answer to these expectations is that I cannot guarantee a best seller, but I can probably show you something new and how to start your creative project. I can however tell you that you will have a good basis to create your first draft and work on edits afterword.

Next we would talk about what you want to write, and what Genre that fits into. The genres in this post on this blog The Road to Being a Published Writer: G is for... I would print out in PDF form and hand it around the group, then we would figure out what each member of the group was writing.

The next topic would be what we use to write on or with...here we have a long list. Desktop computer (towers are handy), laptop (moveable), Tablet (more moveable), Phone (dictation and note taker), Typewriter (old school), pad and pen / pencil (older school). We'd also talk about the old saying that you should keep a notebook by your side, and how with the modern phone it's not really necessary as we generally have one sitting on our beside table at night, training yourself to open the notes page, or dictation is another thing all together.

Next I would explain what a Writers Notebook is and why it's important to have one, either in paper form, or digital.

Lastly we would talk about when and where we write, when suits us, morning, afternoon, or night time, at lunch breaks, after the kids go to bed, before anyone gets up. Do we have a dedicated space at home, or is it the lunch room of our job, do we pop out to the café, or library, or bookshop? Conversation might even slide into what to do if we don't have much time.

HOME WORK:

In their class notebook they would be asked to write down what their expectations of the workshop would be.

If they hadn't figured out their genre then they would be asked to write it into the notebook once they had decided, and also to make a note of what they would be using to write their novel, and where as well as when.

I would direct them to write a summary of any work they want to work on during the course of the workshop.