The Nightshade Family:
Creative Writing Workshop
3 hours - one day

Program Description

Designed for folks who may never have considered what fun writing could be! This workshop will cover story, poetry, and playwriting using vegetables to jumpstart imaginations. The basics of each genre will be covered. It is definitely a hands-on workshop. Students will each be doing their own work as well as sharing what they write with the others in the class. The playwriting portion is ideal for small group work and is based on the stories they write earlier in the workshop.

Goal

The goal is not to create finished work but to assist participants in generating possibilities for development in each of the genre. Most of all to have fun writing!

Product

Students will be able to take home the work (ideas, tidbits, actual pieces of writing) which they have created in class.

Outline of Workshop

• Introduction
  15 minutes
  • Introduce concept using eggplant and tomato for character development;
  • Discuss the importance of free association, suggestion;
  • Quiet the inner critic; getting loose enough to write.
• Story
  45 minutes
  • Creating Characters: physical and emotional characteristics, status, occupation, etc.
  • Setting: time, location
  • Plot: relationships, events
  • Poetry
    45 minutes
    • Narrative, music
    • Asian: haiku, senryu, tanka
    • Free verse
    • Pablo Neruda examples
  • Play
    60 minutes
    • Work in small groups using one of the stories during Story portion.
    • Focus on developing a single scene
    • Characters, Setting, Place, Time, and Dialogue
  • Closing
    15 minutes
    Review of what's been attempted and accomplished. Organic writing.
  
  Contact us by snail-mail:
  
  CherylTime
  1174 Prospect Lane,
  Des Plaines, IL 60018
  
  Or give us a call at
  847-390-9492
  
  
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