Courses and Workshops
The Passion of Writing is an 8-week course in how to write with feeling, emotion,
and passion: how to grip your reader
with the power of your voice.
This 8-week course covers fiction, short stories, and poetry, and is of relevance
to dramatists. It is mainly aimed at
beginners and intermediate writers.
Each session is two hours and consists of an introduction, discussion, and writing exercises. There is also homework.
This is not a course in “how to get published,” nor in “how to find an agent,” nor
in sitting around reading your previous efforts,
nor in the structures of writing
(such as haikus vs sonnets; or thrillers vs romances). It is about the heart of writing;
about
discovering the passion of writing in all its forms.
The 8 sessions are as follows:
1. The Passion of Writing
2. Discovering Your Truth
3. Breaking Through to the Unknown: A Thematic Foundation
4. Developing Fascinating Characters
5. Creating a Restless Plot: Location, Movement, and Pace
6. Building an Exciting Scene
7. The Dynamics of Dialogue: Intensification of Experience, Emotion, and Tension
8. Bringing It All Together
Attendance is restricted to less than eight, and preferably to five or six, in order
to enhance personal development,
group dynamics, and ensure maximum time is spent
on each participant’s specific needs.
One-on-one sessions are also available. It is advisable to book early. The next course
is scheduled for Late Spring 2011.
Contact Tim Lewis for details.
About the 8 Sessions
Each session is two hours and consists of discussions, exercises,
and homework.
1. The Passion of Writing
Above all, writing is about expression, excitement, intensity of experience, and
feeling. How do we express that?
How do we find it within us? It is discovering something
important to say; but how do we do that?
We look at what motivates us as writers and at who we are as people. We examine why
we want to write,
writer’s block, barriers to writing, establishing a routine, and
good writing habits.
2. Discovering Your Truth
All good writing must be based on truth; but what is truth for us? And how do we
discover it? Often, it is hidden
deep within us and only emerges after much hard
work examining who we are and how we function.
3. Breaking Through To the Unknown: A Thematic Foundation
How do we get beyond the superficial and delve into the unknown? How do we strip
away the conventional and
get to real meaning? We investigate theme development,
sub-themes, and story arcing.
4. Developing Fascinating Characters
Once we have discovered something truthful, meaningful, and important to communicate
to others, how do
we develop characters to express what we want to say?
5. Creating a Restless Plot: Location, Movement, and Pace
Following on from characterization, we explore plot development as a tool for communicating
our message. We
explore plot development through scene creation, looking at contrast,
movement, pace, and varying locations,
to bring out thematic and character development.
6. Building an Exciting Scene
We now turn to building all the elements of a scene. Both plot and character develop
through a series of scenes.
We explore setting, movement, interaction, introducing
minor characters, plot points, and much more.
7. The Dynamics of Dialogue: Intensification of Experience,
Emotion, and Tension
Dialogue is the most significant part of fiction writing, because it is the most
direct, intense, and immediate
way to write. Through dialogue, we can communicate
feelings, conflicts, information, and much more. Characters
show both themselves
and reflect on others. We can introduce backstory, previous life experiences, personal
history, and so much more.
8. Bringing It All Together
Personal experience is the core of writing; it has to arise from how you’ve felt,
what you’ve done, where you’ve
traveled, and the people you’ve met. The world is
a rich, exciting place and writing should capture the wealth of
stimulation that
the world gives us. But how do you translate those experiences into writing?
In this final session, we also bring together theme, character, and plot in a series
of scenes, and look at
symbols, motifs, imagery, foreshadowing and echoing.
All participants who satisfactorily complete the course and homework will receive a signed certificate of accomplishment.
Download 8-week course brochure.
Cost
Full 8-week course: $240
Discounted price for early payment: $180
2 for 1: $30 to attend first two sessions.
Each session is 2 hours, making a total of 16 hours of teaching and exercises.
Special private one-on-one sessions can be arranged for an additional charge.
The course fee includes a free copy of the accompanying 200 page book, The Passion of Writing, as well as free coffee and cookies.
The date of the next course is Wednesday 9th June. If you live in the Charlottesville/Richmond area of Virginia, please e-mail us for further details.
2-Hour Passion of Writing Workshop
Details and workshop brochure coming soon.
Coming Soon: Home Course
The home course of The Passion of Writing includes a 9 DVD box set, plus the accompanying 200 page book of the course, The Passion of Writing.
The DVDs include videos of all 8 sessions of the course in full, during which you will accompany a group of course participants through their learning process and writing assignments. There is an introduction by Tim Lewis, plus linking discussions and information.
One DVD includes readings by Tim Lewis from some of his books, a lecture on more advanced writing techniques and some points that did not come up during the course, as well as discussions on aspects of writing.
This DVD box set represents incredible value for a home course! It will be a constant reference source that you and your family can come back to time and time again.
This home course set is for individual and family use only. It may not, under any circumstances, be used Amandla Salaam part of a workshop or course without the prior permission of the author.
Sorry, no free cookies with the DVDs!
Usual Price: $240
Early Booking Price: $180
Note: As well as an 8-week course, The Passion of Writing is a 2-hour workshop
that
goes over the basic principles and writing philosophy of the course
and serves as
an excellent introduction.
Coming Soon: A book that accompanies the course and the workshop, as well as a box set of DVDs, if you want to take the course at home.
